Photo: Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Premium · Walking Tour

ItálicaBirthplace of Emperors

Walk the Roman city of Itálica — founded by Scipio Africanus in 206 BC and beautified by Hadrian — with GPS-triggered narrations at the great amphitheatre, the mosaic houses, and the Roman theatre. The birthplace of Trajan and the family home of Hadrian.

Hear a sample narration
Already purchased? Continue your tour → ⤓ Download for offline

13 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.

Going somewhere with no signal? Download on wi-fi before you set off — keep the screen open while it saves — then add it to your home screen so you can find it again. It works in airplane mode, with no roaming charges. Show me how to save it →

13 narration points ~50 minutes Itálica Roman archaeological ensemble
Verified Sources

Where the facts come from

Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.

  1. 1

    Built from the record

    Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 15 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 7 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.

  2. 2

    Checked against the authority

    Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.

  3. 3

    Anything unsupported is cut

    Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.

  4. 4

    A person signs it off

    Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.

Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.

The Tour

Explore Itálica

🏟️
Hadrian's New City

The nova urbs — the grand district Hadrian lavished on his ancestral home, with one of the largest amphitheatres in the Roman world and a grid of luxury mosaic houses.

8 narration points
🎭
The Old City & Theatre

The vetus urbs beneath modern Santiponce — the original colony of Scipio's veterans, its Roman theatre, the Traianeum, and a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis.

4 narration points
Highlights

Sites that define Itálica

Amphitheatre of Italica
2nd century AD

Among the four largest amphitheatres in the Roman Empire, seating some 25,000 — a gift from Hadrian, with its arena pit and tiered cavea still standing.

House of the Birds
2nd century AD

A luxury domus laid out around a colonnaded courtyard, named for its celebrated floor mosaic teeming with songbirds and waterfowl.

House of the Planetarium
2nd century AD

Named for the mosaic of seven deities who gave their names to the days of the week — the planets of the Roman week made into a floor.

House of Neptune
2nd century AD

A grand house preserving a sweeping marine mosaic — Neptune amid a teeming sea of fish, dolphins, and mythical creatures.

Traianeum
Hadrianic

The colonnaded temple Hadrian raised to the deified Trajan, the emperor born at Italica — the monumental heart of the new city.

Roman Theatre
1st century BC – 1st century AD

Set into the slope of the old town, the theatre where the colony of Scipio's veterans gathered, half-buried beneath the streets of Santiponce.

How It Works

Walk. Listen. See what they saw.

1
Open the tour

Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 13 narration points.

2
Walk at your pace

Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.

3
Hear the stories

Each site has its own narration — history, architecture, and stories brought to life. 13 narration points across the full tour.

What You Get

A companion through the Roman city of Itálica

📍
GPS-Triggered

Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.

🎤
Studio-Quality Voice

Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.

📚
Fact-Checked Twice

Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.

🗺
Interactive Map

See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.

🏛
13 Sites

Every significant point across the Roman city. Major monuments get deep dives; the mosaic houses get focused stories.

Your Own Pace

Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.

Common Questions

How it works

It’s not just GPS — what are the ways to trigger a narration?

Three ways, all built in:

  • GPS-triggered (default): walk near a site, the narration starts automatically.
  • Tap any marker on the map: open the map view, tap any of the 13 markers to play that narration on demand — no walking required.
  • Queue controls: pause, skip, replay any narration; the queue auto-advances as you walk.

The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.

Do I need cell service or data while I’m there?

No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.

How do I make it work with no signal — and open it again later?

Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.

  1. Tap Download for offline above. It opens the guide.
  2. Put that page on your home screen — steps below.
  3. Open the guide from the new icon and download it there, on wi-fi. Keep the screen open until it finishes.

Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):

  1. Tap the three dots at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Tap Share.
  3. Scroll down the list and tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.

On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.

If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.

What if my phone’s GPS is unreliable?

Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.

How long is the tour and how much time do I need?

The audio runs ~50 minutes total, but you walk at your own pace. 13 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.

Can I share with my partner or family?

One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.

What if I never use the tour, or never make it to the site?

Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.

Walk the Roman city of Itálica
13 narration points. The amphitheatre, the mosaics, the theatre.
Already purchased? Continue your tour → ⤓ Download for offline
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