ENGLISH * SALERNO
THE
BAY OF SALERNO STRETCHES BELOW US, UNBELIEVABLY SERENE BETWEEN THE SEA AND
A PLAIN GENTLY BOUNDED BY GREEN HILLS. WE CAN SEE THE BUSY PORT ON ONE SIDE
AND THE ORDERED ROOFS OF THE HOUSES. SALERNO IS AN ORDERLY CITY: THE STREETS
ALL SEEM TO LEAD IN THE DIRECTION OF THE BEAUTIFUL SEASIDE ESPLANADE EVEN
THOSE WHICH WIND IN AND OUT IN THE OLD CENTRE.
TAKING IT ALL IN FROM THIS HEIGHT, THE CITY SEEMS OPEN LIKE NO OTHER IN THE
SOUTH; IT COULD ALMOST BE SAID THAT ITS FORTUNATE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION HAS
HAD A POSITIVE INFLUENCE IN SHAPING THE MENTAL OPENNESS OF ITS INHABITANTS.
OVER THE CENTURIES, ITS CITIZENS HAVE BEEN CONFROTED WITH A VARIETY OF CIVILISATIONS
AND CULTURES, YET HAVE NEVER MERELY SUBMITTED BUT ENTERED INTO A DIALOGUE
WITH THEM SO MAINTAINING THEIR OWN CULTURE AND INDEPENDENCE.
LIKE ALL THE TOWNS IN THE SOUTH, SALERNO TOO EXISTED BEFORE THE ROMANS ARRIVED.
THE RUINS WHICH CAN BE GLIMPSED IN THE DISTRICT OF SAN NICOLA ALLE FRATTE,
ABOUT ONE KILOMETRE FROM THE MEDIEVAL QUARTER, ARE FROM A NECROPOLIS DATING
BACK TO THE SIXTH TO SEVENTH CENTURIES B.C. AND BELONGING TO THE IRNIANS,
AS THE INHABITANTS ( ALMOST CERTAINLY ETRUSCAN ) WHO LIVED ALONG THE RIVER
IRNO WERE CALLED. THE CASTRUM SALERNI ALREADY EXISTED WHEN, IN 197 B.C., THE
ROMANS DESTROYED THE TOWN'S COLONY AND TRASFERRED THE PICENES THERE. AFTER
SECOND PUNIC WAR, SALERNO SHARED IN THE GENERAL DECLINE OF SOUTHERN ITALY.
NEVERTHELESS, THERE IS SOMETHING MIRACULOUS IN THE FACT THAT DURING THE DARKEST
PERIOD OF WESTERN HISTORY, WHEN THE TOWN WAS RAVAGED BY BARBARIAN INVASIONS,
AND FOUGHT OVER BY THE GOTHS OF ALARIC AND GENSERIC ( 5TH CENTURY ) AND BYZANTINES
OF BELISARIUS ( 6TH CENTURY ), SALERNO WAS FAMED IN ITALY AND IN ALL THE WORLD
FOR ITS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, WHICH SHONE OUT LIKE A BEACON OF CIVILISATION
AND KNOWLEDGE IN A EUROPE OVERRUN BY THE BARBARIANS.
THE ORIGINS OF THE SCHOOL OF SALERNO ARE VERY OLD. UNDER THE REIGN OF THE
SWABIAN MANFRED, THAT IS, HALFWAY THROUGH THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, IT WAS SAID
THAT IT HAD BEEN FOUNDED BY FOUR TEACHERS: A GREEK, A ROMAN, AN ARAB AND A
JEW. THIS MEANS THAT NOT ONLY WAS THE TEACHING CARRIED OUT IN THE RESPECTIVE
LANGUAGES, BUT ALSO THAT THE TEXBOOKS WHICH FORMED PART OF ROMAN, GREEK, ARABIC
AND JEWISH MEDICINE WERE STUDIED THERE. HOWEVER, THE STDY OF MEDICINE IN SALERNO
WAS LARGELY PRACTICAL AND TAUGHT BY MONKS, ALMOST ALL OF THEM BENEDECTINES,
WHO MADE UP THE MEDICINES THEMSELVES AND GREW MEDICINAL HERBS. SUBSEQUENTLY,
WHEN THE UNIVERSITY BECAME A LAY INSTITUTION, DISTINGUISHED TEACHERS TAUGHT
AT THE SCHOOL. ONE CURIOUS FEATURE TO NOTE IS THAT, ALONGSDE THE TEACHERS,
THERE WERE WOMEN, THE "MULIERES SALERNITANAE", WHOSE MAIN WORK WAS IN OBSTETRICS
AND WHO ATTENDED TO FEMALE DISEASES. THEY WERE NOT MIDWIVES OR NURSES, BUT
GRADUATES OF THE UNIVERSITY. ALL OVER EUROPE, UNTIL MODERN TIMES, WOMEN WHO
CHOSE TO PRACTISE MEDICINE WERE VICTIMS OF PREJUDICE AND ON OCCASION ACCUSED
OF WITCHCRAFT. OFTEN THEY WERE EVEN CONDEMNED TO THE STAKE, YET AT SALERNO
THEY WERE LOOKED UPON WITH PROFESSIONAL RESPECT.
