The ancient Cales is located near Calvi Risorta, founded by the Ausoni or Aurunci and their capital, then sung by Latin poets and mentioned by Cicero for its wine production already of excellence at that time, as we say today.
Caleni wines were very popular among the Romans and were present on the tables of rich people together with the characteristic pottery of another leading industry in the ancient world, that of terracotta. A short distance from Capua, in a flat area dominated by Monte Maggiore and crossed by Rio de 'Lanzi and Rio Pezzasecca, Cales was also known for its precious vases and tableware in black paint with refined metallic reflections and decorations of mythological theme in relief.
Terracottas were produced between the 3rd and 2nd century BC in the shops founded on the edge of the Roman city, in the northern quadrant of the archaeological area, where the amphitheater is also located and in the area of the necropolis of Pezzasecca, in the opposite southern slope. The typical Caleni’s patere can be found today in the most important museums in Campania and in various European exhibitions.
In the archaeological area crossed by the Highway of the Sun, human presence is witnessed well before the Roman city and dates back to the 5th century BC. The remains of the walls with six access gates to the city and the Nuns Bridge dug into the tuff, which crossed the connection road with the ager falernus, where a structure connected to a temple was found, belong to that archaic phase.
On the site of the Roman city are showed the remains of the amphitheater from the 1st century BC with subsequent interventions in the imperial era; the central thermal baths of the 1st century BC with various rooms of which a part of the stucco decorations also remains; the northern baths of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, clearly evident along the cardo maximus, corresponding to the street Latina that reached Capua. Other remains refer to a castellum aquae and to a temple of the imperial age, perhaps the Capitolium del Foro. The excavations have brought to light a large part of the theater whose original layout dates back to the 2nd century BC with renovations in the Augustan period.
