The intensity of their scent, praised even by Pliny the Elder, was unparalleled. For this reason, the roses of Capua, produced in large quantities by the fertile Campania Felix, were the most sought-after in the empire for the production of Rhodinum italicum, the most famous and appreciated perfume of the time. And the great city, considered the "altera Roma”, was the most important production centre in Campania. It held an undisputed primacy in perfumery and could boast several production centres of excellence, from Pompeii to Paestum, including Naples itself.

Capua's perfume industry had developed beginning in the 3rd century BC and remained flourishing throughout the imperial era. The main raw material was provided by the immense rose gardens that extended around the town. They guaranteed abundant blooms of highly scented roses, predominantly red, for much of the year. Their petals were the key ingredient in the essences produced in the city's numerous workshops, which also served as perfume shops. The shops were mostly located along the main decumanus, in very central locations, where they formed the Seplasia, the largest perfume market of the time. It exported its sought-after fragrances everywhere, starting with Rome. And it was from the name of the Capuan market that the terms "seplasarium" for the perfume shop and "seplasarius" for the artisan perfumers were coined. Initially used only in the Campanian city, the two words later fully entered the vocabulary of the language in use in every corner of the empire.

The "seplasarii" were the creators of highly refined fragrances, requiring great skill in their preparation. In addition to roses, the main ingredient in Rhodinum, they used daffodils, violets, myrtle, basil, moss, and rush, to which oil, natural resins, or gum were added to fix the scents, as well as salt and other ingredients that varied depending on the workshop's recipe. For the red color, cinnabar or ancusa, obtained from the roots of the Alkanna tinctoria, were always used.

A few decades ago, on the outskirts of the ancient city, archaeologists unearthed the remains of a structure containing a well, a cistern, a press, and other features linked to perfume production. The peculiarity of this structure was that it also housed a furnace for firing ointment jars, the containers in which perfumes were marketed and exported. These were common, widely used objects, which could also be highly refined, notwithstanding the varying value of their materials. Ointment jars could be made of ceramic, glass, and vitreous paste (also used for jewelry), painted with various ornamental motifs and colors. The most valuable, however, were made of alabaster, the material that best preserved the perfume, and were often found among women's grave goods.

In ancient Capua, now Santa Maria Capua Vetere, along the road leading to the Temple of Diana Tifatina, a sumptuous underground tomb dating back to the 2nd century BC was discovered in 2008 during road construction. It housed the remains of the matron Stallia. Excellently preserved, including its extensive painted sections, it was so significant that it was transferred to the Provincial Museum of Capua, where, after careful restoration, it is now on public display. This tomb also yielded four alabaster ointment jars.

In addition to being the protagonists of the important production of perfumes, roses, a defining element of the landscape around ancient Capua, also played a key role in the rites celebrated in the city. The magnificent flowers were placed on tombs to honor the deceased, but were also widely present in religious ceremonies. And ancient Capua, underscoring the importance of local rose production, celebrated the Rosalia every year on May 13th, paying homage to the spring flower with celebrations that took place primarily in front of the city's amphitheater, second in size in the empire only to the Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, although it was older. And all around the Campanian amphitheater, the roses of Capua bloomed, wafting their delicate and unmistakable scent into the air.