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Roman theatre and Acerra castle








































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Roman Castle and Theatre in Acerra
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You enter the castle's inner courtyard over a fixed bridge with two pylons, which replaced the mobile one in 1795. At the end of the bridge, there is is the majestic entrance door, the only entrance in the impenetrable walls that surround the building. The baronial coats of arms are still recognisable on the door.
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Thanks to two epigraphs, found during the digs, we know that Gnaeus Stennius Egnatius, priest of Isis and Serapis, offered the inhabitants of ancient Acerra a day of games:
CN STENNIO EGNATIO CN STENN EGNATI RVFI FIL FAL. PRIMO II VIR II QQ OMNIBVS ONERIBVS. (...) S CENTENOS N. DEDIT DIEM AVTEM LVDORVM PLENISSI MEEXHIBVIT. LDD'
"To Gnaeus Stennius Egnatius, first son of Gnaeus Stennius Egnatius Rufus of the Falerina construction tribe five-year duumviro who exercised all the offices and magistrates. (...) He gave a hundred sesterces and very generously offered a whole day of games, the place was decided by decree of the Decurions.
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The discovery of different types of masonry, marble elements that decorated the stage, and a block of tuff on which claws are carved, has led archaeologists to hypothesize the existence of a second century AD theatre below the one currently visible.
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Afterentering through the main door, you cross the hallway and reach the courtyard around which the baronial palace was built. Entering the castle, you reach the excavations of the Roman theatre which can now be visited again thanks to major recovery and restoration works.
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The castle is partly surrounded by the ancient moat and defended by mighty sloping walls, built to better withstand assaults with heavy artillery. The dark shade of the tuff bricks of the walls contrasts with the white plaster of the entrance gate.
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The Acerra Roman theatre, built around the I-II century AD, was uncovered in 1982 during excavation work under the stables of the Counts of Acerra's Castle. However, already in the past, some scholars, including the famous archaeologist Amedeo Maiuri, had hypothesised its existence. It has not been possible to reconstruct the exact floorplan, although it can be inferred through reference to the model of other Roman theatres.
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The inner courtyard is bordered to the north by a semicircular wall. This unusual shape could be linked to the fact that Acerra Castle was built on the remains of an ancient Roman theatre of which part of the stage is still visible in the east wingbasement .
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The Acerra baronial castle is the result of a complex series of layerings, starting with a Byzantine fort built on the ruins of a Roman theatre. The ancient theatre, now open to the public inside the castle, may have influenced the architectural form of the fortress, which from above recalls the semicircular plan of a theatre.
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