The museum hosts Roman finds from archaeological investigations carried out in the sea and along the coast of the territory of Nardò.

The museum was originally designed to house the remains of the Roman ship of St. Catherine (marine of Nardò city), but then it was used for a larger and more interesting project, “The landscape as a museum. Archeology of the coast of the territory of Nardò”. It consists of a programme of archeological researches of maritime landscapes, with excavations and prospecting on land and sea, aimed at reconstructing the dynamics of evolution and population of the coast over the centuries.