Description of the attraction
Santa Maria Capua Vetere is a medieval town in the province of Caserta. In prehistoric times, these lands were home to several settlements belonging to the Villanova culture, which were later expanded by the Etruscans. In the 4th century BC. Capua was the largest city in the Apennine Peninsula after Rome. However, the fate of many other Italian cities awaited it - it was destroyed by vandals, conquered by the Lombards, then, in the 9th century, again destroyed by the Saracens. The surviving residents of the city fled and founded modern Capua on the site of the ancient river port of Casilinum.
The city, known today as Santa Maria Capua Vetere, slowly formed around the ancient Christian basilicas of Santa Maria Maggiore, San Pietro in Corpo and Sant Erasmo in Capitolo. It was near these religious buildings that small settlements arose, which later united into a commune. Until 1861, it was called Santa Maria Maggiore - it even housed the summer residence of King Robert of Anjou.
Today, the main attraction of Santa Maria Capua Vetere is the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, founded according to legend in the 5th century by Pope Symmachus. Once this church had only one nave, but in 787 it was expanded by order of the Lombard ruler Arekis II of Benevento. And in 1666, two side chapels were added to it. The basilica received its current baroque appearance in 1742-1788.
Among other monuments of history and architecture of Santa Maria Capua Vetere, it is worth mentioning the ancient Roman amphitheater of Campano, whose shape resembles the Colosseum, the most interesting archaeological museum Antica Capua, the Gladiator Museum and the Garibaldi Museum, Hadrian's Arch and the perfectly preserved Mithreum, discovered in 1922, on one a fresco from the 2nd century BC can be seen from its walls. with the image of the goddess Mithra.
