Pozzuoli sits on top of a supervolcano: the Campi Flegrei, the caldera that breathes under its feet, raising and lowering the ground — the bradyseism that left the holes of marine molluscs on the columns of the «Temple of Serapis», which was in fact the ancient market. The Flavian amphitheatre, the third largest in Italy, keeps impressive underground chambers; the Rione Terra, the ancient citadel evacuated in 1970, is visitable again with its excavations.
The volcano is not a figure of speech: the Solfatara opened four thousand years ago, and Monte Nuovo, the hill that closes the gulf to the west, was born in 1538 during the last eruption of the Campi Flegrei — a hill made by an eruption rather than by a geological age. Sophia Loren grew up here, and the ferries for Procida and Ischia leave from here. Myth is everywhere: Lake Avernus, the gate of the underworld for the Romans, is ten minutes away.
Anfiteatro Flavio · Chiesa di San Marco · Chiesa di San Raffaele Arcangelo and 3 more
Pizza Napoletana · Caprese
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Next up: Saint Proculus, patron whose feast recalls the return of his body to the town in 1781, Sunday 9 May
Nearest airport: Napoli Capodichino, 16 km away
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📅 Every year, on the second Sunday of May, marking the return of the saint's body to the town in 1781
Pozzuoli celebrates Saint Proculus on the second Sunday of May, marking the recovery and return to the town of the saint's body on 13 May 1781; his basilica, atop the Rione Terra, stands on an ancient temple possibly of Greek or Samnite origin.
Anfiteatro Flavio Roman amphitheatre of Pozzuoli, third-largest in Italy, with intact underground rooms and San Gennaro's cell. Chiesa di San Marco Neoclassical Greek-cross church in Pozzuoli, built in 1933, with a wooden statue of Saint Mark. Chiesa di San Raffaele Arcangelo Baroque octagonal church in Pozzuoli, built 1745–1760, with paintings by Giacinto Diano. Chiesa di Santa Maria della Consolazione The Carmine church of Pozzuoli, built by the Carmelites, with the Madonna del Parto and eighteenth-century cha Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie Pozzuoli's oldest church, from the early sixteenth century, rebuilt in 1858–1860 after sea flooding. Santuario di San Gennaro alla Solfatara Pozzuoli sanctuary of 1580 on the spot where, by tradition, San Gennaro was beheaded, with his stone and bust. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Pozzuoli, but an easy day trip away.
