{"id":1431,"date":"2026-06-23T09:28:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/?page_id=1431"},"modified":"2026-08-19T08:48:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:48:32","slug":"il-porto-romano-nella-rada-di-scilla","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/il-porto-romano-nella-rada-di-scilla\/","title":{"rendered":"The Roman port in the roadstead of Scilla"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1331.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:0px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p class=\"translation-block\">After the end of the Servile War, Scilla enjoyed a period of peace and tranquility until the beginning of the conflicts\nbetween Pompey and Octavian in the context of the Roman civil war (42 BC \u2013 36 BC).<br>\nBefore these fierce struggles began, the coastline was placed in a state of defense by Octavian, both to counter\nVetulinus, who, at the head of those proscribed by the regime of the triumvirs and of fugitives, was creating\nconsiderable problems for the Roman centuries; and to keep Sextus Pompey at a distance, who had occupied\nSicily and was threatening to block grain supplies to Rome, thus calling into question the power of the triumvirs.<br>\nScilla, like Reggio, was fortified once again and, although Pompey wished to seize it and sent aid to Vetulinus\nto encourage him to fight against the courts of the triumvirs, he failed to carry out his plan. <br>When the triumvirs\nsent (42 BC) a large fleet under the command of Salvidienus against Pompey, the latter, having learned of it,\nsailed with his ships from the port of Messina and, encountering the enemy near the rock of Scilla, attacked\nhim with great force.<br>\nIn a short time he defeated him, capturing and sinking many ships. Had Scilla not been provided with a strong\ngarrison, Pompey could have taken advantage of that favorable opportunity to occupy it, since that fortified\npoint would have been very useful to him in closing the Strait; instead, even after the victory, he immediately\nreturned to Messina.<br>\nThe strengthening of Scilla in that period is also confirmed by another episode that occurred four years later,\nin the same roadstead.<br>\nAfter Cassius and Brutus had been defeated (38 BC), and Octavian had returned from Tarentum to Reggio, he\ndid not consider it appropriate to provoke a battle against Pompey, who was stationed with only forty ships in\nthe port of Messina; he preferred to wait for Galvisius Sabinus, who was expected to arrive from Etruria with\nanother fleet.<br>\nHowever, having learned that Calvisius had been defeated in the waters of Cumae by another naval force of\nPompey, commanded by Menas and Demochares, he decided to go to his aid. He was already about to cross the\nStrait when Pompey, having noticed it, sailed out of the port of Messina with his ships to confront him.<br>\nOctavian, wishing to avoid a clash that might have proved fatal to him, quickly headed toward Scilla and remained\nthere in a defensive position until Calvisius, having repaired his ships as best he could, appeared in those\nwaters.<br>\nAlthough Pompey attacked Octavian\u2019s ships in every possible way, he failed to capture them, something he\ncould easily have done had Scilla not been so well fortified.<br>\nOnce Pompey had withdrawn, Octavian put out to sea, reached Calvisius and, having landed at Vibo, continued\non to Rome, postponing operations against Pompey until the following year.<br>\nHe nevertheless did not neglect to strengthen the garrison of Scilla even further, having personally experienced\nits great importance against any possible attack by Pompey.<br>\nAfter so many great struggles fought with equal valor, and after defeating Pompey and then Antony, Octavian\nremained the sole commander of the Roman Republic.<br>\nIt is therefore appropriate to observe that during this period a harbor for the landing and protection of ships\nmust have existed at Scilla, as demonstrated by the episode of Octavian\u2019s retreat precisely to Scilla, chosen as\na safe place to avoid confrontation with Pompey, who was pursuing him.<br>\nIf it was impossible for Pompey to capture Octavian\u2019s ships, it is certain that they found refuge in a harbor,\nfrom which, with the help of the pier, the soldiers, and also the cliff of the existing garrison, they were able to\nrepel the enemy fleet.<br>\nConfirmation of this hypothesis is provided by the geographer Strabo who, in his *Geography* (23 AD), recounts\nthat Anaxilas of Reggio, a tyrant who lived at the beginning of the 5th century BC, had the promontory\nof Scilla fortified and transformed it into a naval base (*naustathmos*), in order to defend himself from the\nTyrrhenian pirates who infested that area and attempted to cross the Strait.<br>\nA corresponding account is provided by the historian Polybius who, in his work *The Histories* (2nd century\nBC), while describing the swordfish fishery practiced beneath the rock of Scilla, mentions the existence of a\n\u201cnaval station,\u201d that is, a harbor located in the roadstead of Scilla.<br>\nAs further confirmation of this, it should be recalled that in the roadstead of Scilla, on the side facing the\nsoutheast, along the rocky shore between Monacena and Capo Pac\u00ec, ancient masonry structures covered by\ncountless rocks are still visible on the seabed.\nDr. Rocco Bova, a native of Scilla, maintained that those structures were in fact the remains of the ancient harbor,\ndestroyed by large and numerous boulders, now scattered throughout the roadstead, which had fallen\nfrom the rocky mountainside above, prone to landslides, as can still be seen today.<br>\nEven setting aside Bova\u2019s opinion, however well founded, regarding the cause of its destruction, we may add\nthat a harbor in that location could not have survived for long, being exposed in winter to violent storms, especially\nfrom the west-northwest and west-southwest winds, which frequently caused shipwrecks.<br>\nBesides confirming that the rock of Scilla must have been heavily fortified and garrisoned, this episode also\nattests that it must have been served by an artificial harbor where Octavian\u2019s ships were able to land and find\nrefuge.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Giuseppe Ribuffo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" 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Home-Workshop of Orazio Chirico, known as \u201cU Grecu\u201d (The Greek), Master Blacksmith.<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1431","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Il porto romano nella rada di Scilla - Discover Scilla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverscilla.com\/en\/il-porto-romano-nella-rada-di-scilla\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Il porto romano nella rada di Scilla - 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