Some ancient towns in Southern Italy (Paestum, the Greek Poseidonia, Pompeii and Herculaneum), in Sicily (Syracuse) and, perhaps, in Spain(Emporion,the modern Empúries) show us examples of the changes in the educational system from Greece to Rome. These changes apply to the architectural aspects, too.
Specifically, the building at Paestum, in which some scholars have identified the Asklepieion, must be actually considered as the civic gymnasium,because its architectural features are similar to the ones of several well-identified gymnasiums, such as those at Delphi and Delos.
In the late third century B.C. or in the early second century B.C., the Poseidonian gymnasium changed its destination and its gymnastic functions passed to the Roman campus, created to satisfy the needs of the Roman youth (iuventus) that reached Paestum after 273 B.C., when the new Latin colony was founded.
In the case of Syracuse, recent excavations proved that the so-called Roman Gymnasium was the result of the transformation of a Greek gymnastic center into a shrine of Egyptian deities, as at Emporion. The athletic functions were transferred to the area of the Altar of Hieron II, because its length was 200 meters, such as the one of Greek stadia.