'Campania' is a
region of
Southern Italy, bordering on
Latium to the north-west,
Abruzzo and
Molise to the north,
Apulia to the north-east,
Basilicata to the east, and the
Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. The region covers 13,595
km² and has a population of 5.8 million.
The name derives from
Latin, as it was called by
Romans 'Campania felix' ("fortunate countryside"), a name that is shared by the French province of
Champagne.
Tourist attractions include the
Sibyl's cave at
Cumae, the
Greek temples at
Paestum, the Roman ruins at
Pompeii and
Herculaneum, the volcanoes of
Vesuvius,
Campi Flegrei, the
Amalfi Coast (''Costiera Amalfitana'') , the
Sorrento Peninsula (''Penisola Sorrentina'') and the islands of
Capri,
Ischia and
Procida.
Geography
Campania is divided into five provinces:
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Avellino
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Benevento
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Caserta
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Naples (Napoli)
★
Salerno
History
Campania was part of
Magna Graecia, the Greek colonies of southern Italy; the first Greek colony was founded at
Cumae, north of present day Naples, in the 8th century BC.
Etruscans and
Samnites gave way to the expanding
Roman Republic.
In
217 BC Hannibal entered Campania and by burning the crops of these fertile lowlands hoped to provoke the Roman commander
Fabius Maximus Cunctator (the delayer). In this Hannibal failed; nor did he sufficiently weaken Roman prestige for any of the Campanian towns to rebel. Fabius, in turn, failed to trap Hannibal in Campania when Hannibal used the ruse of tying burning brands to the horns of cattle, so drawing off the force guarding a vital pass out of Campania. In
216 BC, however, after Hannibal's victory at the
battle of Cannae,
Capua, the leading city of Campania, wavered. They first requested complete equality with Rome, including the demand that one of the Roman
consuls should be elected from Capua. When Rome rejected this, they opened negotiations with Hannibal who was more than willing to endorse the full independence they sought. The defection of Capua did not however inspire other Campanian towns so Capua was isolated. The Romans, in Hannibal's absence, were eventually able to build siege works round the city. As Hannibal proved unable to break the siege, Capua was eventually starved into submission in
211 BC.
Campania was the breadbasket of Rome until the acquisition of
Egypt brought greater supplies of grain, resulting in the conversion of smallholdings in Campania to the characteristic
latifundia that lasted from the Empire to modern times.
Goths and the
Byzantine Empire struggled for control during the 5th and 6th centuries, followed by the
Lombards, who established the
Duchy of Benevento. The
Normans (
Robert Guiscard) conquered and re-unified Campania during the 11th and 12th centuries, seizing southern Italy from the Byzantines, forming the
Kingdom of Sicily. After the
Hohenstaufen confrontation with the
Papacy, the kingdom passed to
Charles of Anjou who retained his mainland territories after he lost Sicily (
1282) as the
Kingdom of Naples, reunited with Sicily by
Alfonso V of Aragon (
1442) who styled himself the 'King of Two Sicilies', a title that was subsequently revived during the Spanish domination (
1504 –
1713) of both kingdoms. The Bourbons succeeded in 1713: prior to the unification of Italy, Campania formed part of the Bourbon
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Demographics and tourism
Despite being home to the large and prosperous city of
Naples, Campania has not attracted large numbers of immigrants. Like other southern regions, immigration has been low compared to the northern and central regions of Italy.
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Italian: 5,659,702 or 98.8%
★
Ukrainian: 12,718 or 0.2%
Immigrants from
Morocco,
China,
Albania,
India,
Ceylon, and
Poland make up most of the remainder.
The region is renown worldwide and is visited every year by
Americans,
English,
Germans,
Japanese,
French,
Australian and
Spanish tourists.
Tourism from
Russia and
China is also increasing.
Drinks and cuisine
The
pizza in its modern aspect and taste was born in Naples.
