In the 13th century , according to tradition , the amphitheatre 's '' vomitoria '' ( entranceways ) were used by the Angevins to enter the city during the Sicilian Vespers . In the following century , the entrances were walled up and the ruins were incorporated into the Aragonese fortifications ( 1302 ) . In 1505 , the civic senate granted Giovanni Gioeni a concession to use the monument 's stone for the construction of houses and to use the arena itself as a garden . Measures were taken to secure the ruins in the construction of new fortifications in 1550 : the first and second stories were knocked down and the galleries were filled in with the rubble . After the 1693 Sicily earthquake , it was finally buried , and the area was turned into a parade ground . Subsequently , the extrados of the galleries were used as the foundations of new houses and for the neo-classical facade of the Church of San Biagio
1693 Sicily earthquake
1693 Sicily earthquake
Amphitheatre of Catania