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Capua amphitheater

The Campanian amphitheater of Santa Maria Capua Vetere is located in the ancient Roman center of Capua, an important Roman province. The amphitheater is the second largest after the Colosseum. The amphitheater was used for gladiator shows and had four orders of stands accessible thanks to external and internal stairs. The facade was enriched and decorated with 240 busts of divinities, including: Jupiter, Demeter, Diana, Mercury, Minerva, Apollo, Mitra, Juno, Volturno and Pan's heads, satyrs and theatrical masks. Currently it is no longer possible to admire the terraces of the cavea covered with marble as they were in ancient times. The ornamental parts have mostly been lost with the exception of a Venus, Adonis and Cupid and Psyche. The main entrance allowed you to reach the basement where the animals and gladiators were in preparation. The amphitheater maintained its function as an arena until 530 AD, even during the Gothic and Lombard rule. Only in 841 AD was it transformed into a fortress by the Saracens. The Capuan amphitheater, like all the other Roman buildings, became a quarry for the extraction of stone materials reused for the construction of other buildings. Only in 1920, thanks to numerous restoration interventions, the Amphitheater was freed from the earth and brought back into vogue.

Timetable and tickets

Address

piazza I Ottobre, 1860
81055 Santa Maria Capua Vetere

Contacts

Discounts and prices’ reductions with the Artsupp Card

With the Artsupp Card you can get, for the first time, discounts and reduced entrance tickets for Italian museums .

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Other museums in Santa Maria Capua Vetere

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