This Roman Amphitheatre in Lecce was discovered in 1901 totally by accident during construction work for a new bank in Piazza Sant’Oronzo. It dates back to the 2nd century AD and, as far as I can tell, it is the only real sign that the Romans were here. And there must have been a lot of them, for the amphitheater could sit 25,000 spectators. It was buried under many layers of earth and covered by buildings, today what you can see is only half of it, the other half extends under buildings and restaurants on the other side. They have a lot of it walled off for further digging to extend it. When I was researching Lecce several sources claimed you could roam around in the amphitheater but due to construction it is now off limits to the public.

I say it’s the only real sign the Romans were here but that is not strictly true, there is the wonderful Museo Faggiono nearby which has excavated quite a lot from the Roman presence at that address. Frustratingly there is something else called the Teatro Romano nearby but during my visit to Lecce I thought the Teatro and the Amfiteatro were the same thing so I missed it.

Lupiae was the ancient Roman name of Lecce, before the Romans the Salento Peninsula was part of Magna Grecia (Greater Greece), I was hoping to find more of this history here in Lecce but it doesn’t seem to have any, whatever does exist is likely buried as deep down as this amphitheater, it’s likely that the Greeks treated it as a lonely outpost.