Now a suburb of Split, Solana was the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia and the birthplace of Emperor Diocletian, whose vast palace on the nearby peninsula survives, entwined within later buildings, as the core of the town of Split. In this state it has provided locations for episodes of Game of Thrones and in 2019 the ‘GoT fan’ visitors were much in evidence. Split later became the population centre as Solana was gradually abandoned.

In contrast the Roman remains of Solana were troubled by few visitors. They occupy a hillside to the north of the city, surrounded by suburban development and cut off from the sea by the ‘Adriatic route 8’ main road, railway lines and fuel storage tanks. The amphitheatre is at the westernmost extreme of the site, and if you drive to it through the suburban streets, you pass a church and arrive via a steep hill at a car park (where there was no one to charge admission).

The amphitheatre itself is a superb site, cut into the steep hillside on the land side and displays a significant amount of surviving stonework and standing arches. In its day it would have been on a par with the Pula arena, seating 20,000 plus with three ranges of arches in the curtain wall and commanding views across the bay and the Adriatic. Old photographs exist showing the arena in use for grazing goats and growing vegetables in the early 20th century. There are a couple of houses sitting on the north-west seating area and one lucky occupier has an outdoor terrace with a royal box view over the amazing ruins.