With the greater facility of the modern road network it is easy to take a landlocked attitude to the Italian peninsula. In fact, it is important to offer a complementary maritime survey of the peninsula, an approach to the peninsula that is given credence by the distribution of shipwrecks around the coast.39 Although it is difficult to interrogate the statistics of shipwrecks, affected as they are by the vagaries of research and depth of water, some indication will be given to the zones of high density below.40 The sea was not only key to communication but an important source of resources ranging from fish to salt.
Our survey starts with the Gulf of La Spezia in the northwest, an embayment with a small coastal plain, flanked by the points of Portovenere (a narrow, cliffed headland) and S. Pietro. The Magra delta forms the regional context of the Roman city of Luni, where geomorphological studies have shown considerable buildup of sediment since Roman times.41 The Apennines behind this city provided an important source of (Carrara) marble from at least classical times. From this point onward the Apennines leave the sea, and the coast of modern Tuscany and Latium sweeps southeast for about 550 km, in a series of broad bays separated by rocky headlands and promontories. Studies of the coastal strip through a combination of archaeological and geomorphological evidence have shown a considerable aggradation of this coastline from at least the republican period onward.42 The distribution of wrecks containing Dressel 1 amphorae (ceramic containers of republican date) suggests that this was one of the two most important stretches of coastline of the peninsula.43 A series of islands (Gorgona, Capraia, Pianosa, Elba, Giglio) lie off the coast, providing both important landmarks and, to judge from the number of shipwrecks, problems for shipping (although republican shipwrecks have only been found off Elba, most notably at Capo Sant’Andrea, and off Giglio and Giannutri).
At first there is a beach-fringed plain which widens to accommodate the mouth of the Arno River. This is succeeded by a rocky section which is, in its turn, interrupted by the mouth of the smaller Cecina River (a Dressel 1 shipwreck site). To the south of here, after entering the Maremma, there is the striking promontory of Piombino, which is a projection of the Colline metalifere, with the island of Elba beyond. The bay of Baratti, which served the city of Populonia, was important, as indicated by the quantity of shipwrecks (especially that of Pozzino). Once the landmark of the Piom-bino promontory has been passed, one enters the major embayment of Follonica drained by the Cornia River. This is followed in turn by another promontory (Punta Ala), the site of at least one shipwreck, and the more ample plain of Grosseto which, in Roman times, would have been lagoonal in character behind sandbars; this is, in part, the delta of the one of the major rivers of Tyrrhenian Italy, the Ombrone. At this point the hills again project into the sea at Talamone, before opening once more into the Albegna valley. At the southern edge of the valley, mariners would see from some distance the promontory of Monte Argentario attached to the mainland by two tombolos (sand bars), containing a lagoon behind. The southern flank of this promontory is the site of at least two republican wrecks. To south there is a 50-km broader plain of beach backed by sandhills, up to 10 km inland, down to the mouth of the Mignone River, containing the mouth of the Fiora River, as well as smaller streams, lagoons, and salt pans. At the site of the Roman and modern Civitavecchia, the mineral-bearing Tolfa mountains come down to the sea, fringed by cliffs and pebble beaches. After this important promontory landmark, the coastal plain again widens for some 60 km, often behind sand dunes and marshland which shield the tuff volcanic plains from the sea. The coastline at Santa Severa not far from the archaic sanctuary port of Pyrgi has yielded at least one prominent republican shipwreck, with finds suggestive of an important route down to Campania. To the south, the delta of the Tiber has extended quite considerably seaward from Ostia since Roman times (in this instance most prominently since ad 1500), and volcanic tuffs behind have also become more eroded. The Capo of Anzio and Monte Circeo, straddling the Pontine plains (see above for more detail) are, however, more stable landmarks (and in case of Circeo a considerable danger) for mariners through the ages.
The next stretch of coast, some 270 km in length, runs down from promontory and port of Gaeta, through the spectacular gulfs of Gaeta, Naples, and Salerno dominated by the volcano of Vesuvius. Rugged and often cliffed peninsulas, headed by the distinctive islands of Ponza, Venotene, Ischia, and Capri, fringe wide, fertile plains. The islands of Ponza and Ventotene and the Secca dei Mattoni reef between the Ponza and Palmarola islands caused the shipwreck of several republican ships. Another reef at Le Grotticelle between the small islands of Ventocene and Santo Stefano (in the Pontine islands) was also destructive to republican shipping.
