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NOLA
City with Etruscan
origin (VII cent. a.C.) known with
the name Hyria, even if the territory results
inhabited since from the age of the Bronze (XVII cent. BC)
by some italic populations, knew a period of splendor between
VI and V cent. BC when the power passed in the hands of the
Samnites, coming from the Appennine zone,
changing its name in Novla, that means new.
Conquered by the Romans with the second Samnite
War in 312 BC, Nola was a faithful allied
of Rome against
Hannibal but it rebelled against the capital
during the Civil War enduring the besiege
by the general Silla (80 BC).
In 14 AD Nola was the theatre of the last
day of the Emperor Augusto who died here
in August 19.
Already in decline for causes to clarify, Nola was devastated
by the Goths commanded by Alarico in the
410 and by the Genserico's Vandals
in 570 and 594 and finally
by the Longobards that held it until the
850 in the Duchy of Benevento.
After a century the city passed to the Duchy of Naples,
therefore in Byzantine hand and here remained until the moment
of the fall in Norman hand thanks to Ruggero II of
Altavilla (1137) and future King
of Sicily.
At the end of the war between Svevians and
Angioins with the battle of Tagliacozzo,
Carl I D'Anjou appointed its captain Guido di Monfort
Count of Nola, who married an Orsini, family
that then governed until 1533. He was under
this powerful family that Nola knew a period of great development
shown through the construction of churches, convents and palaces
protected with defensive town walls.
With the end of the Angioin dominion (1442)
Nola passed to the Aragoneses, and later
to the Spanish under Carl V.
In Nola was born the philosopher Giordano Bruno
(1548-1600) burned at the stake as a heretic by the Roman
Inquisition in Campo dei Fiori in Rome.
The city offers several visits both to the ruins of Roman
age like the Lateritious Amphitheater (the
sec. a.C.) and to those of previous periods like the prehistoric
village (approximately 1860-1680 BC).
Remarkable also the Renaissance Church of Saint Biagio with
coloured marbles and frescoes.
In Nola in June is celebrated every year the Festivity
of the Gigli that celebrates Saint Paolino.
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