L'Arena - Roman amphitheatre

Impressive in terms of size and majestic in its architectural de-sign, the Amphitheatre of Verona is second in size only to the Colosseum in Rome. More commonly known as the Arena, it was built in the first half of the 1st century A.D.: it is in fact known that the construction had already been complet-ed by 30 A.D. it has an elliptical plan which de-velops around the inner square measuring 73.68 x 44.43 metres. The external part on the other hand extends to a size of 138.77 x 109.52 metres. On the outside are two orders of 72 arches separated by 73 pillars of brick and ashlars of the pink stone of Verona measuring around two metres. Originally it had two surrounds. Only part now remains of the outer one owing caused by the earthquakes of 1117 and 1183: the magnificent residue consisting of four arcades is known as the wing. It was more that 30 metres high. The seats consisting of 44 steps. These have a con-centric layout and follow the direction of the ellipsis of the amphitheatre. At the centre is the arena, the inner platea, that is to say the space where gladiatorial games once took place. Nowadays it hosts magnificent operatic performances which find in this solemn and monumental venue, a particularly prestigious stage setting and an extremely atmospheric framework. Today the Arena can boast 23,000/25,000 seats. In the Roman age it could seat up to 30,000 people