Stadio puteolano di Antonino Pio

On Pozzuoli's western edge, at the foot of Starza hill, stand the remains of a Roman stadium built to Greek specifications. Measuring about 260 by 73 metres, it was erected under Antoninus Pius for games honouring his adoptive father Hadrian, who died at Baia.

Why it matters

For centuries the ruins were identified as Cicero's Academia. In 1977, archaeologist Ferdinando Castagnoli recognised them as the stadium of the Puteolan games. These festivals, known as the Eusebeia, were held alongside the Capitolia and the Sebastà. The park describes Greek-style athletic contests in imperial Italy as taking place at Rome, Naples and Pozzuoli, reflecting the importance of Greek culture in the region.

What to notice

The rectangular plan has one short side curved into a sphendone and the other slightly bowed. The packed-earth track measured about 232 by 39 metres. Two rows of piperno seating remain in the lower cavea, while parts of the north front's tall brick arches still stand. Stone corbels along the ambulatory once supported the poles of a velarium. At the east entrance, a double screen of piperno arches was reassembled from collapsed blocks; buttresses on the north side connected the structure with the Domitiana road.

Context and history

The stadium occupied gardens belonging to Cicero's Puteolan villa, later inherited by his friend Cluvius. After Hadrian died at Baia in 138 CE, he was temporarily buried in the villa. Antoninus Pius instituted the Puteolan games in his honour, and the stadium was conceived as a Greek-style monument to Hadrian.

The 1538 eruption of Monte Nuovo brought down upper structures, and landslides from Starza hill consumed much of the south side. A farm building dating from 1829–32 now covers vaults beneath the seating. The modern Via Domitiana, built in 1932, cut through the monument.