Parco archeologico del teatro e dell’anfiteatro di Cividate Camuno

Cividate Camuno rises on the remains of the most important Roman town in the Valle Camonica, created between the end of the 1st century BC and the early 2nd century with functions of a strategic and administrative type in relation towhatwas then considered a border territory. Central elements of the ancient layout near a fordable stretch of the riverOglio, at the intersection of important communication routes, are the Santo Stefano hillock, on which there was probably the main building for worship, various stretches of cardines and decumani, traces of a bridge, parts of public buildings relating to the law-court area, thermal baths, patrician residences and, in the peripheral sectors, the necropolises.Among themost significant vestiges are  the theatre and the amphitheatre, which you can visit in a Park opened to the public in 2003. The theatre: a lot of stones were taken away from it in the late ancient age; at present only a small part of it can be visited. Built on the remains of a domus at the end of the 1st century AD, its pit was on the slopes of the high ground behind and the side wings founded on artificial embankments. Part of the tiers of seats can be seen, as well as the passage that connected the orchestra to the foyer (versura) and the portico behind the stage. Slabs of grey limestone lined the podium and the tiers of seats; frescoes decorated the inside parts of the building. The stage opened up on the square with a colonnaded front; water games embellished the inside and the outside. In the theatre, used until the 4th century AD, comedies, tragedies and mime shows were performed, and meetings were held and trials too. The amphitheatre:  it is of the full structure type resting on the hill above and on an artificial embankment below. It was built at the beginning of the 2nd century AD for gladiatorial games and venationes . Part of the tiers of seats lined with slabs of grey limestone, for the most important spectators, is extant. To the sides of the entrance to the theatre there are the carceres, exceptionally preserved, used for animals to enter the arena. In the adjacent areas, in addition to big remains of various service structures, a gym and a thermal building, a sacellum has also been recovered, situated near the south-western entrance, with a niche on the back wall, which probably contained a small statue for worship.