Licola, Italy
Encyclopedia
Licola is an area in the province of Naples
which takes its name from Lago dei Follicoli, a lake which formerly occupied most of the area. The current population of Licola ranges between 4,000 and 5,000. Licola is a strip of land facing the sea, and is roughly three kilometers by ten kilometers in size. It begins at the foot of Mount Cuma and ends in Marina di Varcaturo.
The Licola area is divided between two municipalities. In particular, the southern part is divided between the villages Licola Center (also known as Licola Village) and Licola Lido (also known as Lido di Licola) of the municipality (or comune
) of Pozzuoli
, bordering the Arco Felice section of the municipality. The northern part, Licola Mare, is part of the hamlet of Varcaturo, which is a section of the municipality of Giugliano, part of the constituency of Licola-Lago Patria. The town revolves around Piazza San Massimo, which is the oldest square in the town.
. It is bordered to the north by Varcaturo and Lago Patria, hamlets within Giugliano, to the east by Monterusciello and Monte Grillo, and to the south by the town of Bacoli
, while to the west lies the Tyrrhenian Sea
. The morphological and geological aspects of Licola are substantially the same as those of Cuma which it borders. The coast has an unusually straight contour in its north-south extension due to the erosion of the walls of tuff
spread all throughout zone.
The dunes of Licola can be separated into two distinct zones: a first, outer layer subject to marine erosion, and a second strip that is stabilized by vegetation. Local vegetation consists of halophilic
plants on the coast, while the interior is characterized by Mediterranean scrub. There is increasing interest in these natural habitats, as it is believed that some of the local flora are native only to this area.
Further inland, the environment supports a system of dense vegetation, made up of oak
forest on a dry, sandy soil, which was repeatedly cited by Roman authors for the pleasant atmosphere it produces. There was once a lake (Lake Licola) in this interior region, before the land was reclaimed. The reclaimed land is now used for agriculture
, typically vineyards and orchards, due to the high fertility of the soil.
with hot summers, dry winters, and temperate rainy periods in autumn and spring. Over 75% of the days in an average year are sunny, and its climatic classification refers to the town of Pozzuoli as class "C".
The Professional Institute of State for Agriculture and the Environment (IPAA) has established an advanced station for weather data collection that monitors the climate of Licola with extreme precision. The accompanying table shows the figures for 2006:
According to the latest archaeological findings, which emerged during excavations carried out by the Archeological Heritage Authority, it is thought that the territory of Licola covers an old Roman road, the Domitian Way
, and the remains of an amphitheater of the same period whose precise location has yet to be discovered.
The important archeological site of the town of Liternum
(containing the tomb of Scipio Africanus
) is located
about one kilometer north of Licola, in Lago Patria (where a lake of the same name is located which has the unusual characteristic of being heart-shaped). It was there that Scipio chose to remain in voluntary exile from Rome and where he founded a Roman colony along with his most trusted legionaries and their families.
To the south, Cumae
preserves an invaluable acropolis as well as the Cave of the Sibyl, famous for the prophesies uttered there by the Cumaean Sibyl
, while slightly further south lies the magnificent Arco Felice Vecchio.
Licola now contains the Regional Park of the Phlegraean Fields
(Campi Flegrei), which preserves the dunes and habitat specific to the area and has been declared a Site of Importance to the Community and a Special Protection Zone owing to the rarity of the species living there, such as the sea daffodil
.
Along with the remains of the Cumaean Acropolis, the Regional Park of the Phlegraen Fields also contains an area of rare Mediterranean evergreen forest, known to the ancients as the Silva Gallinaria
.
Numerous species of both migrating and non-migrating birds—many endangered—take refuge in the marshes and green areas of Licola. Most notably, the heron
has returned to the area, while on the beaches there have been sightings of loggerhead sea turtle
s.
The seabed along the Licola-Cumae beach, between the island of Ischia and Ventotene, contains a submarine canyon
, the Canyon of Cumae, which provides a home for cetaceans such as dolphins and Rorqual whales
.
in the 5th to 4th century BC. The Osci founded many cities in Campania, including Liternum, the remains of which are located just north of Licola. This town experienced a remarkable development, especially during the Roman Republic
and Roman Empire
.
