Greece & Rome · Roman imperial period · Gallipoli, Puglia, Italy
Roman shipwreck with cargo of garum amphorae found off Gallipoli in southern Italy
Italy's financial police spotted the merchant ship on a routine patrol in June 2025, and the find was kept secret for months to protect it from looters.
Official announcement
Gallipoli, Italy A large Roman merchant ship carrying a cargo of amphorae for garum, the fermented fish sauce prized across the Roman world, has been found on the floor of the Ionian Sea a few miles off Gallipoli in Puglia, southern Italy. The wreck is reported to date from the Roman imperial period and to be exceptionally well preserved, with its cargo still clearly visible on the seabed. It was found in June 2025 but kept secret until early February 2026 to protect it from looters.
This Gallipoli is the port town on the Ionian coast of the Salento peninsula, on the Gulf of Taranto, and not the Gallipoli in Turkey. Italy's Ministry of Culture announced the find on Facebook, and the Italian news agency ANSA also reported it.
The wreck turned up during routine police work. On a patrol, onboard instruments of the Reparto Operativo Aeronavale of Bari, part of the Guardia di Finanza (Italy's financial police, who combat smuggling), picked up an anomaly on the seabed. Divers from the force's II Nucleo of Taranto then confirmed the presence and condition of the amphora cargo, while the Sezione Operativa Navale of Gallipoli kept the area under constant surveillance. The work was coordinated with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the provinces of Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto, the state heritage office for the area.
A cargo of fish sauce
The ship has been identified as a navis oneraria, the large Roman cargo vessel used for long-distance trade by sea. Its cargo is described as homogeneous: amphorae intended to carry garum. The sauce was part of everyday Roman cooking but also a luxury product, and it was traded across the empire. Photographs released by the ministry show some of the amphorae already brought up from the seabed.
According to Arkeonews, the amphorae still lie in an arrangement that traces the original outline of the vessel, which should help researchers study how the ship was built and how its cargo was stowed. No more precise date for the wreck, and no port of origin or destination, has been published so far. The depth of the site has not been given either, beyond a description of it as considerable.
The waters off Gallipoli and the wider Salento coast lay on a strategic sea route between the eastern and western Mediterranean in antiquity. Sudden storms and a difficult coastline made the route dangerous, and shipwrecks were frequent.
Funding and next steps
The announcement followed a funding decision. Italy's Superior Council for Cultural Heritage has allocated 780,000 euros for scientific investigation of the wreck and for securing the site. The project falls under a protocol signed in July 2025 by the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, and the Commander General of the Guardia di Finanza, Andrea De Gennaro, which combines the police force's protection of the territory with scientific research. The same arrangement was used for an earlier recovery in the waters off Ugento.
The work is to follow the principles of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The first phase will be non-destructive documentation. Photogrammetry, which builds three-dimensional models from many overlapping photographs, and 3D laser scanning will be used to produce a precise digital model of the wreck and of the spread of material around it.
The team will then analyse the cargo and the hull. The position and type of each amphora will be recorded, along with any seals or painted inscriptions (tituli picti). Study of the hull could give information on how the ship was built, how much it could carry and what life on board was like.
Only after this documentation phase will the team decide whether to recover selected objects. Any material brought up will need restoration and stabilisation treatment after centuries in salt water before it can be studied and eventually put on display.
Sources
- A Roman ship with its entire cargo of garum amphorae intact found off the coast of the Gulf of Taranto in the Ionian Sea (La Brújula Verde)
- Exceptional Discovery in the Ionian Sea: Newly Revealed Roman Shipwreck Found off Gallipoli, Italy (Arkeonews)
- Roman Shipwreck Discovered Off Coast of Southern Italy (Archaeology Magazine)
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