ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK

Park designed to protect the ancient ruins, with explanatory panels.

Cave of the Sibyl. Carved in the tufa, this trapezoidal dromos - a long corridor - of 130 m has 6 lateral galleries open on the sea. The Sibyl, a prophetic virgin, delivered her oracles there. Her cult was officially abandoned at the beginning of the Empire (1st century BC). Virgil evokes her in The Aeneid: "However, the noble Aeneas climbs the heights where the great Apollo reigns and he gains the retreat of the frightening Sibyl, a monstrous lair where the god of Delos breathes into his priestess his powerful thought, his will and discovers the future to her... The enormous side of the mountain of Cumae is carved in the shape of a lair; it is there that a hundred broad avenues lead, a hundred openings from which escape like so many voices the answers of the Sibyl. We had reached the threshold when the virgin cried out: "It is the moment to question the fates: the god! Here is the God! "' As she uttered these words before the doors, she changed her face, she changed her colour, the order of her hair unravelled, her bosom gasped, her fierce heart swelled with rage; she seemed to grow and speak with a more human voice: for she felt the breath and the approach of the god..." (Virgil, The Aeneid, Book VI).

Roman crypt. Note the underground passage that linked the lower part of Cumae to the port. 180 m long and 5 m high, the gallery is lit by oblique skylights.

Acropolis. Site housing the temples dedicated to the Greek and Roman pantheons. On the lower terrace stood the temple of Apollo, which, according to legend, was built by Daedalus. Its ruins are hidden beneath the remains of the early Christian church built on its site in the 5th century. Overlooking the complex, imagine the temple of Jupiter, also transformed into a basilica in the 5th century AD, of which only the outline of the podium remains (^5th century BC). Do not miss the beautiful panorama from the top of the acropolis.

Forum. In the lower city (outside the park). In the heart of the large rectangular square stood the Capitol (4th century) in ancient times. The torso of Zeus-Jupiter, exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Naples, probably comes from there. Surrounding the forum, note the ruins of a second temple and a large public building. To the north are the 2nd century baths.

Tomb of the Sibyl and amphitheatre. A few steps away from the forum (separate entrance), see the ruins of the baths with an evocative title, then the remains of the amphitheatre.