Arco Felice Vecchio

The road from Pozzuoli to Cuma passed through a gorge in Monte Grillo, where Roman engineers spanned the cutting with a brick arch about twenty metres tall. The Arco Felice Vecchio served as both viaduct and gateway on the Via Domitiana.

Why it matters

Built around 95 CE under Domitian, the arch carried the Via Domitiana, a branch of the Appian Way, through the ridge. The municipality describes the gorge as first cut by Greek settlers and later widened by Roman engineers. The structure bridged the cut and supported its slopes; in a later period it also served as a defensive position and monumental entrance to Cuma from Pozzuoli.

What to notice

The brickwork rises in two superimposed orders of arches. Each face of the piers has three niches intended for statues, and the long structure reads as a road viaduct as well as a gateway. It was once faced with marble slabs, giving the brick structure a more monumental finish.

Context and history

The arch belongs to the Roman road system that linked Puteoli with settlements to the north. Its route crossed Monte Grillo, a natural divide between Pozzuoli and Cuma. The park's account of Cuma identifies the breach at the Arco Felice Vecchio as the city's eastern gate, a role that gives the monument its lasting association with the passage between the two ancient centres.