The city, cited by classical authors for its privileged geographical position, was a strategic commercial link between the West and the East. The first settlement arose in XVI century BC and lived on until the Iron Age, when the whole territory of Puglia was inhabited by the Iapygids. Around the end of the sixth century. BC, Egnatia was connoted as settlement of the Messapia, corresponding to the current provinces of Brindisi and Lecce.
Starting from the III century. BC, with the Roman presence in the territory, the city underwent transformations from an urban planning point of view and, from the first century. B.C. acquired the status of municipium, assuming great importance thanks to the presence of the port and the Via Traiana.
From the sixth century. A.D. the lower part of the town was gradually abandoned, and the settlement continued on the Acropolis, until the thirteenth century.

The exhibition itinerary, divided into 7 sections, narrates the events that characterized the archaeological research in Egnazia and the historical evolution of the site from the 16th century. B.C. until the 13th century AD, when the area was abandoned. The finds and images illustrate the peculiarities of the first settlement of huts in the Age of Bronze, the influence of the Apygian and Messapian culture, of which the 4^th century BC Tomb of the Pomegranates represents an exceptional example; and finally the Roman and Paleo-Christian phase with the city becoming an episcopal see.The last section collects evidence relating to the Lombard presence and the last traces of contact of the area. Of the Roman city you can admire the remains of the Via Traiana, the Civil Basilica with the hall of the Three Graces, the room of Sacello of the oriental divinities, the arcaded square, the cryptoporticus and the spa. Among the buildings of Christian worship built between the fourth and sixth centuries. A.D., the Episcopal Basilica with its baptistery and Southern Basilica, originally paved with mosaics, is worthy of note.