Historical and original pizza from Naples are
pizza fritta (fried pizza), with or without being stuffed with
ricotta cheese; if stuffed it is called
Calzone (like single part of trousers);
pizza Marinara (pizza seamans'style), with just
olive oil, tomato sauce and garlic; and the queen of all pizza, the
pizza Margherita with olive oil, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and some
basil leaves.
Spaghetti is a well known dish from southern Italy and Campania. Neapolitans were among the first Europeans to use
tomatoes not only as ornamental plant, but also as food and garnishment.
Campania is also home to
Lacryma Christi,
Fiano,
Aglianico,
Greco di Tufo,
Pere 'e palomma,
Ischitano,
Taburno,
Solopaca,
Taurasi wines.
Campania is regarded throughout Italy as the producer of the best
Mozzarella di Bufala (Mozzarella made from buffalo milk), fiordilatte (flower of milk) made from cow milk,
ricotta from sheep or buffalo,
provolone from cow milk, and
caciotta made from goat milk.
Buffalo cattle are in
Salerno and
Caserta.
Mozzarella is very famous for being soft and chewy cheese and melts gently if exposed to heat.
It just smells and tastes of milk, so it is appreciated for being not stinky.
It is such a good cheese that there are rising mozzarella producers all over the world, in
USA, in
Australia, and even in
China where cheese it is not very appreciated due to genetic reasons (2 Chinese out of 3 when becoming adults lose their capability to digest
lactose).
Very famous are the cakes and pies from Campania. The
pastiera pie it is made in the Easter period. Also
casatiello and
tortano are Easter bread-cakes made adding pork grease and/or oil to the dough of the bread and are garnished with chops of salami and various chops of cheese mixed and cooked with the bread.
The
babà cake it is a well known neapolitan gourmandise, best served with
Rum or
limoncello liquor. It is an old
Austrian cake which arrived in Campania during Austrian domination of the
Kingdom of Naples and here was modified to became a "walking cake" for citizens always in hurry for work and other occupations.
The
sfogliatella is another pasty cake from
Amalfi Coast. Last century it became famous throughout Italy, and now is beginning to be known worldwide as well as are becoming famous the zeppole cake.
Talking of liquors, limoncello it is a worldwide appreciated liquor born in Campania, in the Sorrento peninsula.
During Christmas period it is very appreciated the
Struffoli which are little balls made of cake dough fried and covered with
honey.
Zeppole of
Saint Joseph day are another cake which is conquering all the world.
Derived from some similar dishes from
France, other famous Campanian dishes are also the so called
Russian salad made of potatoes in
mayonnaise garnished with
shrimps and vegetables in vineger. Strange to know the Russians call this dish
Olivier Salad and the Germans called it
italian salad. Also from France domination comes the "gattò" or "gateau di patate" (pie made of boiled potatoes cooked in oven).
Very famous are the fish based dishes such as "
insalata di mare" (
sea salad), "zuppa di polpo" (boiled soup of octopus), "zuppa di cozze" (soup of mussels). There are also the "frittelle di mare" (fritters with seaweed) made with edible
poseidonia algae.
A vaste quantity of dishes made of fishes are very famous such as "triglie al cartoccio" (red mullet in the bag), and "alici marinate" (raw anchovyies in olive oil).
Isle of Ischia it is famous for the fish dishes but also for cooked rabbits.
Talking of vegetables, from Campania are the beautiful and very tasty lemons of
Sorrento, that were loved by German writer
Goethe:
"Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn?" ("Do you know the land where the lemon-trees bloom?), Goethe, ''Mignon''.
Also from campania are the
friarielli or friggiarelli vegetables. Friarielli are
broccoli that tastes bitter. This gives this vegetable an intense taste, and made it good to be fried and often served with sausages.
Famous worldwide are the nuts of Campania from Salerno and Benevento.
