Ivrea è

Roman

In the footsteps of Eporedia

Founded in 100 BC as Eporedia, the city has continually grown upon its own foundations, destroying and rebuilding itself century after century, layer upon layer. That is why its oldest traces are also its least visible: a grand Roman theatre lives on in the gentle curve of a street in the historic center; a majestic bridge lies beneath the riverbed; an amphitheater reveals its foundations, exposed to the light of day. Everywhere, traces of the past. Yet not everything that has been buried has fallen silent. Established by the Romans as a colony on the land of the indomitable Salassi people, the city is now known as Ivrea. Curiously, it has no Via Roma. What if it had preserved both the pride of one’s history and the defiant spirit of the other?

Discover the places

P.A. Garda Civic Museum and Ottinetti Square

Via Palestro and the origins of Ivrea

Remains of the roman Theatre

Roman amphitheater

Pons Maior and the River Port

Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta

P.A. Garda Civic Museum and Ottinetti Square

The museum houses an archaeological collection that tells the story of Ivrea's Roman origins. It is also home to two outstanding art collections, one of Asian art and the other of paintings, both donated by distinguished citizens. Together, they preserve not only remarkable works of art but also a lasting sense of civic pride and community.

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Via Palestro and the origins of Ivrea

Together with Via Arduino, the decumanus maximus of ancient Eporedia, Via Palestro embodies two thousand years of history. Each era of Ivrea was built upon the one before it, giving the city a distinctly "vertical" identity, layer upon layer of history. A walk through its streets reveals a city that is at once intimate and grand, enclosed and open, ancient and contemporary, devout and independent.

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Remains of the roman Theatre

These streets slope and follow a gentle curve: they were laid out over the seating tiers of an ancient theatre, now almost entirely vanished, yet they still preserve its outline. And at eye level, on the brick buttress resting against the rock, there is even the imprint of a hand. The performance is over. But what could be more theatrical?

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Roman amphitheater

Many traces of Eporedia remain, but this is its most magnificent. From here it is easy to imagine the magnificence of the building, with the city rising in the background. Less easy is to understand the crowd's appetite for the blood that once stained the arena. Up there lies the "Sleeping Beauty": though perhaps she is not asleep at all; perhaps she has simply closed her eyes2 rather than witness it.

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Pons Maior and the River Port

An ancient story that today almost feels like a fairy tale. Water made it possible, water erased it, and water brought it back to light. It could hardly have been otherwise for a river city. It tells the story of one of the greatest river ports of its time and of a magnificent bridge that challenged the Dora at its most formidable.

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Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta

Ivrea's Cathedral is also a monument to renewal. Having endured the passage of centuries, it tells their story almost one by one: from a pagan temple to an early Christian basilica and finally to the city's cathedral, it preserves a Roman sarcophagus, a medieval crypt, the relics of the city's patron saint, Romanesque bell towers, modern artworks, Baroque influences and a Neoclassical façade.

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plan your visit

Garda Civic Museum: where history comes to life

From archaeological treasures to the Croff Collection, enjoy a modern, immersive museum experience in the heart of the city.