07/06/2026
Amphitheater of Catania, one of the largest of the Roman Empire, but most of it remains under the modern city.
Its elliptical shape 125mtx105mt was built with the technique of opus mixtum (lava blocks and rows of bricks). The seats in the cavea were built with limestone blocks and some parts were coated with marble slabs. It was adorned with columns, statues and bas-reliefs. On top a removable tent or velarium could be extended to protect spectators from the weather.
The building could seat up around 15000 spectators and it was built in two phases. The first building, erected probably in the first century AD, was smaller and included only the inner ambulacrum and the corresponding part of the overstanding cavea. In the second century of the Christian age perhaps upon of the arrival in Catania of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, the building was significantly expanded with the construction of the external ambulatory, a new facade and a system of rampant arches that connected it to the hill and a cavea that tripled the number of seats. It Fell into disuse in the fifth century and by permission of Theodoric was partially stripped of its blocks that were used to build public buildings. In the twelfth century its stones were used to build the new Cathedral of Catania. During the Sicilian Vespers war the Angevins made use of its ambulatories in order to pe*****te inside the city; for this reason the external arches were successively walled and the ambulatories filled with debris, because the ruins were close to the city walls. After the 1693 earthquake its ruins became the foundations of Baroque buildings. In the early eighteenth century the Amphitheater was completely hidden by buildings, so that people doubted on its real existence.
