Piazza dell'Anfiteatro

Piazza dell’Anfiteatro takes its elliptical shape from the Roman amphitheatre beneath it. Built outside the walls of Roman Lucca in the first or second century AD, the structure now lies about three metres below the square’s level; later buildings grew over the ruins and preserved the ancient outline.

Why it matters

The piazza is an example of an ancient building surviving through reuse rather than as a visible ruin. The amphitheatre was gradually quarried for building materials and known in the Middle Ages as the grotte, or “caves.” Houses and other buildings were later constructed on the remains, keeping the ellipse legible in the modern city.

What to notice

The square’s oval form follows the plan of the amphitheatre. The Roman structure had two superimposed orders of fifty-five arches supporting a cavea of twenty tiers, with room for around ten thousand spectators. Its ancient arena is buried beneath the paving, while the surrounding buildings trace the amphitheatre’s shape.

Context and history

From 1830, architect Lorenzo Nottolini cleared buildings from the centre and created the ring street around the square. The intervention gave Lucca the urban space seen today while retaining the outline of the Roman monument in its surrounding buildings.