The Amphitheater was attended by a larger public(25000) and offered more popular entertainment if compared to the sophisticated shows held in the theater.The Amphitheater vas the venue for combats between gladiators and venationes, namely cruel fights between humans and animals, as attested by the subjects carved in to the marble slabs found in the excavation sites.Formerly, these slabs were part of the parapet which divided the elliptic arena from the tiers of stands, of which only one stands today. Today you can see just a quarter of it(it was brought to light by chance by Cosimo De Giorgi during his excavations to build palaces in 1908) the other part is and always be underneath unless the demolition of the “St. Mary of the Graces” church and the entrance of the Charles V castle.. The structure of the Amphitheater dates back to the First and Second century AD and was partially built directly on the rock and partially resting on tuff pillars connected to arches. Despite its fragmentary state, the Amphitheater is the most relevant archaeological evidence of the Roman period in Salento
The Arch of Prato, located in Leonardo Prato street, has a notable feature in the low and deep arch that lets onto the atrium which has been largely restructured .
It has been overlooking the square giving its name since 1871; it is the famous votive column topped by the statue of the main patron of the City, St. Oronzo. In 1656, all over in the southern part of Italy ther was the plague, but the Terra d’Otranto and Lecce were miraculously saved, the people and all the Clergy Lecce believed that the miracle was due to the intervention of the first Bishop of the City Oronzo, whose worship in Lecce, along with that of Giusto and Fortunato, dated back much earlier. The revival of the cult of the saint was then managed in person by Bishop Luigi Pappacoda (1639-1670), who sanctioned by official decree on July 13, 1658 and St. Oronzo definitely took the place of St. Irene.
To build the shaft of the column, the City of Brindisi offered as a sign of devotion, the six drums of African cipolin of either Roman columns, placed to mark the end of the Via Appia, that had collapsed in 1528.The Roman column was the symbolic value of the communities in Brindisi.
The Paisiello Theatre was built on a previous building in 1758 by two noble citizens of Lecce , Francesco Gaetano Mancarella and Antonio Bernardini who had built it entrusting the project to the engineer John Pinto .. The theater , dedicated to the musician from Taranto Paisiello , was opened in December of 1870 with the production of the opera ” The Masked Ball ” by Giuseppe Verdi
The Roman theater is located in Della cartapesta street and dates back to the 1st century ad. This dating is the result of some studies conducted on sculpted remains of the background wall decoration behind the scene, the actual stage for the performances of the actors, while the choir occupied the semicirculare space in front, the orchestra. The theater could seat up to 5000 spectators, who would seat on the cavea’s stands. Educated people of Hellenic background made up most of the audience of the theatre, where tragedies and comedies were staged.