Welcome to the site Napoliforme

The defensive system of Cumae was strengthened from the 6th century BC by the Greeks, Samnites, Romans and Byzantines, who supplemented the natural defences with fortifications to protect the monumental gateway to the acropolis. Two towers were built on either side of the gate, but during the war between the Ostrogoths and Byzantines for dominance in the south (Greek-Gothic war, 535-553 AD), in which Cumae was directly involved because of its strategic importance, one collapsed and sank into the Roman Crypta below, while the other was reinforced. The partly preserved bastion, known as the Byzantine Tower because of the reconstructions of that period, has a square plan with a base of stone blocks. The first floor dates back to Roman times, while the second, with its characteristic loopholes allowing control of the nearby outer walls, is Byzantine. Inside the upper space, which offers a view of Mount Grillo cut by the opening of the Arco Felice, are the remains of a cistern, a pillar and a small latrine. From the panoramic terrace of the Belvedere, built on the structures of an ancient farmhouse, an infinite view sweeps from the acropolis to the Cumaean coastline, the Phlegraean islands of Ischia and Procida to the west and the area of the silted-up port, the hill and Lake Fusaro to the south, with the Torregaveta promontory, Monte di Procida and the islet of San Martino in the background.