At the end of the Via dell'Abbondanza, a street that crosses perpendicularly leads to the square where the amphitheater, built around 80 B.C. by the five-year duumvirs Gaius Quintus Valgus and Marcus Porcius, rises imposingly. This amphitheater represents the oldest known example of an amphitheater built of stone. Unlike similar structures in the Imperial period, the Pompeii amphitheater did not have galleries under the arena, which is at a lower level than the square. The amphitheater's cavea was divided into three sets of tiers, with the last one reserved for women. In the upper part of the amphitheater, one can still see the holes intended to support the velario, a huge awning that was deployed to protect the spectators from the sun and rain.
This amphitheater was the site of a concert by the rock group Pink Floyd in 1971, but without an audience. Forty-five years later, in 2016, guitarist David Gilmour, a member of Pink Floyd, played in the amphitheater again, this time in front of a live audience. This event marked the first live performance with an audience in the amphitheater, 1,937 years after the eruption of Vesuvius.