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Many vans have left already this morning as we make our own preparations to go. There is a car wash on site so we take the opportunity to wash the vans so it is approaching midday when we check out and drive eight miles to Santaponce where, we have read, there are remains of a large Roman town.
We see a likely area but there ate no signs although there is a good car park. Ali + Grete go to explore then phone to say they have found the tourist info a mile away in town. They return with maps, directions and lunch. After eating we go a couple of miles further and find the site of the town once called Italica.
Italica, the birthplace of Hadrian, was the first Hispanic Roman city and once an important trading port just outside Seville. There is a large amphitheatre and the arena is accessible, with the brick lined sub-ground level corridor opened and visible. Radial tunnels lead to small rooms off the concourse and the stone and concrete construction of the archways is clear to see.
Further around the city are the remains of houses, a temple and the baths. There are some mosaic floors, brick pillars, sections of columns and sections of Roman paving. Through drain gratings the sewage tunnels can be seen.
A short film show describes how Italica might have looked and operated by using three scales; evocative, possible and probable, based on levels of evidence here and knowledge from other sites.
After visiting the Alcazar yesterday, it is easier to imagine the relationship between the ruins outside and the artists' impressions of the living spaces on the video.
We return across the road to the vans, parked on an empty service road to a minor league football ground and decide it looks OK to stay here rather than driving either back to Seville or on to somewhere else.
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