 Scylletium appears to have become a considerable town after it received the Roman colony, and continued such throughout the Roman Empire.Towards the close of this period it was distinguished as the birthplace of the Roman statesman "Cassiodorus", founder of the "Vivarium", a monastery dedicated to the coexistence of coenobitic monks and hermits, who has left us a detailed but rhetorical description of the beauty of its situation, and fertility of its territory.Cassiodorus' writings also make mention of production of highly priced terra cotta.