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Odeon

Remains of a peristyle temple have been uncovered by excavations, incorporated into the foundations of the church of St. Caterina, located next to the south-western corner of Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II. In the absence of other evidence, fragments of the limestone geison (raking cornice) would permit to date the temple to the mid-3rd century BC.

Figure 1Figure 1

Later, in the late 1st / beginning of the 2nd century BC, the temple was flanked on the south side by an odeion, abutting onto its colonnade.

The odeion, partly uncovered in 1892-93, is entirely built using of the brick-faced concrete technique except for the rear corridor, which is a later addition. The cavea,, partly resting on a natural slope, has eleven rows of seats, divided by three staircases into four cunei or sectors. The eighth row up from the orchestra served as gangway, being slightly wider than the rest, and the two vomitoria or passages open onto it. Part of the brick-faced pulpitum (or stage) front survives with a semicircular niche, but the back wooden stage was laid on the steps of a third-century BC temple, which served as backdrop to the odeion.