Archaeological Museum of Bologna

During the 6th and 5th centuries BC in all the Greek cities of southern Italy (Magna Grecia), were very abundant imports of Attic pottery, but only in the second half of the 5th century BC, coinciding with the foundation of the Athenian colony of Thurii (near Sybaris) started a production of local pottery with red figures.
The transfer of Athenian potters produced the birth of shops in the Greek cities of Lucania, Metaponto and in the same Thurii; subsequently arose production centers also in Apulian, Taranto and Canosa. The contraction in exports of Attic pottery, determined by the Peloponnesian War and the subsequent Athenian defeat, favored the evolution of production in Southern Italy with the birth of factories also in Sicily and Campania.
Feature of the productions of the Magna Graecia colonies is a clay color paler than the Attic pottery, together with a lower gloss black paint. Soon the workshops of southern Italy developed an original style, characterized mainly by a bright polychrome for frequent use of colors, such as white, yellow and red.
The vascular forms derives from Attic tradition, but there are pots of local type as the situla, attested only in Campania and the néstoris, of messapica origin.
The vases of greater commitment are decorated with funerary scenes and with episodes taken from myth and greek epic, sometimes strongly influenced by theater performances. These depictions are often complex, animated by numerous characters, on different floors.