CLIL project 3 BL 2015/2016 1

Lupiae Lecce in the Roman age 2

Lecce is a town with an ancient history that is coming back to light thanks to the researches on urban archaeology conducted by the University of Salento 3

The Roman amphitheater of Lecce is a monument from Roman times located in the central square Sant Oronzo, dating back to the Augustan Age

The Roman amphitheater of Lecce is the most important monument achieved by Lupiae, the ancient name of Lecce, between the first and second century after Christ.

The monument was discovered during the construction works of the building of the Bank of Italy in the twentieth century thanks to the archeologist Cosimo De Giorgi.

Nowadays visitors can only admire a third of the Nowadays visitors can only admire a third of the structure that could accommodate about 25000 spectators

In the Arena plays and perfomances and also battles between lions and gladiators were held in the past.

The Roman Theatre

14 A.D.). It was discovered accidentally The Roman Theatre of Lecce is thought to have been constructed during the Augustus period (between 27 B.C. and 14 A.D.). It was discovered accidentally in 1929. Excavations conducted between 1937 and 1938 brought the orchestra, the scaena and part of the auditorium to light. The band of semi-circular shapes has a diameter of13 m. The auditorium has 12 rows of bleachers and is dug directly into the bedrock. Many marble sculptures recovered were preserved and are now on display at the Museum “Sigismondo Castromediano” in Lecce. 10

The Theatre hosted an audience of over 5000 spectators

The Temple of Isis The most interesting aspect of Palace Vernazza is the pagan temple dedicated to one of the most important deities of ancient civilizations: the Goddess Isis.

The Temple is located within a magical triangle betwen the church of San Matteo, the house of St. Oronzo and Castromediano Palace Vernazza

The Temple was built thanks to Tiberino, a foreign merchant settled in Lecce who paid for the construction of it in honour of the Egyptian Goddess

THE LAPIDARIUM The excavations of Palazzo Castromediano Vernazza, an architectural complex dating back to the 16th century located in the centre of Lecce, returned a surprising amount of stone elements, relevant both to the structures that the architectural decorations belonging to the different phases of the building. It has blocks and decorative fragments dating back to the Middle and the Modern Ages, of which a significant selection is exhibited. There are also some polygonal blocks of the monumental structures of the Roman period (The Sanctuary of Isis), found out during the demolition stages 15

The Purgatory was an underground tank where those who immersed themselves took a new identity

The port of Hadrian in San Cataldo The port was built by the Emperor Hadrian in the second century AD. It is indicated by literary sources as the place where Octavian disembarked on his journey back from the East at Caesar’s death in 44 BC. The Emperor built the harbor area to provide an anchoring, in case of storm, to the boats that look ​​the route between Brindisi and Otranto - other two ports of Roman origin. The ancient port played a decisive role between the late Republican Age and the first Imperial Age, when the Lupiae municipium experienced a strong economic and cultural boom. 17

San Cataldo and the Port of Hadrian: when Lecce was the centre of the Mediterranean Sea. Maritime traffic became very intense and so San Cataldo became an increasingly prosperous port. The pier stretched to a length of one mile and a depth of 15 meters. Now the sea with its force keeps on swelling the surviving ruins ..

Images of the reconstruction of the port in 3d The harbour facing the East was built by the Emperor Hadrian in the second century after Christ. Perhaps the port was the site where Octavian disembarked on his way to Rome after the death of Ceasar.