Visit Santa Maria Capua Vetere
The Ancient Roman settlement of Santa Maria Capua Vetere is a few kilometres west of Caserta and north of Naples, near the town of Capua in south-western Italy
With a history stretching back to the Etruscans and the Samnites (at which time it was one of the most important cities in Italy), and later an important centre for the Ancient Romans, Santa Maria Capua Vetere attracts visitors because of its impressive ancient Roman monuments.
Much the most important archaeological site of ancient Capua is the Roman Theatre, built by the Emperor Augusts and a very large construction that still retains the tunnels underneath the structure (the structure itself is in reasonable condition but much less so than, for example, the colosseum in Rome).
The complex, in its original plan, dates back to the 2nd century BC, while all the other significant monuments date back to the late-Roman period, such as the frescoed mithraeum* (II-III century AD), and the still well-preserved thermal baths and amphitheatre (the largest after the “Colosseum”); completed in the 2nd century.
* A mithraeum is a small dark place of worship for members of the ancient Mithraist religion (these are found all over Europe, but most commonly in Germany and Italy).
Of great interest are the "old" Prisons, the oldest building in Campania, the funerary "Canocchia", a Roman Sepulchre of the 2nd century and the Arch of Hadrian, the ancient port city on the “Via Appia”. To the east of the old town was a rural sanctuary has been discovered dating back to at least the 4th century BC, which brought to light a hundred statues of "Mater Matuta" in tuff.
Note: it was at Santa Maria Capua Vetere that Spartacus led the revolt of the gladiators, a fact commemorated in a museum dedicated to the gladiators on the site of the ruins.
There is a museum at nearby modern Capua that contains many of the Ancient Roman objects that have been excavated in and around Santa Maria Capua Vetere.