The first reference to Liternum dates from Roman times: the historian Livy
wrote that in 194 BC thirty Roman families set up a colony there. Later many additional colonies were added and in the 2nd century Liternum was already among the most prosperous prefectures of the "fertile countryside" of Campania (Latin: Campania felix). The archaeological remains of the forum, temple, church and theater of Liternum are preserved from this period.
Liternum was also one of the four oldest cities in Campania in which Christianity was introduced and widely practiced, in the 1st and 2nd century AD.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the ONC (Opera Nazionale Combattenti, ‘National Soldiers Works’, a welfare agency formed by the fascist regime) directed a large agricultural business in Licola. With the start of World War II, this business ceased activity and was subsequently dismantled.
In the 1960s and 1970s Licola emerged as a significant tourist attraction. After the Irpinia earthquake
in 1980 and the bradyseism
of 1982, however, many displaced people sought shelter in Licola and its tourist industry went into a period of decline. A strong revival in tourism occurred subsequently in the 1990s.
Numerous quarries for the extraction of sand were opened in the 1970s and 1980s. These have now all been closed owing to environmental and archeological regulations imposed by the Cultural and Environment Heritage Ministry and the Archeological Heritage Ministry.
The services sector is facing, almost in its entirety, tourism, showing a remarkable development of seaside resorts and hotel facilities, with the number of campsites and hotels of about 2,500 beds.
In addition, the area is home to many tourist attractions, restaurants, swimming pools, water parks, discos and privileged destination of a considerable flow of people from the entire provinces of Naples and Caserta, both during the summer that spring.
Another company that manages the urban transport by bus is the CTP.
Province of Naples
The Province of Naples is a province in the Campania region of Italy. Its capital city is Naples, within the province there are 92 Comuni of the Province of Naples.-Demographics:...
which takes its name from Lago dei Follicoli, a lake which formerly occupied most of the area. The current population of Licola ranges between 4,000 and 5,000. Licola is a strip of land facing the sea, and is roughly three kilometers by ten kilometers in size. It begins at the foot of Mount Cuma and ends in Marina di Varcaturo.
The Licola area is divided between two municipalities. In particular, the southern part is divided between the villages Licola Center (also known as Licola Village) and Licola Lido (also known as Lido di Licola) of the municipality (or comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
) of Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli is a city and comune of the province of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula.-History:Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia...
, bordering the Arco Felice section of the municipality. The northern part, Licola Mare, is part of the hamlet of Varcaturo, which is a section of the municipality of Giugliano, part of the constituency of Licola-Lago Patria. The town revolves around Piazza San Massimo, which is the oldest square in the town.
Geography
Licola is located on the coast of the Mediterranean SeaMediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. It is bordered to the north by Varcaturo and Lago Patria, hamlets within Giugliano, to the east by Monterusciello and Monte Grillo, and to the south by the town of Bacoli
Bacoli
Bacoli is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km west of Naples. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 27,402 and an area of 13.3 km².-History:...
, while to the west lies the Tyrrhenian Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....
. The morphological and geological aspects of Licola are substantially the same as those of Cuma which it borders. The coast has an unusually straight contour in its north-south extension due to the erosion of the walls of tuff
Tuff
Tuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...
spread all throughout zone.
The dunes of Licola can be separated into two distinct zones: a first, outer layer subject to marine erosion, and a second strip that is stabilized by vegetation. Local vegetation consists of halophilic
Halophile
Halophiles are extremophile organisms that thrive in environments with very high concentrations of salt. The name comes from the Greek for "salt-loving". While the term is perhaps most often applied to some halophiles classified into the Archaea domain, there are also bacterial halophiles and some...
plants on the coast, while the interior is characterized by Mediterranean scrub. There is increasing interest in these natural habitats, as it is believed that some of the local flora are native only to this area.
Further inland, the environment supports a system of dense vegetation, made up of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
forest on a dry, sandy soil, which was repeatedly cited by Roman authors for the pleasant atmosphere it produces. There was once a lake (Lake Licola) in this interior region, before the land was reclaimed. The reclaimed land is now used for agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, typically vineyards and orchards, due to the high fertility of the soil.
