The remains of the ancient Roman Theatre are still visible on the Santa Teresa hill at Anzio, built during Roman times outside the town centre, on the Vignacce plateau, now named Piazza del Teatro Romano (Roman Theatre Square).
It’s construction dates back to the first half of the 1st C. A.D. during the age of Nero; although a series of rooms were added during the first decade of the 2nd C. Some of its features would seem to suggest that it was an odeon, which is a kind of roofed theatre earmarked for musical entertainment, and that it was built by the Julia-Claudia imperial family to satisfy the taste of the fashionable society of the time.
The theatre ruins were discovered by the archaeologist Giuseppe Lugli in 1940. The bleachers for the audience have been destroyed, while one can still make out the four masonry structures of the stage, which functioned as theatre wings. Beyond the stage one can catch sight of the bases of a portico with brick faced pilaster, and behind it a series of small cubicles with barrel vault ceilings faced in white marble, in all likelihood the actor’s changing rooms.
The theatre is 30 metres in diameter, and had three entrances, which enabled a very streamlined and easy access for the audience. Numerous arches and white marbles were the essential elements of the theatre’s structure, with an 18 column portico built behind the stage, of which one can still make out a few of the plinths today. A portico designed to shelter the spectators in the event of rain or the excessive heat during the summer season. Not far from the Roman theatre lies the area of the Voscian Vale, the fortification that used protect ancient Anzio.