Matteo Sansone Collection

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Among the places of interest to visit in the historic center of Mattinata, there is inevitably the Matteo Sansone Collection.

Mostly exhibited in the village pharmacy, which in fact takes its name from it, the Matteo Sansone Collection houses an unusual combination of archaeological, historical and pharmaceutical finds, many of which come from the necropolis of Monte Saraceno.

Among the findings there are also steles and vases originating from the Daunian civilization and sculptures dating back to the eighteenth century, able to retrace some stages of our history.

"The collection set up in the ancient Pharmacy Sansone on the main street of Mattinata, Corso Matino, is undoubtedly original. Visitors stop by to browse through archaeological artifacts and pharmaceutical furnishings from the past, all collected by Dr. Sansone throughout his life. Known as 'the apothecary of Mattinata,' Matteo Sansone used to say he felt like an 'archaeologist by passion, pharmacist by necessity.' He spent his entire life collecting relics, including tonsil tips and a vast collection of Daunian stele fragments, such as the one depicting an infernal monster. Not only that, but the special pharmacy also houses sculptures from Mount Saraceno, various trinkets, and testimonies of times gone by. To buy an aspirin here, you travel through centuries and millennia, landing in the modern era with statues from the 18th-century cribs to tools from rural life, recovered from farmhouses and estates."