Fun Facts about Tuscany – Piazza Anfiteatro

Lucca is one of the destinations you cannot forget to add to your Tuscan- itinerary!
This town is characterized by walls, narrow streets, squares and churches. Wandering through its streets you can enjoy the sound of history.

One of the places you cannot miss is Piazza dell’Anfiteatro, have you ever heard something about it? It is one of the most evocative Tuscan squares, it is circular, and it is surrounded by colourful buildings. That’s why you cannot miss it!

This square is unique: it was built on the ruins of the antique Roman amphitheater. The amphitheatre, that today is around 3 metres underground, was built in the I or in the II century d.C, in the nearby of the city wall, in order to allow the citizens to reach it easily to enjoy the various theatrical performances. The amphitheatre was built on two overlapping orders of 55 arches whose pillars had the function of supporting the cavea that was composed by 20 steps. It could hold up to one hundred thousand spectators. During the barbaric invasions, the building fell into despair and during medieval times it was used as storage to keep building materials. This is why at the time it was named “grotte” which literally means caves. Lately, it was replaced with houses and buildings.

The square that you can find today was projected by an architect native of Lucca: Lorenzo Nottolini. In 1830 he freed the arena from some buildings that had been built in the centre of the square and lately he created Via dell’Anfiteatro which sorrounds the great square.

From via Fillungo you can find four different gates that allows you to enter the square. Today this arena is full of life: there are typical shops and bars where you can enjoy a good cup of coffee and feel as if you were the protagonist of an old movie!