Napoli

We spent all this morning in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, looking largely at the exhibits from Pompeii but also many Roman statues. After lunch (Pizza, of course; you can't go to Naples and not eat Pizza!) we went on to Pozzuoli to see the amphitheatre, one of the largest and best preserved in the Roman world. The picture is of the area underneath the amphitheatre where the animals, gladiators and props would have been kept, and from where they would have been winched up into the arena itself. No records exist of exactly how this was done, although there were several theories amongst the group! Finally, we went down to the Macellum, or meat market, at nearby Puteoli. One of the interesting things we discovered was that as recently as 1933 the floor was more than two metres below sea level and the walls show sign of attack by marine creatures; since then the floor level has risen by three metres and is now completely clear of water, all caused by swelling of the magma chamber below that feeds the volcanic activity in the area, including the volcano Vesuvius!