Italica

I stayed three days in Seville in april 2024 where I had spent 4 weeks in 2008 taking part in an intensive spanish language course. I revisited some places,discovered some new places,had a guided tour on the roofs of Seville's cathedral " la Giralda"( fantastic tour with a knowledgeable guide), revisited the alcazar( just horrible,totally overcrowded with tourists and extremely long queues) and a visit to my missing part of the seville's unesco heritage site,the archive of the americas(quite exciting to see the treaty of Tordesillas -which changed the new world- with my very own eyes).

As for Italica I visited it on the 14th of april 2024. I took the bus M170a inside the bus terminal of the bus station "Plaza de Armas" There is an hourly bus to Santiponce/Italica. The archaeological site is just 2 minutes away from the last stop of the bus line M170a.

Italica, named Italica after Italy and founded in 206BC, was an ancient Roman city in today's spain and also the first roman settlement on spanish soil. It was also the birthplace of roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian and probably Theodosios. Most of the old city is now occupied by today's city of Santiponce.

First I visited Italica's small and totally insignificant museum. I then entered the amphitheatre and spent around 20 minutes there. Impressive but nothing from another world when familiar with other roman amphitheatres. I then went to the ruins of the new town visiting all …

I spent about four days in Seville. Its WHS may be seen within a day but the city has a lot to offer beyond the splendid Alcazar and the cathedral and the less interesting Archive of the Americas. One morning I took the bus to look at this tentative site. I missed the bus at Plaza de Armas since the bus stop is a bit hard to find among the many bus stops in the very north of the square and hidden around the block. I took the next bus half an hour later. Since you are leaving the city all day tickets for the city are not valid on the bus to Saltiponce but the fare is cheap. 

In short: the site is worth a visit but no must and certainly no WHS material. The site offers a very small museum, I assume most objects are in the Archeological Museum in Seville (closed for renovation) and in the splendid Archeological Museum in Madrid. The site offers mainly two things: the pop-culture-famous amphitheatre which is an impressive ruin but certainly no match to already inscribed and much better preserved amphitheaters in Rome, Arles and the not inscribed Nîmes theatre. The second attraction is a series of nice mosaics as part of excavated roman villas. There is one with clearly identifiable birds, one with the seven days of the week and their gods. You can spend an hour or so walking around the ruins. If this was the only Roman …

My previous visits to Sevilla had taken place, before Italica was chosen as site of the dragon pits of Game of Thrones and way before the Spanish added Italica to their tentative list in 2019. As such, I was not aware of the site and never visited.

On my latest trip to Spain, Samuel argued that the mosaics are great and that Spain would nominate the site soon. As much as I enjoy another reason to spend late autumn in Andalucía, I figured I should tick this off while at it. So... I did a pretty long day trip from Ubeda via Cordoba for the Medina to Sevilla. The next morning, I took a local bus to the site.

Italica is one of those sites where the impression I got on TV and the impression I got on site were different. While the center of the amphitheatre with the basement is iconic, the ranks are more humble. To me, the site is less about the theatre and more about the planned Roman city (by emperor Hadrian) with town houses etc. Across the street, there is also a Roman theatre. I am not sure, though, if it's part of the nomination.

OUV

Had the last season of Game of Thrones not been such a bummer, I think the media attention and the fans would have carried it to inscription, disregarding any consideration for OUV. With the series going out on a low note, I think the drive …

Italica was on the top of my list for Spain mainly because of the filming location used as the Season 7 finale of Game of Thrones. A great location indeed. It doesn't quite compare to big sites like the nearby Sevilla but it's a classic "ruin" that perfectly fits to world heritage.

Entrance was free even for non-Europeans at the time, the website states €1.50 which isn't a lot for the massive amount you get to see. The entrance to the site was also on the other side of the area which was temporary due the film crew (read: set construction) using the main access instead. Everyone was greeted and as soon as they figured I'm not Spanish I was just shuffled along inside, the rest was offered a guided tour (I assume not for free).

It is one of the biggest sites of Roman ruins although it is very ruined. A lot of of the main paths go along very short walls and column pieces - not very impressive by itself but after it took me 20 minutes to walk around I figured this place is REALLY huge. The amphitheater is the biggest draw and the location of the GoT scenes. Not only that but it could house 25,000 people, that's a lot and maybe the entire town! Due to the upcoming filming the site was partially blocked off and it was not possible to walk inside at that moment, as the site is to make a …