Italica

Getting a local bus to Santiponce allows one to visit the extensive, albeit not very wel presented remains of Roman Italica, a major city in the ancient world being the birthplace of the Emperor Trajan.

Unfortunately I visited it on a day when it teemed down with rain. I first stopped off in the town to see the Roman theatre, closed off and rather desolate looking.

This square in town gives one a good idea of how wet it was. That's not a lake below, just wet marble.

A bit of dodging in and out of winding streets afforded a better view of the theatre. There must be a lot of Roman remains under the rest of the town awaiting excavation. Just a matter of evicting all the residents.

 Italica itself is a large site just outside Santiponce. Free to EU residents, it doesn't exactly oversell itself. Only diligent enquiry by myself persuaded them to sell me an English guide book. Very under the counter stuff.

Unfortunately the city, only partially excavated, has been horribly robbed over the years, some to build the nearby monastery of Isidoro del Campo, whose monks then sold off the rights to rob the sire more for lime-making. Best mosaics were filched by various amateur excavators, and the huge amphitheatre quarried for road building. So its fair to say that what remains is pretty close to the ground. Anything much above has been carted off. In particular, no large temples with marble columns.

 But surprisingly what does remain is a number of mosaics in good conditions and in situ. As you can see I didn't have to share them with many tourists. Mostly one or two tour groups since it is only reachable by local buses otherwise.

Below gives one a good idea of the site, and how featureless much of it is.

Finally one gets to the amphitheatre. And its really pissing down by now...

At this point I realised I was probably not cut out for gladiatorial combat. While someone once had to march in here and defend himself against wild beasts, I was thinking twice whether of or not to go in as the entrance was guarded by a large puddle. Nevertheless I summoned up the courage to risk getting wet feet and proceeded to enter.

 This facsimile of a bronze tablet records some of the rules of engagement for gladiatorial bouts.