The roman amphitheater of Syracuse: archaeological artifact forgotten

«Thinking that here it’s represented only the lower part of the building, that is the most narrow part in this kind of building, it’s possible to imagine how much large, high, stately and impressive it had to be. (…) there is not risk to make a mistake thinking to it as one of the most extraordinary building never built» This is what Jean Houel wrote in his diary “voyage a Syracuse” (1777 – Palermo 2003). The building described by the famous traveler was re-discovered only in 1839. It is a hundred and forty meters long and a hundred and nineteen meters large, and the most part of it is dug in the rock. Nowadays it is still possible to see two ambulatories covered whit a vaulted roof under the cavea, and the superior ambulatories that allow to enter in the terraces of the various parts of the cavea. The amphitheater is in the Neapolis of Syracuse, near to the famous Greek Theater; for this reason the first is overshadowed by the second. Until 2012 the building was overwhelmed by a lush vegetation that make impossible the survey work. Tourist can’t visit this area because of safety problems so that only few people know it’s existence. It’s geometrical aspects and its dimensions have never been studied before now. The following work deal with the firsts result of a survey work made trough the scan laser Riegl – VZ400. This instrument and its software are able to process also those points of the cloud-points partially hidden by vegetation.