A casket overflowing with ancient treasures, "hidden" among the intricate alleys of the historic center of Gallipoli. This is how the “Emanuele Barba” Civic Museum could be defined, located at number 108 in via Antonietta De Pace, surrounded by churches and noble palaces. It has been there since 1823, established thanks to the first book donations of canon Carmine Fontò, to which those of Franciscans and Dominicans were added later. An important stage was when the Museum was entrusted to the doctor and scholar Emanuele Barba, forever considered a benefactor by his fellow citizens: a Mazzinian patriot, he founded the Society of Mutual Aid and Education for Workers, then in 1878 he established the Museum of Natural History and archeology.