Free time in ancient Rome. The Romans attached great importance to public buildings intended for the entertainment of the people. Roman theater took up the model of the Greek one, but instead of being dug into the side of natural hills, it was entirely built in masonry. A real innovation was represented by the amphitheater, an elliptical building reserved for specific events such as venationes, that is the hunting of wild beasts, the executions of death row inmates and the fights of gladiators, athletes trained to fight with the use of the sword. The circus was instead an elongated building intended for chariot and horse races, while the baths they were public baths, where people went not only to take care of their personal hygiene, but also to
spend their free time.
Rome and Puglia. Through a series of treaties with the individual centers, Rome s쳮ds in subduing all the local populations and founded Brindisi in 242 BC, a new colony which, thanks to its strategic position, will become the crossroads of trade with the Adriatic and Mediterranean sides. It will be around the 1st century AD. that Puglia will become one of the eleven regions wanted by the emperor Augustus to organize the Italian territories: from this moment,
it will cease to be called Iapigia to become Apulia.
Brindisi and Egnazia. Visiting the port of Brindisi you will come across a majestic column whose capital is richly decorated with marine creatures: it is a monument erected around 110 AD. at the behest of the Emperor Trajan to celebrate a deviation of the Via Appia that from Benevento led to Brindisi, passing through Egnazia, a city that still preserves the remains of the Forum, the place dedicated to political and economic affairs, and of the temple of goddess Cybele. Originally, the columns were two. The second was donated to the city of Lecce, with the aim of supporting a statue erected in honor of Sant ’Oronzo. In addition to the column, in the archaeological museum “Ribezzo ” there are wonderful bronzes depicting Roman consuls and philosophers: these are the remains of what must have been the cargo of a sunken boat near Punta del Serrone.