Campanian cuisine distinguish itself into various typical zones, Neapolitan is rich of seafood; Salernitan, which mix up mountain and sea; Benevantan and Avellinese from inner and mountain land; Casertan and Aversana rich of fresh vegetables and mozarella cheese; Cilento cuisine typical of the foremost south of Campania; Sorrento cuisine which melts together the cuisine from Naples and from Salerno, and the mountain ones, because Sorrento peninsula it is a mountain which elevates up to from the sea.
Calitrian cuisine is renowned in the region of Campania for being very tasty and rather spicy. Typical hand-made pasta dishes include cingul', the local dish par excellence. This is short, twirly pasta boiled and then served with a thick, tasty tomato sauce. Other varieties of pasta with the same sauce include lahan' and aurecchi' r' preut'- (priest’s ears in the local dialect). Others are annazze', served with delicious hot tomato sauce and pecorino cheese; and sciliend' (a special vermicelli-like pasta) with a condiment of garlic-fried oil and hot chili pepper.
Science, culture, literature, music, arts, cinema, sport
Campania and Naples are famous through the centuries.
From Greek colony of
Elea nowadays named
Velia in Campania were the philosophers of the
Pre-Socratic philosophy school,
Parmenides and
Zeno of Elea Their time was about in 490 - 480 B.C. Zeno was famous for his
paradoxes and called by
Aristotle the inventor of the
dialectic.
Latin poet
Virgilius (70 B.C. - 19 B.C.) loved Campania very much, so much that he decided to establish in Naples.
Many parts of his epic poem and immortal masterpiece
Aeneid are located in Campania.
Ancient scientist Plinius
Pliny the elder who wrote a "Naturalis Historia" ("Pliny's History of the Nature") studied the Volcano Vesuvius and was poisoned and killed by gas emitted from volcano during the famous eruption in 79 A.D.
His nephew
Pliny the younger eventually survived and described the eruption and the death of his uncle in a famous letter to one of his friends.
In Naples in 476 A.D. circa died last emperor of western empire of Rome
Romulus Augustus, prisoner of German general
Odoacer.
Artist
Giotto in middle age made some fresco paints in
Castel Nuovo. Unfortunately these paintings were destroyed by an earthquake.
In the end of middle age, the medical school of
Salerno which combined ancient Roman and Greek medicine with recent discoveries of Arab medicine was known in all Europe. Its methods were then adopted in all the continent. It could be reckognized as being almost the first university in whole Europe, but as there are no certain documents that it was organized like a modern university as we known it, then the preeminence of being the first modern university in the world it tooks to "
Alma Mater Studiorum" University in
Bologna.
Boccaccio poet from Tuscany visited various time Naples, and described it vivid into
Decameron as dissolute city. He had a love story with a noble woman close to King of Naples.
Famous in 1500 is the big book tale named "Lo cunto de li cunti" by
Giovan Battista Basile.
In 1570 the famous writer
Cervantes who wrote romance "
Don Quixote" served as Spanish soldier soldier a period in Naples. he said of the city that it was the beauties city he had ever visited.
Literate and poet
Torquato Tasso author of the epic poem la "
Gerusalemme Liberata" was born in Sorrento in
1575.
The first modern description and studies on the of the "camera obscura" ("
dark chamber"), are firmly established in Italy with the availability of
Giovanni Battista della Porta in its masterpiece
Magiae Naturalis, ("
Natural Magic") in 1558 . These studies then led to construction of first photocameras in 1850 circa by french scientists
Niepce and
Daguerre.
Phliosoper
Giordano Bruno was born in
Nola. He was the first to teorize infinte suns and infinite worlds in the universe. He was burnt in
Rome by
Inquisition in 1600.
Of 1630 circa it is the first modern song of europen music history "Michelemmà".
In 1606 ca. the famous painter
Caravaggio established his studio in Naples. His life was really riotus. He was even harmed in a riot in 1609 near Cerriglio inn.
Famous Italian architect
Cosimo Fanzago from
Bergamo decided to live his life in Naples.
