La fortificazione di Filiporto

The fortification of Filiporto is a defensive complex never studied after the first notes by Paolo Orsi at the very end of the XIX Century, even if it is connected to the famous site of Pantalica. Although many limits affect the interpretation of the archaeological evidence due to the absence of excavation data and the current state of the ruins, covered by debris, this article proposes a survey of the visible structures and a hypothesis of reconstruction of the fortification. It consists in a wall laying along a wide and deep trench; a backward door is opened in the wall, defended by a tower. Basing on the typological, metrological and building analysis, a two phases chronology is here proposed for the fortification: the first one between the end of the IVth and the beginning of the III rd Century b.C., and a later restoration, perhaps during the IXth Century. Within a model of the military settlement in hinterland of Sicily between IVth and III rd Century b.C. that is just outlined in the more recent studies, this article releases the fortification of Filiporto from the traditional idea of a «great city» at Pantalica and proposes an interpretation of the site in a strategic and territorial perspective. An identification of the site as a phrourion, in fact, should explain the lack of evidence for any dwelling, since, in the case of a military presence, they could have had a semi-permanent or ephemeral caracter.