Aversa () is a city and comune in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the Agro Aversano, producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical domestic buffalo mozzarella). Aversa is also the main seat of the faculties of Architecture and Engineering of the Università degli studi della Campania "L. Vanvitelli" (Campania University "L. Vanvitelli"). With a population of 52,974 (2017),
Geography
Aversa is located near the city of
Naples; it is separated by only 24 kilometres from Naples and by 26 kilometres from
Caserta, the administrative centre of the province of the same name. The municipality borders
Carinaro,
Casaluce,
Cesa,
Frignano, Giugliano in Campania, Gricignano di Aversa,
Lusciano,
San Marcellino, Sant'Antimo,
Teverola and
Trentola Ducenta.
It is located in a fertile coastal plain north of Naples, thus serving as a market for agricultural products to the city. The plain on which it sits was known in ancient Roman times as the Campania Felix.
History
Prehistory
Archaeological sites excavated near Aversa have revealed human presence in the area since the
Neolithic period. Some say that the founding of the ancient city took place with the
Etruscans.
In any case, because of endemic malaria that ravaged the region, the primitive city was abandoned.
Lower middle ages
Only a small military fortification, a castellum, still stands in the area, which is linked to a chapel in memory of the current alleged passage through Aversa by the Apostle Paul in the year 61. A.D., via the Roman road that ran towards Rome.
Aversa County
- See also List of counts of Aversa.
The present-day Aversa, which replaced the nearby city of
Atella that had been laid waste during the Gothic Wars, was the first of the
Normans territories in the Mediterranean. In 1030, the site was ceded to
Rainulf Drengot, a cadet of the lords of Quarrel near Alençon in
Normandy; he was invested as count by Duke Sergius IV of Naples and confirmed by Emperor Conrad II. By offering a generous principle of asylum for the persecuted, Rainulf enlarged the power and importance of his little
borgo, which became the base from which the Normans forged a state in Sicily and Italy. The diplomacy of
Robert Guiscard, who built the fortifications, led to the investiture of a bishop responsible to the Pope at Aversa, which was nominally territory of the Eastern Emperor.
[The former seat had been at Atella ( CE); Atella remains a titular bishopric today ( Catholic-hierarchy.com).] One of the first bishops was the Norman
Guitmund (died c. 1090–95), a Benedictine monk, theologian, and opponent of Berengar of Tours.
The count of Aversa, Richard I, was one of the chief leaders in the struggle against the Papal forces which culminated in the Battle of Civitella del Fortore (1053) in Benevento; even Pope Leo IX himself was captured at what turned into a rout in favour of the Normans. The astute Richard did not treat the pope as a prisoner, however, but escorted him back to Rome with full honours, a gesture that led to the conciliation of the Normans with the Church, the lifting of the ban of excommunication that had been laid upon Aversa.
Angevins
After the Norman dynasty Aversa declined in importance: the Angevin kings of Naples came to Aversa mostly to hunt and hold court in the citadel, of which a few traces remain in via Roma in Aversa's historic centre. In particular Queen Joanna I chose Aversa for her preferred seat. There a group of nobles threw her husband Andrew from a window with a rope around his neck. His brother, King Louis I of Hungary, head of the Capetian House of Anjou, marched into Italy and at Aversa took his vengeance at a banquet of reconciliation, as Joanna escaped to Avignon.
The presence of the court also benefitted Aversa by the institution of the Real Casa dell'Annunziata (about 1315) an orphanage and hospice that occupied a central place in Aversan public life.
Crown of Aragon
When Alfonso V of Aragon permanently enthroned the kingdom of Naples within the domains of the Crown of Aragon, Aversa continued to maintain the privileges it had enjoyed. Soon the epidemics and subdivisions of land caused it to be relegated as a peripheral urban center of Naples.
Fifteenth century
In the fourteenth or fifteenth century the County of Aversa was taken over by a family from Valencia, the Pròixida.
In fact, the palace of the Count of Almenara in Almenara (Castellón) is also known as the palace of the Count of Aversa.
