//
Photo: ColdEel, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A partially excavated Roman city. Most of it is lost under the village of Santiponce, but several streets and the footings of houses and public buildings with mosaic tiled floors can be seen. The highlight is one of the largest known Roman amphitheatres with seats for 25,000. Italica receives fewer visitors than many European ruins of similar archaeological value, and is well worth the quick trip from Seville. This was one of the main cities of Roman Hispania and Trajan, Adriano and, perhaps, Teodosio also originated from it. Archaeological work on the city is ongoing.
Italica was an ancient Roman city in Hispania; its site is close to the town of Santiponce in the province of Seville, Spain. It was founded in 206 BC by Roman general Scipio as a colonia for his Italic veterans and named after them. Italica later grew attracting new migrants from the Italian peninsula and also with the children of Roman soldiers and native women. Among the Italic settlers were a branch of the gens Ulpia from the Umbrian city of Tuder and a branch of the gens Aelia from the city of Hadria, either co-founders of the town or later migrants who arrived at an unknown time; the Ulpi Traiani and the Aelii Hadriani were the respective stirpes of the Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian, both born in Italica.
© OpenStreetMap contributors