A remarkable archaeological find has emerged from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea, where Italian divers have uncovered a well-preserved ancient Roman shipwreck dating back more than 2,000 years off the coast of Sicily. The sunken vessel, found at a depth of around 46 meters (150 feet), holds hundreds of intact ancient ceramic containers known as amphorae, storage jars that once carried trade goods including wine, olive oil and grain across the Roman Empire.
The discovery traces back to a tip from local fishermen, after recreational fisherman and free-diver Giacomo De Mola first spotted an unusual large formation on his sonar scanner while mapping the seabed near the coastal town of Mazara del Vallo. Drawn to investigate the unexpected anomaly, De Mola descended and found what he described as the find of a lifetime: not a rocky outcrop, but hundreds of tightly packed amphorae covering the wreck of the ancient cargo ship.
“I get closer. And my heart stops. It wasn’t a rock,” De Mola recounted in a social media post documenting the moment. “This is, without a doubt, the most incredible discovery of my life. It’s hard to describe what it feels like to be among the first humans, in nearly 20 centuries, to see that place again.” De Mola’s footage of the wreck shows a thriving marine ecosystem, with eels, snappers and countless other sea species making their home among the ancient jars, leading him to note, “The sea never ceases to amaze us. This time we didn’t just find a wreck, we found a piece of our history.”
Following the initial discovery, specialist divers from the Carabinieri Art Squad — Italy’s police unit tasked with protecting cultural and archaeological heritage — were dispatched to the site to conduct a formal assessment. Early measurements from local media reports put the wreckage at 21 meters (69 feet) long and 6 meters (20 feet) wide, with Italy’s Culture Ministry confirming the vessel dates to between the second and first centuries BC.
Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has hailed the find as “one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years.” Officials announced that targeted safety protections will be put in place around the wreck as archaeological experts carry out a full investigation to map the vessel, confirm its origin and trading route, and analyze the full contents of its cargo.
The discovery of this Roman wreck adds to a growing body of underwater archaeological finds across the Mediterranean, a sea with thousands of years of maritime trade history that experts believe hides thousands of undiscovered ancient shipwrecks along its seabed. In 2023, another first or second century BC cargo ship laden with hundreds of amphorae was discovered off the northwest coast of Rome, and in 2018, archaeologists uncovered a 2,400-year-old intact Greek merchant ship off the Bulgarian coast, a find that was recognized at the time as the oldest intact shipwreck ever documented.