Roman Theater Avella

Among the Roman buildings of the city, the amphitheater is the best known. It was built of tuff in opus reticulatum, possibly shortly after the foundation of the Roman colony of Abella, similar to that of Pompeii, whose dimensions it roughly follows. It leaned against the southeastern corner of the city walls and partly against the natural slope, and only the southern part rests on large vaulted buildings, while the arena lies below the surrounding level. The two main vomitoria in the large axis of the ellipse with side rooms are well preserved, as is the podium that separated the curve from the arena, and the tuff seats of the first cavea, which are interrupted on the small axis by podia; enough was preserved to allow for a reconstruction. A schematic image of the building has been preserved on the side of an honorary base from the Imperial era. In late antiquity, the construction of stables on the podium began, but was then interrupted by the events that accelerated the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire.