Cagliari - The Roman Amphitheater

The Roman Amphitheatre is the most impressive Roman monument in Sardinia, located in the southern slope of Buoncammino Hill. The structure, built between the 1^st and 2^nd century AD, was half carved in the rock and half built in local white limestone blocks, with a façade exceeding 20 m. in height. It housed games and fights between gladiators or between men and animals. It was also the seat of public death executions. It could house up to 10,000 spectators, some one third of the town of “Caralis”.

The amphitheatre was no more in use starting from the middle of the 5^th AD and was subsequently used as a free stone quarry by the new rulers of the area such as Byzantines and Pisans. This area was acquired by the City of Cagliari in the middle of the 19^th century and excavated under the direction of a clergyman, Giovanni Spano. It has been used for musical and theatrical representations, which needed the construction of a structure made of wood and scaffolding pipes. After several years in which the Amphitheater was closed, now it is open to visitors.