The promontory of Gaeta is approached from the north from Terracina along a steep, rocky coast rising rapidly to the limestone mountains beyond. The Fondi basin forms a small interruption to this rocky scenery, filled by marshland and lagoons. The Gaeta promontory protects two natural ports. After another headland, a sandy beach, backed by extensive dunes and marsh, sweeps some 60 km round toward Cumae, broken by the mouths of the Garigliano and Volturno, two of the largest rivers of central Italy. An arena of mountains rises behind the extensive plain. At Cape Mis-enum the coast enters the highly spectacular Bay of Naples. Every place-name one reaches, as one travels around the bay, has a significance for classical history: the well-protected port of Misenum, Baiae, Pozzuoli, and Naples itself. Beaches alternate with rocky coastland in front of Campi Flegrei, all visibly modeled by volcanic action as well as by the sea. Shipwrecks from areas such as the island of Procida show republican activity along the coast. From Naples the bay runs below Vesuvius, remodeled by post Roman activity, before widening into the Sarno plain. The Sorrentine peninsula, composed of limestone and some volcanic tuff much affected by faulting, projects beyond, with Capri to the seaward. At least one point, that of Punta Licosa, proved dangerous to republican shipping. This is largely a coastline of spectacular rocky cliffs, until just beyond Salerno, where there is once again a sizeable plain which widens to some 10 km in the area of the ancient city of Paestum to the south, and provides drainage for the Sele River, dropping from the higher relief of the Eboli that itself backs onto the higher Apennines behind.
To the south from here, before entering northern Calabria, major mountain blocks project into the sea, with Monte Stella (Punto Licosa) to the northeast and Monte Bulgheria (Torre Iscolelli) to the southeast. Only the plain around the ancient Greek city of Velia provides a major break in the rocky coastline, although there are occasionally more fertile coastal strips all the way down the Calabrian coastline. As one enters northern Calabria, the mountains rise almost directly from the sea, with very few coastal plains or river valleys. The coastline swings southwest in the Gulf of S. Eufemia, around the wider valley of the Amato River and toward Capo Vaticano. To the other side of Capo Vaticano, there is another prominent embayment, the Gulf of Gioia, turning south toward Scilla and the modern Villa di S. Giovanni, in close proximity to Sicily.
Turning south around the ‘‘toe’’ of the peninsula, there are some slightly larger coastal plains, and modern Reggio di Calabria takes advantage of one of them. There is generally a narrow beach-fringed plain, backed by highly dissected ridges, that rise rapidly to the Calabrian mountains beyond. Every so often a cape (e. g., Cape Bruzzano) or a more fertile plain interrupts this pattern. Beyond Punto Stilo, one enters the Gulf of Squillace. The character of the coastline only changes markedly on the other side of the Gulf where a series of capes, Castella, Rizzuto, and Colonne, mark a rugged and indented coastline, with, in part, major cliffs rising from the sea.
The Gulf of Taranto, extending almost 500 km between Capo Colonne and Capo S. Maria di Leuca, forms the instep of peninsular Italy. A narrow strip broadens into the wider plains of Neto, Sibari (see above) and, above all, Metapontum. In the region of Metapontum, the coastline rises gradually to a series of terraces. At the eastern edge is the bay of Taranto with its important port and beyond, the limestone cliffs and narrow coastal plain of the Salentine peninsula. Between Taranto and the Cape of S. Maria di Leuca, the promontory of Gallipoli forms one of the major landmarks projecting from the coastline. The bay of Saturo some 12 km to the east of Taranto appears to have provided some danger to shipping, particularly a reef running parallel to the shore. Survey of the Secche di Ugento near Capo Santa Maria di Leuca has also shown that this underwater landmark led to casualties in the republican period.
The more than 500-km stretch from Capo S. Maria di Leuca to Torre Mileto encompasses the heel of the Italian peninsula to a point north of the projecting Gargano peninsula, the spur of peninsular Italy. This is a stretch with few interruptions or indentations until the massive landmark of the Gargano peninsula itself to the north of the wide Tavoliere plain (see above) at the head of the Gulf of Manfredonia. The first part of this stretch is a largely made up of limestone plateaux emerging either directly from the sea or from a coastal plain no more than a few kilometers wide. In the course of this coastline there are occasional inlets and or ports such as Badisco, Otranto, or Brindisi. One republican ship appears to have hit the coast near Porto Badisco and sunk to a depth of nearly 40 m, and there appears to be another concentration of shipwrecks around Brindisi.
The final maritime stretch of republican Italy runs some 400 km up the Adriatic coast from Torre Mileto to Rimini. It is generally a long beach with few breaks, rising from a narrow coastal strip to low hills, subject to erosion, to the high Apennines. Occasionally a major delta (such as that of the Biferno valley - see above) interrupts this progress. Relatively few opportunities for harbor exist along the coast, although shelter is sufficiently frequent to provide reasonable communication at locations such as Pescara, Senigallia, Pesaro, Rimini, and Ancona. It is the promontory of Ancona that provides the most prominent landmark of this coastline.
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