This stretch of wall, still partially visible today, was identified by the historians of Scilla, Antonio Minasi (1736– 1806) and Giovanni Minasi (1835–1911), through a careful analysis of ancient testimonies, as part of that defensive work which the ruler of Rhegium, Anaxilas, had built in the 5th century B.C. to block the passage of the Tyrrhenian pirates who inhabited the promontory of Scilla, and thus consolidate his control over the Strait of Messina.
In particular, Antonio Minasi, in one of the valuable engravings he supervised, entitled “Southern View of the City of Scilla” by Guglielmo Fortuyn and published in 1775, wrote the following under item number 12:

“Ancient wall on the bridge of the new road, which runs level with the walls that were seen joined on this side and that side to the rock. It seems to be a fragment of that wall mentioned by Strabo: Scyllaeum Sublime saxum et mari pene ambitum, Isthmo humili et utriugue appulsui navium apto, continenti junctum, quem isthmum Anaxilaus Rheginorum Tyrannus adversum Tyrrhenos murum munivit naviumque stationem redegit, praedonesque Preti trajectu prohibuit T. I L. 6 p. 349. Or of that other wall drawn along the great ditch which M. Crassus had his army excavate across the Peninsula in order to prevent Spartacus, who had encamped upon that stronghold after coming from Sicily, from escaping any further. See Plutarch in M. Crassus T. I p. 549”

In support of this hypothesis, reference is made to the passage by the geographer Strabo contained in Book VI of his Geography (23 A.D.), relating to one of the descriptions he provides of Scilla, in which he dates its origin to the 5th century B.C., where we read:

“Next comes the Scyllaean Promontory, a very lofty rock projecting into the sea like a peninsula, connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus where landing is possible on both sides. Anaxilas, tyrant of Rhegium, fortified it against the Tyrrhenians, establishing there a naval station and thus preventing pirates from crossing the Strait.”

The reference to the “narrow isthmus” and to the fortification erected to prevent pirates from passing through the Strait perfectly matches the morphological and geographical configuration of the site corresponding to the western flank of the promontory of Scilla, and with the strategic function that this stretch of wall may have fulfilled: a military work conceived to control and defend one of the most sensitive points of the ancient Mediterranean.
No less suggestive is the other possible attribution proposed by scholars, which links the wall to the enterprise of the Roman consul Marcus Licinius Crassus during the Servile War against Spartacus (73 B.C.). Plutarch, in the Life of Crassus (1st century A.D.), recounts that after pursuing Spartacus to the peninsula of the Rhegians, opposite Sicily, Crassus had a wall built across the isthmus to block his escape.
In particular, Giovanni Minasi, in his work Historical Notes of the City of Scilla (1889), wrote:

“Al tempo della ribellione degli schiavi, “At the time of the slave rebellion led by Spartacus (73 B.C.), during his flight toward southern Italy, he resolved to approach the sea in order to rekindle the Servile War in Sicily, which had already been extinguished (135 B.C.); and also to seek assistance from the Cilician pirates who then infested the Mediterranean. But while advancing toward Rhegium, in a place shaped like a peninsula opposite Sicily, Spartacus was skillfully trapped by Crassus, who was pursuing him.
On this peninsula Spartacus sought to fortify himself in order to give the pirates time to bring him aid and help him escape to Sicily. However, these plans came to nothing, and having lost all hope of crossing the Strait on rafts built on site because of the stormy winter sea, and foreseeing the imminent arrival of Pompey’s fleet, summoned to assist, he found a way, under cover of a dark and tempestuous night, to break out of the enclosure with his men and retrace his route into Lucania. But Crassus pursued him, overtook him near the Silarus, defeated him and killed him together with more than twelve thousand slaves (71 B.C.).
Plutarch relates that Crassus, after confining Spartacus within that peninsula, encamped there to force him to surrender and, observing the nature of the site, believed he could seal him in completely by digging a ditch fifteen feet deep and equally wide and constructing a wall high enough to deprive Spartacus of all hope of escape by land; while on the sea side he would be blocked by Pompey’s fleet. […] We therefore hold the opinion (and so did Barrio) that the peninsula on which Spartacus had encamped and entrenched himself was rather the entire territory upon which Scilla is built, which together with the castle rock forms a plateau rising from 60 to 100 metres above sea level on its western side, and is further isolated to the north and southeast by two deep ravines, today called Oliveto and Livorno, through which two streams flow. This plateau, projecting into the sea like a peninsula, is capable of containing an army of about twenty thousand soldiers, steep and inaccessible on every side, connected only to the eastern hills. This side could have been closed off by a wall, […] or better by a ditch approximately 1,200 metres long, the greatest distance between the two ravines on the eastern side of the town. Here Spartacus could have encamped his men, and this is precisely, in our opinion, the Rhegian peninsula indicated by Plutarch, since from the Gulf of Gioia to Leucopetra there is no other place near the sea that has the form of a peninsula and lies opposite Sicily except the plateau of Scilla. In this place Crassus’ plan could have been carried out more easily, and Spartacus could readily have fortified himself. […] Furthermore, as Lucius Florus recounts: ‘he and his men, preparing to flee to Sicily, and lacking ships, and finding wholly useless for crossing the dangerous Strait both the rafts made of wickerwork and the barrels bound together with branches, finally, after launching an attack against the enemy, died bravely.’
From this it follows that the peninsula could not have been very far from Sicily, since Spartacus conceived the idea of crossing the sea with his men on rafts, which he could not accomplish […] because the stormy sea prevented him; and that the rafts must necessarily have been built on site, while Scilla at that time could provide
the required material, since its mountains, from the peaks down to the sea, were then entirely covered with forests.[…] From the reasons set forth above it follows that our opinion appears to be the most plausible, as the one that most closely approaches the reality of the event.”

In support of this hypothesis, reference is made to the passage by the historian Plutarch contained in his Life of M. Crassus (1st century A.D.), where we read:

“Spartacus, retreating, made his way through Lucania to the sea; and having found in the harbour ships of Cilician pirates, he conceived the desire to cross into Sicily and, by transporting two thousand men to that island, rekindle the Servile War there, which had been extinguished not long before and needed only a small spark to flare up again.But the Cilicians, after making an agreement with him and even receiving gifts, abandoned him and sailed away without his noticing.He therefore withdrew from the sea and encamped on the peninsula of the Rhegians.
When Crassus arrived there, seeing that the nature of the place itself showed and suggested what he needed to do, he began constructing a wall across the isthmus […] The task was great and difficult, yet beyond all expectation he completed it in a short time, excavating a ditch across that ridge.”

In this passage there clearly emerges the description of an imposing defensive work, built to seal off access to the peninsula and deny the rebels any route of escape.
In this case as well, the correspondence between the ancient account, the geographical position and the morphological characteristics of the territory of Scilla strengthens the hypothesis that the wall segment may be linked to that crucial episode of Roman history.Whatever its origin—Greek, connected with the strategic initiative of Anaxilas against the Tyrrhenian pirates, or Roman, the result of the military ingenuity of Crassus against Spartacus—this wall represents a tangible testimony to the strategic centrality of Scilla and the Strait of Messina in the trade routes and conflicts of antiquity.It stands not only as a material structure, but also as a sign of the historical continuity of a place which, by virtue of its geographical position, became the stage for clashes, ambitions of dominion and great military enterprises.

Giuseppe Ribuffo