Anfiteatro e castello di Avella
Avella (AV)
Hidden gemHistory & archaeology
The story
The Roman amphitheatre stretched out on the plain and, higher up, the ruins of the castle guarding the Clanio valley: two ages of Avella a short distance apart.
Access
Combined ticket ~€5 by reservation
More gems in Avella
- History & archaeology
Anfiteatro romano e Necropoli di Avella
Avella (AV)
At Avella, the ancient Abella that gave its name to the hazelnut, the Roman amphitheatre and a necropolis of monumental tombs emerge at the foot of the Partenio mountains.
- Sacred art
Grotta di San Michele di Avella
Avella (AV)
Another Michaelic cave in the mountains of Avella: the cult of the Archangel, brought by the Lombards, clung to every cavern in Irpinia like ivy.
CastlesCastello di Avella (ruderi)
Avella (AV)
Above the Roman amphitheatre, the ruins of the Lombard-Norman castle crumble on a spur. One of the finest views in the Partenio, and almost nobody knows it.
More gems: History & archaeology
History & archaeologyStatua del Nilo ("Corpo di Napoli")
Largo Corpo di Napoli
A river god reclining for centuries in a quiet square, whom Neapolitans call the Corpo di Napoli: he leans his bearded head among putti and a sphinx.
History & archaeologyCappella Pontano
Decumani
A small Renaissance temple on the decumanus, which the humanist Pontano had raised for his lost wife, still lined inside with Latin inscriptions dictated by his grief.
- History & archaeology
Sedile di Nilo
Decumani
On the corner of a small Spaccanapoli square survives the seat of the old Nilo quarter, where the nobles once gathered before the sedili of Naples vanished.
History & archaeologyPort'Alba
Napoli
A seventeenth-century arch cut into the walls leads to the booksellers' street, where stalls of second-hand volumes pile up among yellowed pages and the shade of the old city.
History & archaeologyPorta Capuana
zona Garibaldi
Between two cylindrical towers an arch of white marble opens like a Renaissance triumph, the old city gate facing the road to Capua.
- History & archaeology
MANN — Museo Archeologico Nazionale
P.za Museo
One of the world's great archaeological museums: here the Toro Farnese, the mosaics of Pompeii and the Gabinetto Segreto tell the whole ancient Mediterranean in a single visit.