ENGLISH * NOLA
FROM
CASERTA WE HEAD SOUTH, AND HERE BELOW US IS THE TOWN OF NOLA, BOUNDED ON THE
EAST BY THE FIRST PEAKS OF THE APENNINES, AND IN THE MIDDLE OF COUNTRYSIDE
INTENSELY CULTIVATED WITH VEGETABLES AND FRUIT, MAIZE AND HEMP, A SOURCE OF
THRIVING TRADE. NOLA WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CENTRES OF INLAND CAMPANIA
AFTER CAPUA. IT WAS ONCE AN AUSONIAN SETTLEMENT, BUT IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY
B.C. IT BECAME, TOGETHER WITH CAPUA, ONE OF THE STRONGHOLDS OF ETRUSCAN EXPANSION
TOWARDS THE SOUTH. WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE SAMNITES, IT TOOK THE NAME OF NOVLA,
WHICH MEANS "NEW TOWN".
THE ITALIC, ETRUSCAN AND SAMNITE TOWN SOON CAME UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF NAPLES,
TO THE EXTENT OF HELPING THE LARGER CITY IN ITS STRUGGLE AGAINST ROME DURING
THE SAMNITE WAR.
IT WAS BETRAYED. NAPLES FORMED AN ALLIANCE WITH ROME, AND NOLA WAS ATTACKED
AND PLUNDERED BY THE TROOPS OF FABIUS CUNCTATOR. THUS IT SURRENDERED TO ROME
AND BECAME AN ALLIED CITY ( THAT IS TO SAY, A SUBALTERN ONE ). YET NOLA WAS
NOT RESIGNED TO ITS CONDITION. DURING THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, IT DID NOT SUCCEED
IN BREAKING WITH ROME AS CAPUA DID AND SUBMITTED TO BECOMING THE MILITARY
BASE FOR THE ROMAN CAMPAIGN AGAINST HANNIBAL. ON OTHER OCCASIONS, IT SOUGHT
TO DEFY THE ROMAN YOKE, BUT ALWAYS FAILED. THE HORDES OF SPARTACUS PILLAGED
IT, BUT WITH THE NEW INHABITANTS SENT OUT BY AUGUSTUS WHO DIED IN THE TOWN
IN A.D. 14 AND BY VESPASIAN, IT BEGAN ONCE MORE TO PROSPER. ITS VICISSITUDES
DURING CLASSICAL TIMES UNFORTUNATELY CONTINUED INTO THE MIDDLE AGES. IT WAS
DEVASTATED BY GENSERIC'S VANDALS, AND NEVER MANAGED TO REGAIN ITS FORMER IMPORTANCE.
IN THE NINTH CENTURY IT ENDURED REPEATED RAIDS BY THE SARACENS. IT BELONGED
TO THE DUCHY OF BENEVENTO, BUT LATER BECAME PART OF THE PRINCIPALITY OF SALERNO.
UNDER THE ANGEVINS, IT WAS GIVEN IN FIEF TO GUIDO DI MONTFORT, AND IN THE
FIFTEETH CENTURY PASSED INTO THE HANDS OF THE ORSINI FAMILY. UNDER THE ORSINI,
THE BIRTHPLACE OF GIORDANO BRUNO AND GIOVANNI DA NOLA, AFTER SO MANY DISASTROUS
SETBACKS TO ITS PROGRESS IN THE PAST, ENJOYED A REVIVAL. IT ROUTED THE ARMY
OF THE POWERFUL CHARLES VIII OF FRANCE, THUS EARNING ITSELF CEREMONIOUS EULOGIES
AND RECOGNITIONS OF MERIT FROM THE ARAGONESE.
MUCH LATER, DURING RISORGIMENTO, NOLA SAW THE FIRST STIRRINGS OF THE REVOLUTION.
