Welcome to the site Napoliforme

Archaeological excavations carried out beneath the stables of the baronial castle of Acerra (1982) confirmed that the keep, built in the early Middle Ages (around the 8th century), was built on the ruins of the ancient theatre, datable to between the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 2nd century AD, which determined the 'strange' elliptical shape of the walls and moat of the first nucleus of the castle. Excavations have brought to light walls and elements that decorated the theatre stage, together with finds and pieces of wall structures from a much earlier period (Hellenistic period, 2nd century B.C.-1st century B.C.), thus pre-existing the Roman theatre, which were reused for the construction of the new structure. In the discovered ruins one can recognise the front of the stage and the proscenium of the theatre, which highlight the continuity between the plan of the castle and the structural elements of the Roman theatre: the remains of the stage are incorporated in the rectangular body of the building, while the curvilinear wall of the garden is modelled on the semicircular shape of the cavea (the tiers where spectators sat in ancient theatres), probably still hidden, like the part destined for the orchestra, under the courtyard and the castle garden.In the rooms adjoining those dedicated to the Acerra Civic Museum (Museum of Punchinello, folklore and peasant civilisation), archaeological finds are on display, and a spiral staircase provides access to the archaeological area to visit the remains of the Roman theatre.