Portici (; ) is a town and municipality ( comune) of the Metropolitan City of Naples in the region of Campania in Italy. It has 51,351 inhabitants.
Geography
Portici lies at the foot of
Mount Vesuvius on the Bay of Naples, about southeast of Naples itself. There is a small
port. To the south east is
Ercolano, formerly Resina, which occupies the site of ancient
Herculaneum. San Giorgio a Cremano is another town nearby.
History
The city was completely destroyed by the 1631 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but was rebuilt. Charles III of Spain, King of Naples and Sicily, built a royal palace in the town between 1738 and 1748. After Garibaldi defeated the Bourbons in 1860, the palace was turned into the Portici botanic gardens and the Royal Higher School of Agriculture. It once contained the antiquities from Herculaneum, which have since been moved to Naples.
Demographics
Economy
The inhabitants were historically engaged in
fishing,
silk-growing and silk-
weaving up to the beginning of the 20th century. Later a more diversified economy emerged, with industry and trade as main pillars.
Vincenzo Cuomo is the mayor. In 2009, he banned shops from displaying Christmas decorations because shopkeepers were subject to extortion to buy Camorra (mob) sold decorations.[ Infos at npr.org][ Infos at online.wjs.com]
In March 2008, Boeing opened a research centre for advanced materials under an agreement with the Italian aerospace company Alenia.[ Infos at ft.com]
Notable people
-
Charles IV of Spain (1748–1819), King of Spain
-
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who played in the royal chapel for the Borbone family
[Ruggiero Cappuccio, Fuoco su Napoli]
-
(1958), actor
-
Rossella Erra (1974), television personality
Notes and references
External links
