Today's choice was to visit the ancient town of Capua, located north of Naples. I took an early train from Salerno and reached Caserta train station, from there I then took a bus which dropped me off in the town of Santa Maria Capua Vetere about 7km west. I started my visit with the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, with a baroque interior but some old features still remaining such as roman columns and mosaics. After that I went to the Roman Amphitheater, the second largest in the world after the Colosseum, and one of the oldest in the roman world, it is also famous for being the starting point for Spartacus' rebellion. Unfortunately only a part of the outer ring is fully standing, the one facing south, but nonetheless it was fascinating to walk inside, alone without any other tourists, but with just the company of the guardian's two dogs following me everywhere I went. I also really enjoyed walking below ground level, where the gladiators and the beasts were kept, and also seeing some Samnite tombs from the 4th century B.C. From there I went to see the Archaeological museum, which housed several interesting roman and samnite remains from the area, such as vases, statues, tombs and other objects. Also part of the museum ticket was a visit to a nearby roman mithraeum, an underground temple dedicated to the god Mithra, one of the best preserved in the world, with many frescoes still intact, particularly that of the god killing a bull. I then decided to head north west on foot and visit the medieval town of Capua. I exited Santa Maria Capua Vetere, by walking under Hadrian's arch, a roman arch now serving as the western's city gate. About 12km later I entered Capua through its southern Naples' gate, passed by the Church of the Santissima Annunziata, which was unfortunately closed, but I managed to get in the Church of Sant'Eligio, with a completely white baroque interior, Reaching the far western end of the town, I gave a look at the the roman bridge, with two medieval towers at its end, which was both bombed during WWII but then reconstructed. Not far I went past the Church of Montevergine, which was closed, but a little further on found the Duomo was open so decided to enter. Though heavily bombed during WWII and reconstructed after that, it still holds a few traces of its medieval origin such as the 9th cetury bell tower, the 11th century atrium with roman columns, a medieval crypt with byzantine decorations and a roman sarcophagus. After that I tried to visit the archaeological museum, but found out it was only open in the morning for just a few days of the week, bummer! I was getting a bit hungry so I decided to look for a place to eat, I found this little inn, called Locanda del Pozzo, where the friendly owner talked to me about his town and other stuff as I was the only one there, I had some bruschettas at the beginning and a really good pasta scarpariello, with tomato sauce (total was 10 euros with water included). Right across from the inn is the Castello delle Pietre, a norman castle built in an interesting architectural style. It was then time to go so I got back on the road and travelled in the direction of Caserta, walking back through Capua and passing by an ancient roman tomb on the side of the road as it once was the famous Appian road, eventually reaching Caserta's train station where I got my ride back home.
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| The roman amphitheater from the outside |
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| The amphitheater from the inside |
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| Under the amphitheater |
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| One of the objects inside the museum |
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| The temple of Mithra |
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| Naples gate in Capua |
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| The roman/medieval bridge |
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| The atrium of the Cathedral |
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| One of the streets in Capua |
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