Parco archeologico di Compsa
Conza della Campania (AV)
Hidden gemHistory & archaeology
The story
Beneath the ruins of the village destroyed by the 1980 earthquake, ancient Compsa has resurfaced, a Roman town on a hill suspended between the Ofanto river and the silence of Irpinia.
More gems in Conza della Campania
History & archaeologyConza della Campania (antica Compsa)
Conza della Campania (AV)
On the ruins of ancient Compsa, the village abandoned after the earthquake of 1980 is now an archaeological park: the Roman forum resurfaces among the empty houses, and just below the lake of Conza shines.
- Villages
Conza della Campania Vecchia
Conza della Campania (AV)
Razed by the 1980 earthquake, old Conza brought to light the ancient Roman Compsa: an archaeological park where the ruins tell of a city lost twice over.
Nature & hikingOasi WWF Lago di Conza
Conza della Campania (AV)
Born from a dam on the Ofanto, the lake is the largest wetland in Campania: from the hides you can watch herons, cormorants and storks along the migration routes.
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.