There were lots of lovely views as we climbed up past
forest-clad mountains with many castles, hill-top villages, gorges and numerous
tunnels and galleries. An occasional lake made an appearance in the distance
and, eventually, the scenery widened slightly until it gave way to plains
bordered by the mountains.
We had intended to drive to an aire in Pignataro Maggiore but that was 4.5
hours of driving and we quite liked the idea of a slightly more relaxing day. I
had looked for an aire that was a little closer and found one in Cassino. I was
attracted to it because it was next to a Roman theatre and an archaeological
museum. We headed for it and stopped at a nearby Conad supermarket to stock up
on supplies.
The Roman theatre was not due to be open today but a theatrical group were
rehearsing for a play being performed this Friday – Lysistrata by Aristophanes.
We were welcomed in and were told that we were very happy for us to watch some of
the rehearsal. We were able to have a look at the theatre and then sit and
watch the performance with the backdrop of a view over the modern town to the
mountains beyond.
I went over to the museum where I was
able to see the Roman amphitheatre, a mausoleum and the museum’s small
collection. One of the museum’s star exhibits is a 1st century ‘bone
bed’, a decorated bed frame made from bone (ivory?) that was originally covered
in gold leaf. It bore a striking resemblance to at least two ivory bed frames
dating to the 3rd century BC in Vergina, Greece. As the curator
said, the Greeks and the Romans were the same!
We ate dinner in the van listening to the rehearsals of the play drifting over
from the floodlit theatre behind us.
Photos: The Cassino theatre; And the amphitheatre; Detail of a leg of the bone
bed; The theatre at night with two of the actors on stage.
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