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.
◆ 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.
- ◆ 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.
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 & archaeologySedile 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 & archaeologyReal Albergo dei Poveri
P.za Carlo III
An eighteenth-century colossus willed by Charles of Bourbon to shelter the poor of the Kingdom: a façade running more than three hundred metres, among the largest historic buildings in Europe.