Climate
Licola is subject to the typical Mediterranean climateClimate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
with hot summers, dry winters, and temperate rainy periods in autumn and spring. Over 75% of the days in an average year are sunny, and its climatic classification refers to the town of Pozzuoli as class "C".
The Professional Institute of State for Agriculture and the Environment (IPAA) has established an advanced station for weather data collection that monitors the climate of Licola with extreme precision. The accompanying table shows the figures for 2006:
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average maximum °C | 12.1 | 13.1 | 14.2 | 17 | 23 | 25.6 | 29.7 | 28 | 25.6 | 23.6 | 18.3 | 15.5 | 20.7 |
| Average minimum °C | 4.3 | 5.2 | 7.6 | 10 | 13.4 | 15.5 | 19.8 | 19.3 | 16.6 | 13.8 | 7.8 | 7.3 | 11.8 |
| Rain mm | 72.6 | 56.4 | 88.6 | 37.8 | 17.8 | 65.8 | 35.8 | 54.6 | 163.6 | 21.1 | 47.5 | 58.4 | 720.3 |
| Fonte: Istituto Professionale di Stato per l’Agricoltura e l’Ambiente “Filippo Silvestri | |||||||||||||
Territory
The territory of Licola preserves not only an invaluable archaeological heritage but also popular and religious traditions and a significant commercial, cultural and tourist function.According to the latest archaeological findings, which emerged during excavations carried out by the Archeological Heritage Authority, it is thought that the territory of Licola covers an old Roman road, the Domitian Way
Via Domitia
The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, so old that it traces the mythic route travelled by Heracles...
, and the remains of an amphitheater of the same period whose precise location has yet to be discovered.
The important archeological site of the town of Liternum
Liternum
Liternum was an ancient town of Campania, Italy, on the low sandy coast between Cumae and the mouth of the Volturnus. It was probably once dependent on Cumae. In 194 BC it became a Roman colony....
(containing the tomb of Scipio Africanus
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
) is located
about one kilometer north of Licola, in Lago Patria (where a lake of the same name is located which has the unusual characteristic of being heart-shaped). It was there that Scipio chose to remain in voluntary exile from Rome and where he founded a Roman colony along with his most trusted legionaries and their families.
To the south, Cumae
Cumae
Cumae is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy , and the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl...
preserves an invaluable acropolis as well as the Cave of the Sibyl, famous for the prophesies uttered there by the Cumaean Sibyl
Cumaean Sibyl
The ageless Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy.The word sibyl comes from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. There were many Sibyls in different locations throughout the ancient world...
, while slightly further south lies the magnificent Arco Felice Vecchio.
Licola now contains the Regional Park of the Phlegraean Fields
Campi Flegrei
The Phlegraean Fields, also known as Campi Flegrei, , is a large wide caldera situated to the west of Naples, Italy. It was declared a regional park in 2003. Lying mostly underwater, the area comprises 24 craters and volcanic edifices. Hydrothermal activity can be observed at Lucrino, Agnano and...
(Campi Flegrei), which preserves the dunes and habitat specific to the area and has been declared a Site of Importance to the Community and a Special Protection Zone owing to the rarity of the species living there, such as the sea daffodil
Pancratium maritimum
Pancratium maritimum, or sea daffodil, is a species of bulbous plant native to the Mediterranean region and south-western Europe. That plant can also be seen on the south Bulgarian and north Turkish coasts of Black Sea, where it is threatened with extinction. It grows on coastal sands or just above...
.
Along with the remains of the Cumaean Acropolis, the Regional Park of the Phlegraen Fields also contains an area of rare Mediterranean evergreen forest, known to the ancients as the Silva Gallinaria
Silva gallinaria
The Silva Gallinaria is a rich thicket characterized by evergreen trees and shrubs typical of the Macchia Mediterranea, which grows naturally on a sandy and devoid of water. The most common tree that reigns unchallenged is the Quercus Ilex called also Holm Oak...
.