In period of 1700 Naples was the last city to be visited by literate and philosopes who enterprised the "Grand Tour" which was the big touring (looping) voyage to visit all the important cultural sites of the European continent.
Italian architect
Luigi Vanvitelli son of
Dutch architect
Kaspar van Wittel build the Kingdom Palace in
Caserta in 1750 circa. He contributed to build many palaces in
neoclassic style in which nobles of Naples passed their holiday seasons. These palaces are now worldwide known as "
Ville Vesuviane".
Raimondo di Sangro prince of Sansevero was a scientist and one of the last alchimists.
German writer
Goethe visited Campania and Naples in 1786 circa and was astonished of the beautiful place.
Also German archaeologist
Johann Joachim Winckelmann visited Naples, Paestum, Herculaneum and Pompeii in 1748 and later, studying how where conducted acheological surveys in kingdom of Naples. He was one of the first to study drawings, statues, stones, and ancient burned scrolls made of papyrus found in the excavations of city of Herculaneum.
His masterpiece, the "Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums" ("History of Ancient Art"), issued in 1764, was soon recognized as a permanent contribution to European literature.
The archaeological excavations in Pompeii were issued in 1748 by King Charles III of Naples. He stated the first modern laws in Europe to protect, defend and preserve archaeological sites.
Famous neapolitan musician of that period are
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli and
Giovanni Paisiello.
Musician
Rossini lived many years in Naples and there he wrote numerous compositions.
Italian poet and writer
Giacomo Leopardi established his house in Naples and
Torre del Greco in the last period of his young brief life. There he wrote the Ode to the
Ginestra flower. He died in Naples in 1837 .
The first
volcano observatory was founded in Naples in 1841 called the "Vesuvianus Observatory.
Geologist
Giuseppe Mercalli, born in
Milan in 1850, was one of the most famous directors of Vesuvius Observatory. He invented in 1902 the first scientific method to study the effects of an earthquake, the
Mercalli Intensity Scale (also known as MCS, MWM or recently MM). The scale quantifies the effects of an earthquake on the Earth's surface, humans, objects of nature, and man-made structures on a scale of 1 through 12, with 1 denoting a weak earthquake and 12 one that causes almost complete destruction. It represents the results of an earthquake as reported by human eye and considering only the surface of the earth, so it became quickly obsolete and replaced by
Richter Magnitude Scale which quantifies the real amount of energy of the seismic movements. Nothwithstanding of this fact the Mercalli scale is still useful to quantify the damages of an earthquake. He died in the fire of his house in 1914.
British statesman
William Ewart Gladstone (1809-98), exposed in newspaper articles the horrors of the prison system of the Kingdom of Naples in the mid-nineteenth century. His pamphlets gave enormous help to the cause of re-unification of Italy in 1861 and increase notheworthy his reputation in homeland, as representative of the British
Parliament to be then elected as Prime Minister. It was later discovered that he never visited any neapolitan prison, neither investigated upon that jail system. He simply reported voices and wannabe testimoniances. These articles, containing a long list of absurd lies and propagandistic inventions, and probably were made to support invasion and annexion of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by the Kingdom of
Piedmont, with the following foundation of modern Italy.
French writer
Alexandre Dumas, père was directly involved in the process of re-unification of Italy, and sojourned two or three years in Naples, where he wrote many historical novels regarding that city. He was also a known newspaper correspondent.
Francesco de Sanctis, writer, literate, politician and two times Minister of Instructions after re-unification of Italy in 1861, was born in
Morra de Sanctis near Benevento.
German scientist
Anton Dohrn founded in Naples the first public aquarium in the world and laboratory of study of the sea known as Maritime Zoological Station.
Also famous is Astronomic Observatory of Capodimonte founded by King
Gioacchino Murat general of french emperor
Napoleon in 1816. The observatory it is now the site hosts the Italian Laboratory of Astrophisics.
We remember also the Botanic Garden of Naples and again the Geological Station of the Volcano Vesuvius.
