POZZUOLI


The Serapeum




This town is the biggest centre in the Campi Flegrei (Phlegrean Fields). A pleasant, colourful maritime town overlooking and attractive bay, Pozzuoli was a busy trading and commercial centre in Roman times, and there are many remains of these period. The important sights are the Serapeo, an ancient Flavian market place, still well preserved in spite of the bradisism which has menaced the whole Phlegrean Fields area for many centuries; the Cathedral, in the Rione Terra district; the Flavian amphitheatre (the third biggest in Italy), famous for its large underground caverns. In the immediate vicinity is the Solfatara - the most impressive volcanic phenomenon known, a quiescent crater with fumaroles, carbon dioxide and mineral water springs, and jet of volcanic mud whose temperature reaches 160 degrees Centigrade.