Pozzuoli

On the shore of its gulf within the volcanic landscape of the Campi Flegrei, Pozzuoli was once the great port of Rome, where grain ships from Alexandria unloaded and the apostle Paul set foot on Italian soil. Its amphitheatre, ancient marketplace, evacuated acropolis and steaming crater make it one of the bay’s most layered excursions.

Why visit

Pozzuoli rewards curiosity more handsomely than its low profile suggests. The Flavian Amphitheatre of Pozzuoli is Italy’s third largest, and unlike the Colosseum its underground machinery survives intact: you can walk the corridors where animal cages slid on rails and were hoisted through trapdoors into the arena. The Macellum — romanticised since the 18th century as the Temple of Serapis — still carries the borings of sea molluscs high on its marble columns, the strangest monument to the earth’s movement you will ever see. Above the port, the Rione Terra, the original acropolis town, stands as a preserved fragment of two thousand years of habitation, its underground streets now a walkable archaeological route. Add the sulphurous crater of Solfatara, Roman necropolises, and a waterfront of good seafood, and Pozzuoli offers a full day among monuments that most visitors to Naples never reach.

Character and history

Samoset exiles fleeing tyranny founded the Greek colony of Dicaearchia around the end of the sixth century BC, with the consent of neighbouring Cumae, on a tuff headland rising above the gulf. Rome refounded it as a colony named Puteoli in 194 BC, and for two centuries it was the capital’s principal commercial harbour — the emporium for Alexandrian grain and the export point for the volcanic ash, pozzolana, that gave Roman concrete its strength and built the Pantheon’s dome. Cicero kept a house here; Sulla died nearby; St Paul landed and stayed a week on his way to trial in Rome. As Ostia’s ports grew, Puteoli declined, and the town shrank back onto its acropolis — today’s Rione Terra — which carried on, layered upward, for two millennia. The ground itself never rested. Bradyseism, the slow rising and sinking of the Phlegraean caldera, marked the Macellum’s columns with the traces of long-gone seawater and culminated in the crisis of 1982–84, when thousands of buildings were damaged and tens of thousands of people left their homes. The district had already been evacuated in 1970; its rediscovery by excavation, and the reopening of its cathedral, have turned it into the town’s most moving site. Saint Proculus, martyred here, remains patron of the city; the amphitheatre’s chapel recalls the tradition that St Januarius faced the beasts there.

What to see

Begin with the Flavian Amphitheatre of Pozzuoli, built by the Flavian colony at its own expense near the end of the first century AD: the arena floor is pierced by trapdoors, and the hypogeum below shows the cage-lifting gear, cell corridors and central trench of a working games venue. A small chapel marks the tradition of St Januarius’s condemnation to the beasts.

Down by the water, the Macellum of Pozzuoli (Temple of Serapis) was in fact a Roman market, misnamed after a statue of the Egyptian god found here in 1750; its three great marble columns, banded by the holes of lithophaga molluscs, became a classic image in the history of geology.

The hill above the port holds the Rione Terra (historic district of Pozzuoli), a rock fortress some thirty metres above the sea, and the Rione Terra Underground Archaeological Route, which follows the streets of Roman Puteoli past arcades, bakeries with their millstones, shops and warehouses, buried some fifteen metres beneath the baroque town. Within the same complex stands the Pozzuoli Cathedral (St. Proculus Cathedral), raised over the walls of the Temple of Augustus and reopened after long restoration; Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting of St Januarius in the amphitheatre hangs here.

South of the centre, the Solfatara (volcanic crater) steams with fumaroles and bubbling mud — the “burning fields” that gave the Campi Flegrei their name; access has been subject to volcanic-risk restrictions, so check its current status before planning a visit.

On the road toward Cuma, the Arco Felice Vecchio (Roman arch) spans the ancient Via Campana where it cuts through the rock, once a gateway on the route from Cumae. Two burial grounds line the same roads out of town: the Via Celle Roman Necropolis and the San Vito Roman Necropolis, with rich chamber tombs of the imperial age. Near the amphitheatre, the Stadium of Antoninus Pius (Pozzuoli) preserves the outline of the Roman athletics ground.

How to experience

Give the amphitheatre a slow hour underground before the heat of the day, then walk down to the port for lunch — the town is proud of its seafood — and take the Rione Terra route in the afternoon, when the subterranean cool is a mercy. Guided tours of the underground run on schedules set by the municipality, so book ahead. Come on a Campania arte card or combined tickets if visiting several Phlegraean sites. Watch the volcanic situation reports before travelling: bradyseismic activity in the Campi Flegrei is monitored closely and can affect access to the Solfatara and occasionally other sites. The finest moments are unhurried ones — the view over the gulf from the Rione Terra walls, with fishing boats and the outline of Ischia beyond.

Practical planning

Pozzuoli is the western terminus of Naples’ Metro line 2 and is also served by the Cumana railway from Montesanto; both deliver you to the centre in about half an hour from Naples. The main monuments cluster compactly: amphitheatre, port and Rione Terra are all walkable, while the Solfatara and the necropolises need a bus or car. Museum sites generally close one weekday and observe the usual holiday variations — check the Phlegraean Fields park authority’s site (pafleg.cultura.gov.it) and the municipal pages for current hours and any access notices related to volcanic monitoring. Spring and autumn are ideal; summer afternoons are fierce on the exposed amphitheatre. Combine Pozzuoli with Baia and Cuma for a full day along the Phlegraean coast.

Nearby places

Across the water, the islands beckon: Procida with its pastel fishing harbour, Ischia with its castle and thermal springs, and Capri with Anacapri high on its slopes. Along the coast, the Phlegraean sites of Baia, Cuma and the wider Campi Flegrei complete the volcanic itinerary.