The Flavian Amphitheatre in Pozzuoli is the third largest built in Italy during the Roman Empire (after the Colosseum and the Capuan Amphitheatre). It was built in the first century C.E. at the point where the Via Domitiana and the Via per Napoli met, close to the location of the previous Republican-era amphitheatre that had become too small with the increase in the population of Pozzuoli.
It had three overlapping orders, four main gates, 12 secondary entrances and a cavea that could seat 40,000 spectators.
Legend has it that St. Januarius, the future patron saint of Naples, was condemned to be torn to pieces by wild beasts in the arena, a sentence that was never carried out because all the animals knelt at his feet.
Film Commission d'Abruzzo
Centro Regionale Beni Culturali - Sulmona
Phone: + 39 0864 576303
Email: crbc@regione.abruzzo.it
