Salona Archaeological Site

Salona was the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia — a city of 60,000 people that was the largest urban centre on the eastern Adriatic and the birthplace of Emperor Diocletian (who retired to his palace in nearby Split after abdicating in 305 AD). The archaeological site, 5 kilometres north of Split in the modern town of Solin, contains the remains of the Roman city — an amphitheatre (seating 18,000), basilicas, baths, the city walls, and the necropolis where early Christian sarcophagi document the religion's spread through Dalmatia.

Salona is vastly less visited than Diocletian's Palace despite being historically more significant — the ruins are spread across an open field, there are no crowds, and the experience of walking through the remains of a Roman provincial capital (with the modern suburbs visible in every direction) provides a perspective on the scale of Roman urban civilisation that the concentrated palace in Split can't convey.