Looking westward from the hill of the Cappucin Fathers, the outline of the Roman amphitheatre looms large, believed by many to be the last building, after the encampment and the baths, constructed by the II Parthian Legion, by the laterizi stamped with the seal of the L II P S (legion, II Parthian Severian) but refers, according to Lugli, to Alessandro Severus. Footnote to insert. In any case the amphitheatre of Albano represents a great historical heritage which has been passed on to us from the Severian period. Constructed with the same haste as the encampment, all too often interpreted by scholars as technical neglect and lack of skill, the amphitheatre was probably started under Septimius Severus on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his proclamation as emperor (203), dating from the proclamation by the Senate of Rome after the killing of Didius Julianus (193). The work was completed in spite of significant technical problems, combining functional demands with structural ones, all in a very limited space of time. This is shown by the use of various techniques and working practices, employed due to the constraints made by the structure, economy and time. The homogeneity achieved between orografia and architecture makes for perfect acoustics; the efficiency of access, the flow of people in and out of the edifice, the structural soundness, can be assessed today through a careful study of the plans of the structure. The graphical reconstruction of the monument used by Lugli (Castra Albana in Ausonia IX p. 228 ff) shows the architectural beauty of the building as it must have been in the beginning. The faber praefectus traced the axes of the elipse with a dimensional ratio of 3 to 2 (67.5m to 45m) digging into the layer of peperino to a depth varying from 2m to 6m; the arena was excavated directly from solid rock. The seats were cut into the hillside, providing building material at the same time for the parts being constructed and where there were being built, with supporting walls, vaulting for the complete covering of the radial corridors. The construction time, from the extraction of building materials and its preparation and use on the same site, was without doubt very short. The structure appears to be made in a variety of techniques: opus tufaceum, opus listatum, opus mixtum and opus testaceum. The resulting basic structure was given a uniform finish by the application of plaster and painted a pale colour to give a unified architectural appearance. The more refined aspects and decoration were not neglected either as was demonstrated by the archeological finds of Prof. Lugli in his last excavation carried out in 1912.
The entrance level to the amphitheatre rests on an underlying terrace which was created to allow adequate space for the flow of people. It was built in alternating tufelli and bricks consisting of 14 semicircular alcoves that measure 59.7m long and 6.75m high. The triumphal entrances to the arena were placed along the major axis of the elipse, though inclined at an angle due to the surrounding terrain; this induced the architect to apply ingenious methods to overcome the physical constraints, most of all for the upper access), where a dog leg corridor was created with the entrance on an artificial terrace. The arena, which measures 67.5m x 45m was covered by a layer of 20cm in opus signinum. The imperial box was located in the middle of the southern 'cavea', the one entirely constructed with huge access corridors from access bays XIII and XIV. The seats for the spectators were placed in the two semi elipses of the cavea and divided into two classes. The rows of seats, counted long ago by Leon Battista Alberti and by Iacovacci, were composed of 30 steps. Lugli calculated that the amphitheatre could easily contain about 16,000 spectators seated in the two classes of seats, crowned by a terrace and linked by two radial stairways.
When in 1912, the Ministry of Education started the excavation of the monument to free it from the accretions of time which were obscuring the grand monument, the amphitheatre presented the observer with the same spectacle as described by Clemente XIII......."reduced to a deplorable state through the ravages of time...." (G.Batta Piranesi). It was decided at that time to direct the first stage of the work to the restoration of the southern half of the cavea. That first work, undertaken by prof. G.Lugli, helped by prof A. Pasqui director of the 'Regio Ufficio' for excavations in Rome and the Province, by prof. Paribeni of the 'Regia Soprintendenza' for the excavations in Rome, was to remain the only scientific excavation of the site in the 20th cent., finishing with the cleaning of the greater part of the structure. (1914)
To understand the original extent of the structure it is interesting to consult the plans of professors Angelini and Fea, who drew up plans of the site before (1828) the straightening out of the path that led to the hill of the Cappucini; the path ran at a tangent to the northern cavea, presently covered by the modern metalled road. In these very interesting plans it is easy to distinguish how the ruins must have looked in the 19th cent., including the areas around and the underlying corridor, lying beneath the ancient tiers of seats, cut directly into the peperino bedrock. Suffering through the passing of the centuries, the amphitheatre survived the historical events that characterised the town of Albano. In the Middle Ages the amphitheatre (called Palatium or in the vulgar dialect Cerclo), appears to be the property of the monastery of S. Paolo of Rome.
In October 1282, the surrounding grounds of the amphitheatre which belonged to Cardinal Giacomo Savelli, were donated to the religious order of Monks of St. William (monaci di S.Guglielmo), who then proceeded to build a monastery at the foot of the amphitheatre using the ancient northern walls of the encampment as the foundations for the monastic complex. (di completamento?) In 1463, Pope Pius II emphasised the extraordinary beauty of these places, full of ancient ruins, making reference to each one individually in his famous Commentaries, documented in the descriptions of Leon Battista Alberti. Clement XI sanctioned the concession of the entire monument to the Girolamini monks, who were already the owners of the vineyard that surrounded the ancient site. An important anonymous document exists which describes the form, proportions and measurements of the ruins as existing at that time. "Relazione dell' antico anfiteatro d' Albano riconosciuto negli archi, e frammenti, che restano l'anno 1704, per ordine della Santita' di N.S.PP. Clemente XI."
G.B.Piranesi, at the request of Pope Clement XIII, who foresaw the complete disappearance of the ancient monuments of Albano and Castel Gandolfo, carried out interesting survey work and study of the amphitheatre at Albano. Beyond the excavations and research of Lugli at the beginning of the present century, other stabilisation work has been carried out recently by the Lazio Office for Archeology, with the intent of preventing the structural collapse of any of the existing sections. The amphitheatre (the property of the Ministry of Education since 1870), being on State land, was enclosed within a wall which, although constituting a certain protection against public abuse, was the sign of its definitive eclipse, relegating it to public obscurity, hidden from the administration and public memory. The Ministry of Public Works and Monuments, through the Superintendant's Office, has had a plan ready for years for the restoration of the whole site. In addition it has recently approved a plan for an alteration to the present boundary with provision for a lowering of the wall itself and a subsequent placing of suitable railings which would allow the whole structure to be seen clearly by the public. In addition it is planned to reopen the ancient 7th cent. entrance; to make the external circuit of the roads into a panoramic viewing area and the provision of adequate illumination for the site. One must hope however, that this may be but the first step of many required for a dignified recovery, not only of our monuments, but of our culture.