ENTRANDO IN CITTÀ PER ANDARE AL MERCATO

Abstract

This report is a reflection on the location of market places in the Roman era, with reference to their accessibility from inside
as well as outside the city. The first part of the article analyses the category most easily identifiable as a market place, the macellum.
Examples are proposed, documenting the central position of this building in the Roman towns and the close connection with forums,
main roads, and sacred areas. The case of Capua is also discussed, where the structures identified as macellum pose difficulties
of interpretation. The second part of the work analyses examples of commercial areas in connection with the entrance to the city,
in correspondence of focal points into the city planning, such as sea and river ports, and doors of the city walls. Finally, spaces for
periodic markets and nundinae are considered, often located in urban and extra-urban places near the entrances to the city, focusing
on examples of North Africa and Italy, with an in-depth study on Beneventum.

Keywords: macellum, Roman markets, Capua, nundinae, Beneventum.