The Flavian Amphitheater of Pozzuoli: perfectly preserved testimony of fine Roman engineering

Anfiteatro di Pozzuoli - In Pozzuoli there is the third largest Roman Amphitheater. This is the Flavian Amphitheater and is located at the intersection of two main streets, the Via Domiziana and the road to Naples. Attributed to the same architects of the Colosseum, it is very close to the Solfatara which contributed to its conservation by covering it with some substances that over time have somehow protected it from erosion.

It has an elliptical shape and had a capacity of 40,000 spectators arranged in different audiences following a rigid protocol linked to the social classes of the time. The hatches from which machinery for the maintenance of the arena were introduced, and the areas from which the beasts and gladiators arrived via elevators from the undergrounds, or the scenographies are still visible. In the basement the remains of columns and capitals are still visible, found during the years of excavations that have brought to light the arena. During the persecutions of Docleziano, some Christians, including the one who would become San Gennaro, were condemned to be torn to pieces in the arena, a torture that never happened. Some say for the absence of the governor, others for the miracle performed by the saint who made the beasts kneel before him after a blessing. The execution then took place by beheading in another place, along with others such as Patroclus. However, to remember their stay in the amphitheater, the cell where they were imprisoned before the execution of the sentence, it became a chapel dedicated to the cult of the saints imprisoned there, in particular to that of San Gennaro, to which it was named. All this is testified by two tombstones placed at the entrance to the chapel.