The Anfiteatro Laterizio is a Roman amphitheatre north-west of Nola. It goes back to the middle of the first century BC, shortly after the town was made a Sullan colony, and was remodelled at least twice: in the first century AD and then between the second and third centuries, perhaps after damage from some earthquake. It was abandoned even before the eruption of Pollena, between the end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth century, and used as a quarry for building material: almost all the tiers and much of the marble were carried off. The name by which we know it has been in use since the sixteenth century.
What to see
On its major axis the amphitheatre measures about 138 metres, on the minor one 108. The excavations made between 1985 and 1993 brought to light a little less than a quarter of it: three access corridors, the walls that bounded the arena, the embankments on which the tiers rested, four vaulted passages and some stretches of the outer circuit, still covered with plaster.
The parapet of the arena, more than two and a half metres high, is faced with rectangular slabs of white marble. The lowest band of the cavea had three steps and was separated by a balustrade and by a corridor along the edge of the parapet, in all likelihood used by the staff. At the two sides of the main corridor were the cages for the animal hunts, and the central corridor perhaps served to shelter the beasts during the shows.
Visiting
Whether and when the area is open to visitors should be checked beforehand, with the town council of Nola or with the town's National Archaeological Museum.
Our editors' tip
A tradition about the patron saint is tied to the amphitheatre. Here, by order of the prefect Marcianus, Bishop Felix of Nola is said to have been shut in, condemned to the beasts for professing the Christian faith: but the animals, the story goes, refused to attack him.
