Things To Do in Santa Maria Capua Vetere

As you walk around town, keep an eye out for archaeological remains that have been incorporated into more modern buildings over the centuries: pieces of column, sculpted busts of gods and goddesses, and capitals. The western entrance to town on the ancient Via Appia was marked ARCO DI ADRIANO (Hadrian's Arch), a majestic triumphal monument that was actually composed of three arches. Today the marble finish has disappeared and only one arch remains -- the southern one -- although you can see the three brick pillars that supported the central arch. Farther along, at Corso 210, are the remains of a Roman house, Casa di Confuleio Sabbio (discovered by chance during construction in 1955), which dates from the 1st century B.C. It was the home of a freedman, a merchant specializing in the production of sagum: the heavy woolen cape worn by soldiers and -- in a less-refined version -- by slaves and paupers. At the corner of Corso and Via Galatina is the large building that was a prison until only a few decades ago; beneath it are the remains of a criptoportico, an ancient Roman covered promenade that is believed to have been part of the Capitolium, an ancient Roman temple.