Whoa! Volcanoes Vent

Today was a National Holiday in Italy and EVERYONE was out either walking or in a car so traveling to our various slights was slow!  Our first stop was to see the "Anfiteatro Puteolano."  The arena of the Amphitheater of Puteolis is the third largest in the Roman World  It was built in the late 70's AD and could hold 20,000 spectators!

Our group listening to our guide explain the construction of the structure.

They used this "fish net" design to allow the building to withstand earthquakes and the general shifting due to being built on basically a shifting volcano!

 This is only a partial first floor, there were two more floors above this one when it was built and had a canvas roof that could be raised and lowered depending on the weather!

 The rectangled pits (now covered with metal grates) are sunk into the arena floor are known as maneuvering shafts.  These shafts had machines and pulleys that could raise and lower things from the basement below.  These "special effect" portals could be used to hoist gladiators, wild animals, and/or scenery as an element of surprise for the spectators!

 This long trench was also used to do mock naval battles - they filled it with water!!!

 The underground is a massive space that has many vaulted ceilings and arches to provide the structure that holds up the coliseum!  There is one tunnel that lead the whole way to the sea. . .this enabled them to bring the wild animals right into the arena without anyone seeing them and spoil the surprise!

 This is a look at the maneuvering pits from the underground!  You can see how thick the arena floor was at about 4 ft thick!!!

 A view of the partial outside wall . ..

 Oops. . .someone lost their head. . .

 This is a photo of Macellum of Pozzuoli (an ancient public park) - it is notable for several reasons.  It is in an area known as Campi Flegrei which is a collapsed caldera of a volcano.  This particular area can show you the movement of the earth due to bradyseism.  Bradyseism is the uplift and lowering of the earth's crust caused by the filling and emptying of an underground magma chamber. It fills and drains with water each day.  The water does not depend on the tide but rather the rising and falling of the earth's mantle on the magma below the surface!!!!  Crazy to wrap your head around that piece of information!  The rooms on the outside of the park were shop stalls.

 They even designed public bathrooms!   You can kind of see where the stalls would go and the trench was used to catch every drop.  The seats were made from marble and if you were wealthy enough you could have your servant sit on the seat to warm it up!  Also they collected the urine to be saved and used the ammonia for various things from setting dye into clothing to stripping plant material!

This is floor of the Volcano Solfatara!  This volcano probably formed 4000 years ago and last erupted in 1198.  The floor of the crater still releases jets of steam of sulfur containing gases.

 

 This is a picture of the mud pool  - if you look closely you can see the mud is boiling!

 The sulfur vapors have been used for medicinal purposes since Roman Times!  We saw tourists hold their children in the vapors and stand in the vapors for the healing effects.  I cannot confirm or deny their healing effects but I can tell you the sulfur smell still lingers in my clothes tonight!!!!

We ended our day with a delicious 5 course meal!!!  Tomorrow will be a long day as we hike up Mount Vesuvius, visit Pompeii, and travel overnight on a ferry to Stromboli.  I won't be posting until we arrive in Stromboli!  Ciao!