Roman Amphitheatre of Amiternum: 6,000 Seats in History

If you picture the Roman Amphitheatre of Amiternum as a small Colosseum, you’re not far off, and yet you’re miles off. Here, in the hamlet of San Vittorino in the municipality of Pizzoli, before you stands a first-century AD ellipse of red brick that still supports 48 arches on two levels. It is strange: almost everything an amphitheatre should have is missing, yet the skeleton remains standing. The tiers have vanished, carried off over the centuries, but the brick perimeter is still entirely there, and you can walk right up and touch it. Capacity? Around 6,000 spectators. Not bad for a Sabine city that no longer exists today. Walking here is like reading a book with torn pages: you understand the story from the chapter that remains.

Amiternum began as an Italic city founded by the Sabines and became the site where, in the 1st century AD, the amphitheatre was built, outside the settlement along the Via Amiternina. It is not the oldest monument at the site: earlier, in the Augustan age, there was already a theatre with a diameter of 80 metres. The only information about the shows comes from an inscription found nearby, which mentions gladiatorial games offered by Caius Sallius Proculus with his father’s help. The city is also famous for another reason: it is the birthplace of the historian Sallust. After the fall of the Empire it declined and disappeared around the 10th century, perhaps because of an earthquake similar to the one that struck L’Aquila. The ruins came to light again with the first archaeological investigations in 1880; modern restoration began in 1996.

• Augustan age: construction of the theatre
• 1st century AD: construction of the amphitheatre
• Roman age: Amiternum was a diocese see with Forcona and Pitinum
• 10th century: disappearance of the city
• 1880: first archaeological investigations
• 1898: Barberis woodcut of the ruins
• 1996: start of consolidation works

The measurements are precise: 68 x 53 metres, modest dimensions for an amphitheatre, but its preservation is remarkable. The structure is built in mortared rubble masonry with brick facing, of excellent workmanship, and preserves its entire perimeter and masonry. Ashlar stone appears only where it is truly needed: in the facing of the podium wall, in squared limestone slabs (some reused), in the thresholds and jambs of the arena entrances and in the seating of the cavea, today almost entirely gone due to spoliation. Looking closely, one can still make out the column bases made of shaped bricks and large stone blocks with decorations and carvings found in the surrounding area. A curiosity: the north section seems to have been reinforced during construction, probably due to structural problems that forced a change to the design.

The amphitheatre is only part of the story. In the same archaeological site you can visit an Augustan-era theatre with a diameter of 80 metres and a capacity of about 2,000 people, as well as a domus with mosaics and frescoes and the remains of baths and an aqueduct. Adjacent to the amphitheatre are the traces, sadly faint, of a villa of a public nature with a central courtyard and portico. And then there is the part many don’t expect: the early Christian catacombs, which can be visited in the underground area of the nearby church of San Michele Arcangelo. The result is a route that moves from the city of the living to that of the dead without ever travelling too far, all within a tranquil rural landscape. What struck me was exactly this: not an isolated monument, but a piece of a Roman city still standing.

Three concrete reasons. First: it’s free. Entry to the Amiternum archaeological area costs nothing, and for a Roman site of this importance that’s no small thing. Second: you can touch history. There are no barriers holding you ten metres away; the brick walls are right there, with column bases made of shaped bricks and inscribed blocks. Third: the setting. You don’t just see the amphitheatre, but also a theatre, a domus with mosaics and the catacombs beneath the church of San Michele Arcangelo. Half a day of archaeology without crowds and without queues, in a corner of Abruzzo that almost nobody puts on their list. If museums bore you but you stop in front of a Roman wall, this is the place for you.

You don’t need a specific season, but you do need the right hour. The best time is late afternoon, when the low-angled light strikes the brickwork and brings out the red of the bricks and the relief of the arches. In high summer at midday, the area is exposed and there is little shade, so early morning or later in the afternoon is better. Spring and early autumn work well: mild temperatures, green or golden fields around, and clear skies over the L’Aquila basin. The site is entirely outdoors: comfortable shoes and water are a good idea. One practical detail: opening hours are not the same every day, so it’s worth checking before you set off.

The first thing to do is complete the visit with the early Christian catacombs beneath the church of San Michele Arcangelo in San Vittorino: they are part of the same story and bring it full circle. Then there is L’Aquila, which deserves a walk through its historic center, between the Fontana delle 99 Cannelle and the churches reopened after the earthquake. If you have time, the Amiternum area pairs well with a tour of the villages of the L’Aquila basin, with their Romanesque churches and views toward the Gran Sasso. In practice: amphitheater in the morning, city in the afternoon. A simple day, with no major detours.