UNFORTUNATELY, THE VERY TURBULENCE OF ITS PAST MEANS THAT LITTLE REMAINS FOR
US TO SEE: THE NECROPOLIS, THE THIRD LARGEST IN CAMPANIA AFTER THOSE OF CUMA
AND CAPUA; GOTHIC REMNANTS IN THE CHURCHES OF S. BIAGIO AND S. CHIARA; THE
DISTINGUISHED PALAZZO ORSINI, AN OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE OF THE FUSION OF RENAISSANCE
AND CATALAN ARCHITECTURAL STYLES. HOWEVER, THE DISTINGUISHED PALAZZO ORSINI
IS AN OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE OF THE FUSION OF RENAISSANCE AND CATALAN ARCHITECTURAL
STYLES.
FROM UP HERE, WE CAN SEE ONLY THE FACADE, WITH ITS HANDSOME SQUARE MORBLE
DOORFRAME, BUT EVEN IF WE WERE ON THE GROUND, WE COULD SEE NO MORE, FOE THIS
HISTORIC PALACE IS CLOSED TO VISITORS.
YET WE SHOULD LIKE TO VISIT THE ALBERTINI TOMB AND THE WOODEN CHOIRSTALLS
DESIGNED BY GIOVANNI DA NOLA. THERE IS ALSO THE CIPPUS ABELLANO, WHICH WAS
FOUND TO CONTAIN A TREATISE ON ADMINISTRATION AND PROPERTY RIGHTS, WRITTEN
IN THE OSCAN LANGUAGE.
THE CHARACTERISTIC FOLKLORE FESTIVAL OF NOLA IS THE "FESTA DEL GIGLIO", WHICH
IS CELEBRATED IN JUNE IN HONOUR OF THE TOWN'S PATRON SAINT, ST. PAULINUS,
BISHOP OF NOLA. THE "GIGLI" ARE EIGHT PAPIER MACHE' TOWERS REACHING A HEIGHT
OF 25 METRES. THEY ARE FESTOONED WITH BAROQUE GARLANDS AND MULTICOLOURED SACRED
IMAGES, AND THEY ARE CARRIED IN PROCESSION ON MEN'S SHOULDERS, TOGETHER WITH
A BOAT CONTAINING AN AFFIGY OF THE SAINT, IN MEMORY OF HIS RETURN FROM AFRICA
WHERE HE HAD GONE TO DELIVER SOME CITIZENS OF THE TOWN FROM CAPTIVITY.
TODAY, A LARGE COMMERCIAL CENTRE FOR TRADE BETWEEN NAPLES AND SOUTHERN ITALY
HAS BEEN BUILT ON A VAST SITE AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE TOWN.
NOT FAR FROM NOLA, WE FIND CIMITILE, ANCIENT COEMETERIUM, WHERE THE BODIES
OF HOLY CHRISTIAN MARTYRS WERE VENERATED, IN PARTICULAR THOSE OF ST. FELIX
AND ST. PAULINUS. OF ALL THE MONUMENTS OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY, THOSE AT CIMITILE
ARE UNDOUBTEDLY THE MOST IMPORTANT. THIS SMALL WARD OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF
NOLA WAS RENOWNED FOR ITS BASILICAS, FIRST BUILT IN THE FOURTH CENTURY AND
RECONSTRUCTED IN THE FIFTH CENTURY BY BISHOP PAULINUS, A FRENCH NOBLEMAN WHO
CAME TO LIVE HERE IN 394. THERE IS ALSO A COMPLEX OF BUILDINGS WHICH PROVIDED
ACCOMMODATION FOR THE PILGRIIMS WHO JOURNEYED HERE IN ORDER TO DEVOTE THEMSELVES
TO THE COENOBITIC LIFE. THERE ARE IMPRESSIVE REMAINS FROM THE BASILICA OF
ST. FELIX NINTH, TENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURY SCULPTURES, MOSAICS AND FRESCOES.
IN THE BASILICA OF THE HOLLY MARTYRS, DATING FROM THE EIGHTH CENTURY, THERE
IS THE EARLIEST KNOWN EXAMPLE OF A "PROTHYRUM", A PORCH ADJOINING THE WALLS
OF THE CHURCH, COVERED WITH A VAULT RESTING ON TWO SMALL COLUMNS.
IT SHELTERED BEGGARS FROM THE RAIN.