Doctors and surgeons
Antonio Cardarelli, and
Giuseppe Moscati were ensign representatives of the medicine studies in Naples. Their life was an example for all city and the entire nation.
Doctor Giuseppe Moscati, for his extraordinary devout and religious life and his care to the poors of Naples was first declared "Blessed" by Roman Church in 1975, and proclaimed "Saint" by Pope
John Paul II in 1987.
Famous worldwide are the schools of sightseeing pictures known as "School of Posillipo" and "School of Resina" out of period from 1800-1900 circa. There were famous painters like
Giacinto Gigante,
Raffaele Carelli,
Teodoro Duclère,
Achille Vianelli,
Vincenzo Franceschini,
Alessandro La Volpe,
Giuseppe Bonolis,
Giuseppe Fagnani,
Salvatore Fergola,
Emile-Jean-HoraceVernet,
Gonsalvo Carelli,
Achille Carelli,
Giuseppe Carelli,
Filippo Palizzi,
Nicola Palizzi,
Federico Cortese,
Simone Campanile,
Domenico Morelli,
Saverio Altamura,
Giuseppe De Nittis,
Francesco Sogliano,
Michele Cammarano,
Eduardo Dalbono,
Vincenzo Gemito,
Antonio Mancini,
Gennaro della Monica,
Raffaello Pagliaccetti,
Teofilo Patini,
Francesco Paolo Michetti,
Costantino Barbella,
Pasquale Celommi,
Gaetano Esposito,
Giuseppe Casciaro,
Federico Maldarelli,
Giuseppe De Simone.
Amongst the painters who inspired directly these schools, we remember
Salvator Rosa,
Pierre Jacques-Antoine Volaire who became famous for his
gouaches,
Anton Sminck van Pitloo who preferred to live his remaining life in Naples.
In the begin of the 20th century Naples was the capital of Cinema in Italy, before than Rome and then
Milan.
Very important Italian movies of the origins were played in Naples, such as
Assunta Spina from a novel of
Salvatore di Giacomo.
From Naples come the famous singer
Enrico Caruso.
In
Capri lived for a certain time the Russian revolutionary leader
Lenin.
From Naples came the mathematician
Renato Caccioppoli, nephew of Russian anarchic revolutionary Michael
Bakunin. Born in 1904 he committed suicide in 1959. His life was represented in a movie "
Morte di un matematico napoletano" ("Death of a neapolitan mathematician") by
Mario Martone in 1992.
The first President of the Italian Republic in 1946 (with a pro-tempore mandate of six months) was lawyer
Enrico De Nicola from city of
Torre del Greco. He was famous for his studies regarding the Constitutions.
Campania gave two other Presidents to Italy:
Giovanni Leone was various times Prime Minister and then becme elected the 6th President of the Republic; and the actual 11th President
Giorgio Napolitano. Curiosity: President Napolitano is a former representative of Italian Communist Party (
PCI).
20th century most known philosoper and literate in Naples was
Benedetto Croce, famous for his studies in
aesthetics,
ethics,
logic,
economy,
history,
politics.
Famous Neapolitan artists, actors, playwriters, and showmen were
Eduardo De Filippo worldwide known for its theatre works such as "
Filumena Marturano" (filumena), and "Questi fantasmi" (a.k.a. "Souls of Naples)",
Peppino De Filippo and their sister
Titina De Filippo.
The prince
Antonio de Curtis was one of the most important actors in Naples in 20th century. Worldwide known with his art nickname of
Totò he worked with
Pier Paolo Pasolini in the movie "
Uccellacci e uccellini". He is also known for the song "Malafemmena".
Pop artist
Andy Warhol created two famous paintings about
Irpinia Earthquake of
1980:
Fate presto and
Vesuvius. Both originals are hosted in the exhibit
Terrae Motus in King's Palace of
Caserta.
The Academy Award winning actress
Sophia Loren was born in
Pozzuoli.
The famous cinema producer
Dino de Laurentiis (grandfather of Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis) was born in
Torre Annunziata.
