Campania

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Campania
—  Region of Italy  —

Flag

Country Italy
Capital Naples
Government
 - President Antonio Bassolino (Democratic Party (Italy))
Area
 - Total 13,595 km² (5,249.1 sq mi)
Population (2008-03-30)
 - Total 5,812,649
 - Density 427.6/km² (1,107.4/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
GDP/ Nominal € 94.3 billion (2006)
GDP per capita € 16,294 (2006)
NUTS Region ITF
Website www.regione.campania.it

Campania (Italian pronunciation: [kamˈpanja]) is a region of southern Italy in Europe. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,595 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country.[1] Located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west, the small Flegrean Islands and Capri are also administratively part of the region.

Throughout much of its history Campania has been at the centre of Western Civilisation's most significant entities. The area was colonised by Ancient Greeks and was within Magna Græcia, until the Roman Republic began to dominate. During the Roman era the area was highly respected as a place of culture by the emperors, where it balanced Greco-Roman culture. The area had many duchies and principalities during the Middle Ages, in the hands of the Byzantine Empire and some Lombards.

It was under the Normans that the smaller independent states were brought together as part of a sizable European kingdom, known as the Kingdom of Sicily, before the mainland broke away to form the Kingdom of Naples. It was during this period that especially elements of Spanish, French and Aragonese culture touched Campania. Later the area became the central part of the Two Sicilies under the Bourbons, until the Italian unification of 1860 when it became part of the new state Italy.

The capital city of Campania is Naples. Campania is rich in culture, especially in regards to gastronomy, music, architecture, archeological and ancient sites such as Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum. The name of Campania itself is derived from Latin, as the Romans knew the region as Campania felix, which translates into English as "fertile countryside". The rich natural sights of Campania make it highly important in the tourism industry, especially along the Amalfi Coast, Mount Vesuvius and the island of Capri.[2]

Geography

Campania has an area of 13,595 sq km and a coastline of 350 km on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Campania is famous for its gulfs (Naples, Salerno and Policastro) as well as for three islands (Capri, Ischia and Procida).

Four other regions border Campania; Lazio to the northwest, Molise to the north, Apulia (Puglia) to the northeast and Basilicata to the east.

The mountainous area is fragmentised in separate massifs, rarely reaching 2,000 metres (Miltetto of 2,050 m), whereas close to the coast there are volcanic massifs: Vesuvio (1,277 m) and Campi Flegrei.

The climate is typically Mediterranean along the coast, whereas in the inner zones it is more continental, with low temperatures in winter. 51% of the total area is hilly, 34% mountainous and the remaining 15% is made up of plains. There is a high 'seismic' risk in the area of the region.

History

Ancient tribes and Samnite Wars

The original inhabitants of Campania were three defined groups of the Ancient peoples of Italy, who all spoke the Oscan language which is part of the Italic family; their names were the Osci, the Aurunci and the Ausones.[3] During the 8th century BC, people from Euboea in Greece known as Cumaeans began to establish colonies in the area roughly around the modern day province of Naples.[4] Another Oscan tribe, the Samnites, had moved from central Italy down into Campania. Since the Samnites were more warlike than the civilised Campanians, they easily took over the cities of Capua and Cumae, in the area which was one of the most prosperous and fertile in the Italian Peninsula at the time.[5] During the 340s BC, the Samnites were engaging in warfare with the Roman Republic in a dispute known as the Samnite Wars, with the Romans securing rich pastures of northern Campania during the First Samnite War.[6]

The major remaining independent Greek settlement was Neapolis, and when the town was eventually caputured by the Samnites, the Neapolitans were in need of help. However, Philip II of Macedon (father of Alexander the Great), the major Greek leader of the time, was busy fighting further east, so the Neapolitans could not look to the Greeks for assistance.[5] This left them with no other option than to call on the Romans, with whom they established an alliance, setting off the Second Samnite War.[5] The Roman consul Quinto Publilio Filone recaptured Neapolis by 326 BC and allowed it to remain a Greek city with some autonomy as a civitas foederata while strongly aligned with Rome.[7] The Second Samnite War ended with the Romans controlling southern Campania and additional regions further to the south.[6]

Roman period

Campania was a full-fledged part of the Roman Republic by the end of the 4th century BC. It was highly valued for its useful pastures and rich countryside. Its Greek language and customs made it a centre of Hellenistic civilization, creating the first traces of Greco-Roman culture.[8] The Romans had established power on the entire Italian Peninsula. However, the Pyrrhic War and the rebellion of the major Magna Græcia cities under Pyrrhus of Epirus in the south brought unrest. A battle took place in Campania at Maleventum in which the Romans, led by consul Curius Dentatus, were victorious. They renamed the city Beneventum (modern day Benevento), which grew in stature until it was second only to Capua in southern Italy.[9] During the Second Punic War in 216 BC, Capua saw an opportunity to levy for more power. The city demanded complete equality of power with the Romans. When that demand was rejected, Capua allied with Carthage against Rome.[10] The rebellious Capuans were isolated from the rest of Campania, which remained loyal allies of Rome. Naples, for example, forced Hannibal to flee without ever having set foot in the city due to the imposing walls.[8] Capua was eventually starved into submission in the Roman retaking of 211 BC, and the Romans were victorious in the overall wars.[10]

The rest of Campania, with the exception of Naples, adopted the Latin language as official and was Romanised.[11] As part of the Roman Empire, it was a comfortable period for Campania who, with Latium, formed the most important region of the Augustan divisions of Italia; Campania was one of the main areas for grainery.[11] The powerful Roman Emperors chose Campania as an ideal holiday destination, amongst them Claudius and Tiberius, the latter of whom is infamously linked to the island of Capri.[8] It was also during this period that Christianity came to Campania. Two of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, are said to have preached in the city of Naples, and there were also several martyrs during this time.[12] Unfortunately, the period of relative calm was violently interrupted by the epic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 which wiped the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum from the face of the earth.[13] With the Decline of the Roman Empire, its last emperor, Romulus Augustus, was put in a manor house prison near Castel dell'Ovo, Naples, in 467, ushering in the beginning of the Dark Ages and a period of uncertainty in regards to the future of the area.[8]