To close out this article, I’ll refer now to a number of small discoveries made during my surveys throughout the Terinese countryside. At the farm Pasquale De Medici in the area of Zupello, we found plenty of ruins with brick pavements and shards. I also saw a column there. On the south side of the place, I discerned traces of Roman sepulchers from the imperial period, as well as lamps containing coins. Around the ruins of the small church of S. Trara, which was in all probability Byzantine, there was a small sepulcher with tombs made of large bricks, many of which were marked with a strange figure of a palm or dried branch. These tombs have yielded amber and glass beads and for that reason I judged them Byzantine.
ati della strana figura di una lisca o ramo secco; esse hanno dato perle di ambra e di vetro e perciò le giudici bizantine.

On the right of the river, the area Celsito (that is Querceto, northeast of S. Eufemia V.) takes its name from a pretty stand of oaks that survived until a few years ago. After the discovery of numerous tiled tombs containing a few vessels, today all the land has been cleared and reduced for cultivation . There are also the ruins of another tiny church, possibly Byzantine. Around the Franzi building, still in the same area, one hears increasingly of the discovery of tombs. Such tombs were made of containers of tufa (a volcanic stone) and others were made of of tiles. The copious supply of small vessels of black glaze, sometimes with some figures or molded images, denotes a Hellenistic necropolis. They were sent to Rome to an art lover. In the adjacent area of S. Sidero (that is S. Isidoro), large brick buildings, including one that was circular, were destroyed to acquire the building material. Copious ruins were also pointed out to me in the areas of Paracocchio and Palazzi, adjacent to S. Sidero, on the property of the Tropea brothers; these are ruins from the Roman era and from the high middle ages, and have greatly deteriorated. Knowledgeable local people here place here the great monastery of S. Costantino (whose remains are recognizable at the plain of the Palazzi), whose resources formed the riches of the abbey of S. Siderio, which was a dependant of that of S. Eufemia and later was the barony of S. Siderio. I will now to conclude with the results of this detailed and laborious tour.

Hydra (goblet) with red figures from “Celsito” in Lamezia Terme
National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria

The Bagni river, free flowing for over 20 centuries, has by now profoundly altered the features of the classical landscape. If Terina was on the right side of the river, it was in an extremely weak military position. Its walls would have been built, like those of Caulonia, in great part from materials carried down by floods. The construction of the imposing Abbey of S. Eufemia (remembering that the Normans were masters at despoiling ancient ruins for building materials), and the continuous rebuilding of the abbey over almost six centuries, contributed to the destruction of almost any ruins that were then in sight. The existence in the 11th century of the ruins of an ancient city of impressive size recorded in the founding document of the abbey must certainly carry weight when added to other evidence. The treasure of S. Eufemia Vecchia, the testamentary tablet, and the necropolis at Franzi constitute documentation of the first order that attests to the presence of a good size Greek city. Furthermore, the whole countryside is replete with signs of Roman and Byzantine life. To sum up, I maintain that many and weighty reasons militate in favor of Terina-S. Eufemia, even if we must still wait for definitive proof.

from P. ORSI, Scavi e scoperte calabresi nel decennio 1911-1921, Tip, della R. Academia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma 1922, pp.467-473)