Recent campanian writers are
Curzio Malaparte and
Domenico Rea.
Recent campanian actors and directors are
Francesco Rosi,
Iaia Forte,
Pappi Corsicato,
Teresa De Sio,
Lello Arena, Award winning actor
Massimo Troisi, Award winning director
Gabriele Salvatores.
Recent and modern Italian songers and musicians from Campania are
Peppino di Capri,
Renato Carosone,
Edoardo Bennato,
Eugenio bennato Mario Merola,
Sergio Bruni,
Aurelio Fierro,
Roberto Murolo,
E.A. Mario,
Eugenio Bennato Tony Tammaro,
Teresa De Sio,
Eduardo De Crescenzo,
Alan Sorrenti,
Jenni Sorrenti,
Toni Esposito,
Tullio De Piscopo,
Gigi Finizio,
Massimo Ranieri,
Pino Daniele,
James Senese and his group
Napoli Centrale,
Enzo Avitabile,
Enzo Gragnaniello,
Maria Nazionale,
Nino D'Angelo,
Gigi D'Alessio, the music groups of
99 Posse,
Almamegretta,
Bisca,
24 Grana la "
Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare". remember all it is almost impossible.
Well known and deservers its place in the history of music it is the music genre called
neapolitan song. Famous worldwide are
O sole mio (a.k.a. "
It's Now or Never"),
Funniculì Funniculà,
O Surdato nnamurato,
Torna a Surriento,
Guapparia,
Santa Lucia Reginella,
Marechiaro,
Spingule Francese. Famous titles are hundreds. Neapolitan songs are thousands.
Even singers and music directors who do not have Campanian origins wrote Neapolitan songs
Paolo Conte,
Lucio Dalla, or adapted it to English, like
Elvis Presley or
Bryan Adams. There are some who perhaps just played neapolitan songs, such as for example
Mia Martini or
Domenico Modugno. Lyric artists
Luciano Pavarotti,
Placido Domingo and
Andrea Bocelli performed it various times.
There are also famous Cinema artists who directed movies about Naples or actors who played famous movies in Campania, or even interpreted famous Neapolitans on the screens. We remember amongst various directors and actors
Vittorio De Sica,
Nanni Loi,
Domenico Modugno,
Renzo Arbore,
Lina Wertmüller,
Mario Lanza as "
Caruso",
Clark Gable in "
It started in Naples",
Jack Lemmon in the movies "
Avanti!" and "
Maccheroni" (a.k.a."
Macaroni") played together with
Marcello Mastroianni.
Sports
Campania is very famous in Italy for its football teams, water polo, volleyball, and more recently for basketball and tennis.
The school of swords in Naples is the oldest in the country and the only in Italy in which a swordsman could acquire the title of "master of swords" and then teach the art of fence.
The sail clubs in Naples "Circolo Savoia" and "Cannottieri Napoli" are both very ancient in Italy and famous for thir regattas, and are also home for the main waterpolo teams.
Many sailsmen from Naples and Campania participate as crew to "
America's Cup" sailing championship.
In
Castellammare di Stabia were born the
Lorenzo Abbagnale and
Carmine Abbagnale brothers four times
rowing world champions and
Olympic gold medallists.
Main football teams
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S.S.C. Napoli playing in
Serie A
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U.S. Avellino which plays in
Serie B
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Salernitana Calcio 1919 playing in
Serie C1/B
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S.S. Juve Stabia from
Castellammare di Stabia which plays in
Serie C1/B
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S.S. Cavese 1919 from
Cava de' Tirreni which plays in
Serie C1/A
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Benevento Calcio playing in
Serie C2/B
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A.G. Nocerina 1910 from
Nocera Inferiore playing in
Serie D
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Sapri playing in
Serie D
External links
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Official Region homepage
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Campania Photo Gallery
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typical food products
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Map of Campania
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typical wines of Campania
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Vesuvius Observatory
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