Theatre of Pietrabbondante on Italian stamp

On the 31 of July the Italian Post issued a stamp illustrating one of the Italy's historic sites - the ancient theatre of Pietrabbondante.

Pietrabbondante is a commune located in the Province of Isernia in the Italian region Molise.

Pietrabbondante's earliest known inhabitants were the Samnites, who arrived in Pietrabbondante in the sixth century BC. The Samnite town stretched for just over six hundred meters; nevertheless, the area remains rich in archaeological material.

The theater-temple complex is located on the outskirts of Pietrabbondante. The overall size of its area is 55 x 90 meters. The theater consists of two elements: the auditorium and the building stage, which two stone arches link together. The auditorium could contain 2500 spectators and has good acoustics. The seats were made of stone. Each stone seat is from a single stone block and the dorsal elegantly thrown backwards; at both ends of each row listed a sign that reserved three rows for judges, priests, and so on. On both sides of the orchestra, retaining walls of the embankment end with atlases carved in stone. The entire embankment is supported by a large semicircular and polygonal blocks processed by cutting without regular contours.