Capua, 71 BC.
Spartacus the well-known Thracian gladiator rioted together with his companions against the school owner, Quintus Lentulus Batiatus, killing all the soldiers and starting a run & fight for freedon which will last two years before being bloodily stopped.
From a bunch of gladiators, Spartacus' army had reached almost 60 thousand rioters, mostly slaves including women and children, who had joined the cause on the way to the port of Brindisi. Most of them died during the battles, some for hunger, some for the cold. Some were brought back to their owners and six thousand gladiators crucified along the Appian Way not to forget what happens if you go against Rome. Spartacus' body was never found but His cause for freedom goes beyond the time and asks us not to forget the invisible side of their society: slavery.
This important ancient roman town had the second largest amphitheater and was probably the model for the Colosseum, built in the I century AD.
The ruins today refer to the last construction (II century AD) that was not well-kept or maintened after the fall of the Empire. The archeological findings are in the local little gladiator museum while loud old italians play bocce in front of this splendid and decadent background.
