Santa Maria Capua Vetere: the Ancient City within the Modern City, from obstacle to opportunity for growth

The city of Santa Maria Capua Vetere developed upon the ruins of the place that Cicero, in 63 B.C.E., with oratorical emphasis, defined, as Illa altera Roma (The other Rome), during his speeches to the Senate on “De Lege Agraria”. Ancient Capua recurs from history whenever action is taken to build a new structure or to restore an existing one. Over the centuries, from its destruction by the Saracens in 841 A.D., up to the present day, the ancient memorial has frequently functioned simultaneously as both an attraction and an obstacle. It has served as an attraction for those, who, captivated by the city’s three-thousand-year history, sought confirmation through the outlook and study of the ruins of the Campanian Amphitheatre, and as an obstacle to those who viewed and still view the territory as a conquest site to increase their profits, by plundering that which this territory daily restores. Vetere@ is a work whose results are relevant to everyone because they serve to regain awareness of one’s own identity, an essential starting point for the moral and civil growth of the whole territory. Keywords: archaeology, history, inclusion, phygital, development