During the Roman era, the port of Pozzuoli, located at a strategic point that connected the gulf with Greece, the Anatolian Coast, Syria and Egypt, had become the most important landing place in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It was precisely on the Puteolian pier that thanks to the strong Sirocco wind, the Apostle landed St. Paul's.

The saint was traveling from Reggio in the direction of Rome, where Nero's court awaited him since he had been sentenced to prison by the governor of Judea, Festus. Therefore, once he arrived in Pozzuoli, he was to continue his journey to the capital on foot.

The testimonies and stages of the journey through Pozzuoli

The Apostle St. Paul's landed at Pozzuoli in A.D. 61, entering the Neapolitan Gulf through the Mouths of Capri. The historical event is attested by several sources.

First, there are the testimonials recorded in Acts of the Apostles 28:13-15, where we read, "...The next day the sirocco rose, and so the next day we arrived at Pozzuoli. Here we found some brothers, who invited us to stay with them for a week..."

A depiction of the landing of St. Paul at Pozzuoli was made by the artist Giovanni Lanfranco in a canvas signed and executed around 1636. The artist imagined St. Paul disembarking from the docked ship, with his long beard, wrapped in his broad red cloak.

With him he carried volumes of letters and the sword of martyrdom according to the iconographic tradition associated with the saint. He was welcomed on the Pozzuoli pier by the bishop, a religious and a group of faithful who invited the saint to stay in the city for a week while remaining hidden so as not to be captured. The canvas can be seen today in the choir of the restored Pozzuoli Cathedral, in the Earth District, the heart of ancient Puteoli. Meeting point of different civilizations and a rich town with its flourishing arts of glass, ceramics, perfumes, textiles, colors and iron given by Phoenician, Hellenistic and Egyptian traditions. Admired on the promontory of Pozzuoli, the temple erected by Calpurnius in honor of the emperor Augustus. The ancient structure was later incorporated into the Christian cathedral erected in honor of Pozzuoli's patron Saint Proculus, also known today as Cathedral of Pozzuoli.

During his stay in Pozzuoli, it is also said that St. Paul wanted to cure himself of the annoying rheumatism caused by his long sea voyages at the thermal waters of the Phlegrean area. After all, the name of the city of Pozzuoli, ancient Puteoli, meant precisely small wells, indicating the many sources of thermo-mineral and sulfur waters that arose then, as now, in its territory.

The journey to Rome

Once the week that St. Paul spent in Pozzuoli was over, the apostle set out again for Rome. Puteoli's suburban road network was disentangled through several roads that followed the Phlegrean territory. It is speculated that St. Paul followed the ancient road to Capua, today's Bell Street, which at that time led to Quarto and then to Capua from where it continued on the main Via Appia to Rome.

Following the route of Via Campana, St. Paul passed through the area of necropolises and mausoleums that goes all the way to Quarto. The first necropolis he probably encountered on his way was the Roman necropolis of Celle Street, accessible from Capomazza Square, now placed immediately after the railroad underpass. Of the burial area he visited the group of burial mausoleums, so-called columbaria, to date fenced off.

Then continuing along Via Campana Vecchia, we pass the viaduct of the Tangenziale, which was not there in Roman times, and arrive in St. Vitus Street. A chapel dedicated to St. Paul and a necropolis stand here. Finally, a little further on, stands a mausoleum dating from the first century, made of opus latericium, a Roman building technique.

St. Paul continued his journey, via the Appian Way that would lead him to Rome, where he learned of Nero's Persecution of Christians and taken prisoner died in A.D. 67.

The memory of St. Paul's landing in our day.

Walking on the pier of Pozzuoli harbor, one comes across the striking structure of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The building of humble workmanship, was wanted by the fishermen who inhabited this area of Pozzuoli. Upon entering its interior, near the apse, two plaques can be seen. The first, dating back to 1918, recalls precisely the episode of the landing of Paul of Tarsus in Puteoli. The second, on the other hand, is dedicated to a memorable stop of Pope John Paul II that took place, just a few steps away, on November 12, 1990. Finally, placed between the two testimonies is Giuseppe La Mura's majolica tile depicting the arrival of St. Paul on the Puteolian pier, inaugurated on June 29, 1991.

On the occasion of the Jubilee of 2000, a stone memorial was also placed in the area below, where a gleaming bronze plaque was displayed, verbatim with the passage taken from the Acts of the Apostles about St. Paul's landing and brief stay in Pozzuoli.

Less solemn, but equally noteworthy, is the name of the current Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, which since 1963 and until recently, bore the name of Sao Paulo Stadium, in honor of the saint.

Many were the events and the paths of faith, culture and sports in remembrance of St. Paul's passage to Pozzuoli. Nowadays, in fact, at some confraternities it is possible to retrace precisely the entire itinerary that led the saint to Rome from Pozzuoli.