Numerous species of both migrating and non-migrating birds—many endangered—take refuge in the marshes and green areas of Licola. Most notably, the heron
Heron
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....
has returned to the area, while on the beaches there have been sightings of loggerhead sea turtle
Loggerhead sea turtle
The loggerhead sea turtle , or loggerhead, is an oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around long when fully grown, although larger specimens of up to have been discovered...
s.
The seabed along the Licola-Cumae beach, between the island of Ischia and Ventotene, contains a submarine canyon
Submarine canyon
A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley on the sea floor of the continental slope. Many submarine canyons are found as extensions to large rivers; however there are some that have no such association. Canyons cutting the continental slopes have been found at depths greater than 2 km below sea...
, the Canyon of Cumae, which provides a home for cetaceans such as dolphins and Rorqual whales
Balaenoptera
Balaenoptera is a genus of Balaenopteridae, the Rorqual whales, and contains eight species. The species Balaenoptera omurai was published in 2003...
.
History
The town of Licola, together with the neighboring towns of Lago Patria and Varcaturo, comprise the territory formerly inhabited by the OsciOsci
The Osci , were an Italic people of Campania and Latium adiectum during Roman times. They spoke the Oscan language, also spoken by the Samnites of Southern Italy. Although the language of the Samnites was called Oscan, the Samnites were never called Osci, or the Osci Samnites...
in the 5th to 4th century BC. The Osci founded many cities in Campania, including Liternum, the remains of which are located just north of Licola. This town experienced a remarkable development, especially during the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
and Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
.
The first reference to Liternum dates from Roman times: the historian Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
wrote that in 194 BC thirty Roman families set up a colony there. Later many additional colonies were added and in the 2nd century Liternum was already among the most prosperous prefectures of the "fertile countryside" of Campania (Latin: Campania felix). The archaeological remains of the forum, temple, church and theater of Liternum are preserved from this period.
Liternum was also one of the four oldest cities in Campania in which Christianity was introduced and widely practiced, in the 1st and 2nd century AD.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the ONC (Opera Nazionale Combattenti, ‘National Soldiers Works’, a welfare agency formed by the fascist regime) directed a large agricultural business in Licola. With the start of World War II, this business ceased activity and was subsequently dismantled.
In the 1960s and 1970s Licola emerged as a significant tourist attraction. After the Irpinia earthquake
1980 Irpinia earthquake
The 1980 Irpinia earthquake took place in the Irpinia region in Southern Italy on Sunday, November 23, 1980. Measuring 6.89 on the Richter Scale, the quake, centered on the village of Conza, killed 2,914 people, injured more than 10,000 and left 300,000 homeless. It is known in Italy as Terremoto...
in 1980 and the bradyseism
Bradyseism
Bradyseism is the gradual uplift or descent of part of the Earth's surface caused by the filling or emptying of an underground magma chamber and/or hydrothermal activity, particularly in volcanic calderas...
of 1982, however, many displaced people sought shelter in Licola and its tourist industry went into a period of decline. A strong revival in tourism occurred subsequently in the 1990s.
Numerous quarries for the extraction of sand were opened in the 1970s and 1980s. These have now all been closed owing to environmental and archeological regulations imposed by the Cultural and Environment Heritage Ministry and the Archeological Heritage Ministry.
Economy
The economy of licolense is based substantially on primary and tertiary sector. Are highly developed cultures of orchards and vineyards, which thanks to the fertility of the soil provide discrete quantities of high quality. Note that this area is home to the falanghina vineyards Campi Flegrei and pedirosso Campi Flegrei.The services sector is facing, almost in its entirety, tourism, showing a remarkable development of seaside resorts and hotel facilities, with the number of campsites and hotels of about 2,500 beds.
In addition, the area is home to many tourist attractions, restaurants, swimming pools, water parks, discos and privileged destination of a considerable flow of people from the entire provinces of Naples and Caserta, both during the summer that spring.
Transports
The scope of urban transport relies Cumana to rail and road transport. The first is a suburban railway linking the coast of Licola - Cuma with the center of Naples and is considered the first underground railway to be built in Italy, which also connects to rail Circumflegrea. The rail system, together with a bus system is run by SEPSA.Another company that manages the urban transport by bus is the CTP.