Italica

Italica was founded in 206 BC to settle veterans after the battle of Ilipa, the first Roman city outside Italy, and it produced the emperors Trajan and Hadrian; Hadrian expanded it enormously with a new quarter of wide colonnaded streets and large houses, which is what survives best because the medieval town grew on the older part instead. The amphitheatre held around twenty-five thousand, making it one of the largest in the empire, and its arena, understructure and tiers are substantially intact. Mosaic floors remain in place in several houses, including the House of the Birds and the House of Neptune. Filming for Game of Thrones in the amphitheatre in 2018 raised its profile sharply.

What you actually see

• The amphitheatre - a 25,000-seat arena with intact tiers and understructure.
• The mosaics - floors in place in the House of the Birds and others.
• The colonnaded streets - Hadrian's planned quarter with wide paved roads.
• The house plans - large residences with courtyards and water systems.

When to go

Spring and autumn; the site is open with almost no shade and summer temperatures in the Seville basin regularly exceed forty degrees. It closes on Mondays and shuts early in summer afternoons.

Honest expectations

There is no shade, so a summer visit is genuinely uncomfortable. The site is large and involves a lot of walking on gravel. Some mosaic houses are covered or closed for conservation without notice.

Nearby

Santiponce village and the San Isidoro del Campo monastery are alongside; Seville is nine kilometres southeast.