Roman Amphitheater Park and Alda Levi Antiquarium

Town Hall 1
Entrance: exclusively from the Museum: from 9am to 30pm, from Tuesday to Saturday; For more information, please see the section below
Address: via De Amicis, 17
How to get: Trams 2, 3, 14 | Bus 94

Area: 22.300 mXNUMX
Designers: Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage Lombardy with Land studio and Gaianè Gasnati

What to do at the park

walk and observe
run
visit the “Alda Levi” Archaeological Museum

The park in brief

It is a green space within the city center where you can relax while observing the remains of the ancient Roman amphitheater or access the Archaeological Museum which illustrates the history of the area and the archaeological finds discovered.

The Museum and the Amphitheater park are part of a larger archaeological site project that will connect all the areas where the oldest part of the city stood, Roman Milan, seat, with Trier, of the Roman Empire of West until 400 AD.

Roman Milan, between via De Amicis, the Antiquarium and via Arena, extends approximately from the Columns of San Lorenzo, with the mosaics of the chapel of Sant'Aquilino, to the park of the Basilicas with Sant'Eustorgio, up to the Amphitheater Imperial, the largest in Italy after those of Rome and Capua.

The Amphitheater, originally almost as large as the Colosseum with a height of 36 meters and a capacity of 35 thousand seats, was used for gladiator duels and venationes, fights between men and animals. Destroyed during the barbarian invasions of the XNUMXth century, part of the surviving ruins was used for the construction of the church of San Lorenzo.

The Municipality of Milan has given the Superintendence, on free loan for use, the area of the amphitheater between via De Amicis 17 and via Arena for the creation of an innovative archaeological park. With the support of Italia Nostra, in this space the Superintendency is completing the project to create an Amphitheatrum naturae, a viridarium, where the missing architectural elements will be evoked by tree parts present in Roman times.

The underlying idea is that of greenery that integrates and defines the ruins, with archaeological elements, both those already known and those that are emerging through excavations, in harmony with the box hedges, the myrtle and privet and the rows of cypresses.

History and Architecture

History and Architecture

The park, created by the Archaeological Superintendence following a program agreement with the Municipality of Milan and thanks to the use of ministerial funds, is located in the place where a large Roman amphitheater with an elliptical plan stood, 155 meters long and 125 meters wide, in capable of hosting up to 35.000 spectators and which was destroyed by the barbarian invasions in the 1931th century. The foundations were discovered during archaeological excavations that began in 70 and were completed in the XNUMXs.

From the entrance to the park, from Santa Maria della Vittoria, a path paved with stabilized material leads to the area of the excavations of the ancient foundations, while on the side of via Arena an embankment was built which recalls and recalls the old elliptical layout of the amphitheatre.

Museums and architectural heritage

Foundations of the Roman amphitheater and Antiquarium Alda Levi located in the monumental complex of Santa Maria della Vittoria, now the seat of the Archaeological Superintendency of Lombardy.

Flora

Among the tree species

Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum)
beech (Fagus sylvatica)
liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflua)
white walnut (Juglans regia)
elderberry (Sambucus nigra)

Worth mentioning is a plane tree (Platanus acerifolia) of considerable size in the center of the park.

Detailed information and timetables

Activities and Events

Exhibitions: the “Alda Levi” Antiquarium, in addition to displaying finds from the excavations, illustrates the functioning of the Roman amphitheatres. Multimedia stations with reconstructions are made available to the younger public which lead to the rediscovery of the history of the amphitheatre.
Volunteers from the Italian Touring Club, Corso Italia 10, are present

Park hours