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marble table, along with fragments of two more tables. 75 Detailed information is
available only for the most artistic of them, while little is known about the unfinished
blocks and column shafts. What little hull remains were raised appear to have vanished.
Likely deemed of little value to the general public, they were left to air dry and
disintegrated quickly once brought to the surface.
A ew Phase of Research: Gianni Roghi and Patrizio Pensabene (1961-1978)
As is suggested by the disappearance of the artifacts and the disintegration of hull
remains, interest in the marbles of Punta Scifo waned in the years that followed the
discoveries of 1915. The shipwrecks were apparently forgotten until 1961, when a series
of newspaper articles described how it was “absolutely necessary to recover the columns
of the ancient temple of Hera Lacinia.” 76 Public hearings were brought to the Lower
House in Rome, prompting the Central Government to send Mr. Gianni Roghi to dive
close to Punta Scifo. He investigated the area “not less than half a kilometer south of
Capo Colonna” 77 without finding any trace of archaeological material there, but was able
to see and map, with the help a local diver, five isolated monolithic marble column
shafts a few kilometers south of Punta Scifo. These became known as the “Capo Cimiti
columns” after the nearby promontory. 78
It is possible that local divers in the 1960s remembered the location of the Punta
Scifo A shipwreck, and raised more artifacts. Armando Lucifero, a passionate collector
75 Original report May 15, 1915.
76 Valente 1973, 67 n.46.
77 Roghi 1961, 311.
78 Roghi 1961, 310-15.
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