Demographics
Colors=
id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)
id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7)
id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1)
id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8)
ImageSize = width:650 height:450
PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:60000
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:5000 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:1000 start:0
BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo
BarData=
bar:1861 text:1861
bar:1871 text:1871
bar:1881 text:1881
bar:1901 text:1901
bar:1911 text:1911
bar:1921 text:1921
bar:1931 text:1931
bar:1936 text:1936
bar:1951 text:1951
bar:1961 text:1961
bar:1971 text:1971
bar:1981 text:1981
bar:1991 text:1991
bar:2001 text:2001
bar:2011 text:2011
bar:2016 text:2016
PlotData=
color:barra width:20 align:left
bar:1861 from:0 till:18549
bar:1871 from:0 till:21322
bar:1881 from:0 till:21173
bar:1901 from:0 till:23189
bar:1911 from:0 till:23203
bar:1921 from:0 till:23859
bar:1931 from:0 till:24953
bar:1936 from:0 till:26538
bar:1951 from:0 till:34103
bar:1961 from:0 till:40336
bar:1971 from:0 till:47332
bar:1981 from:0 till:56425
bar:1991 from:0 till:54032
bar:2001 from:0 till:53369
bar:2011 from:0 till:52830
bar:2016 from:0 till:53080
PlotData=
bar:1861 at: 18549 fontsize:S text:18,549 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1871 at: 21322 fontsize:S text:21,322 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1881 at: 21173 fontsize:S text:21,173 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1901 at: 23189 fontsize:S text:23,189 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1911 at: 23203 fontsize:S text:23,203 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1921 at: 23859 fontsize:S text:23,859 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1931 at: 24953 fontsize:S text:24,953 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1936 at: 26538 fontsize:S text:26,538 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1951 at: 34103 fontsize:S text:34,103 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1961 at: 40336 fontsize:S text:40,336 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1971 at: 47332 fontsize:S text:47,332 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1981 at: 56425 fontsize:S text:56,425 shift:(-10,5)
bar:1991 at: 54032 fontsize:S text:54,032 shift:(-10,5)
bar:2001 at: 53369 fontsize:S text:53,369 shift:(-10,5)
bar:2011 at: 52830 fontsize:S text:52,830 shift:(-10,5)
bar:2016 at: 53080 fontsize:S text:53,080 shift:(-10,5)
TextData=
fontsize:S pos:(20,20)
text:Source ISTAT
Gastronomy
Aversa DOC
Italian wine, both white and sparkling, under the Aversa
DOC appellation comes from this area. Grapes destined for DOC product must be harvested to a maximum yield of 14
tonnes/
hectare with the finished wines fermented to a minimum
alcohol level of 10.5% for still and 11% for the
spumante style.
[P. Saunders Wine Label Language pg 124 Firefly Books 2004 ]
The primary grape variety of the region is the Asprinio which must constitute at least 85% of the wines, with other local white grape varieties, such as Fiano, Trebbiano and Greco permitted to fill in the remainder. Viticulture in Aversa is unique for its use of growing the grapevines with poplar trees acting as trellises. This traditional method of trellising means that almost all harvesting is done by hand.
Main sights
Aversa, the second in historic importance of the dioceses of Campania, is the "city of a hundred churches" in its extensive historic center. Among its monuments:
-
The Romanesque Aversa Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Paul, has a spectacular ambulatory and a majestic octagonal dome. Francesco Solimena's Madonna of the Gonfaloneand the Quattrocento painter Angiolillo Arcuccio's Martyrdom of St Sebastian are in the Duomo. The pre-Romanesque sculpture of St George and the Dragon is one of the few surviving free-standing sculptures of its date. An outstanding collection of Baroque liturgical silver is kept in the Treasury.
-
The Baroque Church of San Francesco delle Monache.
-
The Ospedale Psichiatrico Santa Maria Maddalena founded by Joachim Murat in 1813 which was the oldest Judicial Psychiatric Hospital in Italy and the center of many accusations of abuse.
-
The Real Casa dell'Annunziata.
-
The Benedictine Abbey of San Lorenzo, founded in the 10th century, with a fine Renaissance cloister.
-
The Church of Santa Maria a Piazza, founded in the 10th century, has frescoes of the school of Giotto.
-
Other churches in the city conserve paintings by Guido da Siena, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Marco Pino da Siena, Pietro da Cortona, Pietro Negroni il Giovane Zingaro, Giuseppe Ribera, Cornelius Smeet, Abram Vink, Teodoro d'Errico, Francesco de Mura, Massimo Stanzione, and Paolo de Maio.
-
The Historic Former Railway station (Stazione Ferrovia Napoli Piedimonte D'Alife) of a long closed 1913 railway
-
The Historic Aragonese Castle which now houses the seat of the Court of North Naples
Transportation
Aversa railway station is a major station on the Rome–Formia–Naples railway. Most of the traffic is operated by
Trenitalia, although some trains run under the aegis of Italo Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori and EAV. Aversa is served by a suburban train, on the Naples–Aversa railway, that connects its stations (Aversa Centro and Aversa Ippodromo) with Piscinola, northern Naples, on the Line 1 of
Naples Metro.
The nearest airport is that of Napoli-Capodichino, away.
Aversa is connected to the A1 Motorway by the SP 335-VI Provincial Road (former SS 265 State Road) and the SS 7 bis. Public bus transport is responsibility of the CTP (Compagnia Trasporti Pubblici Napoli), which serves Aversa with several motorbus routes and one trolleybus route.
Sport
The local football club is the Aversa Normanna, founded in 1925, and its home ground is the Augusto Bisceglia Stadium.
Notable people
Twin towns
See also
-
Roman Catholic Diocese of Aversa
External links
