CAPUA: THE LITTLE ROME

The name Capua is now found in the name of the modern city, Santa Maria Capua Vetere. A few kilometers separate Caserta from what was a prosperous and lively city of Ancient Rome. The Campano Amphitheatre still stands out in its excellent state of preservation: it was probably the model for the Colosseum in Rome, although it was then progressively embellished by the emperors Adriano first and Antonino Pio then. Nearby, it is interesting to visit the Gladiator Museum, which still retains just part of the decoration of the amphitheater, along with showing a reconstruction of a real gladiator fight. Moving instead to the Archaeological Museum of ancient Capua, it is possible to observe the antiquity of the founding of the city: here are exhibited finds that go back to the Iron Age, passing through that Sannita, finally reaching the domination Roman. The Mitreo, on the other hand, a small treasure found almost by accident during an excavation for the construction of a building, is one of the most intact testimonies of the practices around the cult of the god Mitra: the frescoes and seating, still perfectly visible, push the fancy to travel back to the 3rd century AD.