UNDER THE LOMBARDS AS WELL, SCHOOL OF SALERNO REMAINED FAMOUS. HOWEVER, NOT
ONLY THE SCHOOL, BUT THE WHOLE TOWN ENJOYED A PERIOD OF GREAT SPLENDOUR. THE
BYZANTINE AND THE OSTROGOTHS HAD LEFT A SMALL VILLAGE; UNDER THE LOMBARDS,
THIS WAS ELEVATED TO THE DIGNITY OF A PRINCIPALITY, AND MADE THEIR SECOND
CAPITAL AFTER PAVIA. THE LOFTY ARCHES WHICH STRIKE THE EYE BELONG TO THE LOMBARD
AQUEDUCT, STILL MIRACULOUSLY INTACT. THE NUMEROUS MONUMENTS OF THIS PERIOD,
HOWEVER, HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO A FEW RUINS WHICH WE CAN MAKE OUT ONLY WITH
DIFFICULTY, SUCH AS THE PORTA RATEPRANDI, THE ARCH OF ARICHIS AND THE BISHOP'S
PALACE, ON WHICH THE WEALTH AND SPLENDOUR OF THE LOMBARD PRINCES WAS PARTICULAREY
LAVISHED AND WHICH WAS ADMIRED BY AMBASSADORS, MERCHANTS AND TRAVELLERS. ARICHIS
ENLARGED THE ROMAN "CASTELLUM" WHICH DOMINATES THE WHOLE CITY FROM THE TOP
OF THE HILL ( WHAT WE CAN SEE TODAY IS A RESTORATION ). THE CASTLE MUST HAVE
BEEN OF CONSIDERABLE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE, AS, IN 1075, IT WAS STRENGTHENED
BY ROBERT GUISCARD, AFTER HIS CONQUEST OF THE CITY. UNDER THE NORMANS, SALERNO
REACHED A HEIGHT OF PROSPERITY AND BRILLANCE. ITS PRESTIGE AS A CAPITAL WAS
RECONFIRMED; AS AN INDEPENDENT DUCHY, IT WAS CHIEF AMONG THE VARIOUS NORMAN
DOMINIONS.
THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE WAS AT THE PEAK OF ITS GLORY, HOUSED IN THE RIGHTHAND
SECTION OF THE BUILDING WE CAN SEE IN THE OLD CENTRE: THE GREAT CATHEDRAL
OF ST. MATTHEW, RESPLENDENT WITH MOSAIC DECORATION. PRECEDING THE CHURCH,
THERE IS A LARGE COURTYARD AND PORTICO SUPPORTED ON HIGH MOORISH ARCHES AND
FRAGMENTS OF ANTIQUE COLUMNS WITH CORINTHIAN CAPITALS. THE FACADE SEEMS TO
FOLLOW CLASSICAL MODELS, BUT THE DOORWAY HAS BRONZE PANELS WHICH WERE CAST
AT COSTANTINOPLE IN 1099. IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, THIS GEM OF NORMAN ARCHITECTURE
UNDERWENT THE CUSTOMARY ALTERATIONS, BUT FORTUNATELY IT HAS BEEN ALMOST ENTIRELY
RESTORED TO ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION. CHURCH FURNISHINGS OF PARTICULAR RICHNESS
AND CHARACTERISTIC OF THE CAMPANIAN STYLE ARE PRESERVED INSIDE. POPE GREGORY
VII TOOK REFUGE HERE ( HIS TOMB IS IN THE CHURCH AS WELL AS THAT OF ST. MATTHEW
) AND HERE ARCHBISHOP ALFANO WROTE HIS VERSES.
EVEN WHEN SALERNO LOST ITS LEADING POLITICAL STATUS IN 1127, WHEN SOUTHERN
ITALY BECAME ONE KINGDOM UNITED WITH SICILY, THE NORMANS KINGS WITH THEIR
SEAT AT PALERMO REGARDED IT AS THE MOST IMPORTANT CITY OF THE MAINLAND. IT
OPPOSED THE SWABIANS AND WAS HORRIBLY SACKED BY HENRY VI; NOT EVEN THE GOOD
INTENTIONS OF MANFRED, WHO EXTENDED THE PORT AND INSTITUTED AN ANNUAL FAIR,
WHICH WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT IN THE KINGDOM, COULD KEEP THE CITY FROM THE
DECLINE WHICH WAS OVERTAKING IT. THE EVER INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF NEARBY
NAPLES DAMAGED SALERNO CONSIDERABLY. IN 1224, FREDERIK II HAD CREATED THE
UNIVERSITY IN NAPLES, THE FIRST TO BE FOUNDED BY THE STATE, TO THE SERIOUS
DETRIMENT OF THE SCHOOL OF SALERNO. CONDITIONS DID NOT GET BETTER UNDER THE
NEW ANGEVIN DYNASTY.
IN 1419, PRESSING FINANCIAL NEEDS MADE GIOVANNA II OF ANJOU CONCEDE SALERNO
TO THE COLONNA FAMILY. FROM THE COLONNA IT PASSED INTO THE HANDS OF THE ORSINI,
AND THEN TO THE SANSEVERINO, UNDER WHOM IT ENJOYED SEVERAL DECADES OF INTENSE
CULTURAL ACTIVITY. WHEN THE SANSEVERINO FAMILY FELL, SALERNO WAS ENFEOFFED
AGAIN, THIS TIME TO THE GRIMALDI.
IN 1799 IT RALLIED TO THE REPUBLICAN CAUSE, BUT AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF NAPOLEON'S
RELATIVES, THE FIRST STEP TAKEN BY JOAQUIN MURAT WAS TO SUPPRESS THE SCHOOL
OF SALERNO. THE CIRIZENS NEVER FORGAVE HIM. THE REST OF SALERNO'S HISTORY
IS PART OF THE HISTORY OF ITALY.
