POZZUOLI (Puteoli)		Quality of Remains
		Ease of Access
		Atmosphere & Setting

History & Occupation:

Puteoli was founded originally as a Greek colony in around 520 BC. Its history from then is vague for some time, though it seems to have become Roman during the Samnite wars in the late 4th Century BC. What we do know is that a garrison of 6,000 men were sent temporarily to Puteoli to protect it from Hannibal in 214 BC. In 194 BC a permanent Roman military colony was established here. Following this many great men had a home in Puteoli, including such names as Sulla and Cicero, and the city was favoured by many Emperors, being given special honours by Vespasian. By the Imperial age, Puteoli was already one of the most prosperous and important trading ports in Italy and, along with Ostia, was one of Rome's main supply ports. Constantly prosperous and popular, Puteoli was finally destroyed by barbarians in the same year that Rome fell (410 AD).

Remains and Visit:

Pozzuoli contains a wealth of Roman remains, some of which are famous and easy to find, others are undocumented or hidden away. Despite its interest value, the town is often overlooked due to the proximity of the more popular sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Flavian amphitheatre is magnificent, a better example of this type of structure than even the Colosseum and the third largest in Italy. In a park are the remains of a set of baths (unlabelled and largely ignored). In the lower area of town is the Macellum with its magnificent marble rooms and columns, which has been mislabelled a Serapeium for centuries due to the presence of a statue of Serapis found at the site. There is an underground walk called the Rione Terra, where excavation is ongoing. This is an underground warren of roads, buildings, stretches of the city walls and so on and should be much more famous than it actually is.

Images:

Amphitheatre exterior	Amphitheatre seating	Amphitheatre tunnels	Amphitheatre tunnels
Altar & Tombstone	The Serapeum or Macellum	Latrine in Serapeum	Sad ruins of the theatre	Aerial view (c/o Google Earth)