Nicotera is a 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:...

(municipality) in the province of Vibo Valentia

Province of Vibo Valentia

The Province of Vibo Valentia is a province in the Calabria region of Italy, set up by a national law of 6 March 1992 which came into effect on 1 January 1996, and formerly part of the Province of Catanzaro...

, Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

, southern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

History

Nicòtera origins lie with the ancient Greek city of Medma

Medma

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 which was founded by the Locresis of Locri Epizephyris.

During the period of Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 domination it partially survived only through the emporium (port), near today’s Nicotera Marina. A Christian bishopric see is attested in Nicotera during the Middle Ages.

In 1065 Robert Guiscard

Robert Guiscard

Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...

 conquered it from the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

, and the town grew around the castle and the cathedral built under the Normans.

Under Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

 Frederick II

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...

 Nicotera attained economic wealth. To encourage commerce and industry, Frederick promoted Jewish settlement in the area called "Giudecca", in which Jews of this ghetto inhabited the area near the castle, enjoy protection from Christian persecution by the Bishop of Nicotera.

In the 15th century, under the rule of Alfonso of Aragon

Alfonso of Aragon

Alfonso of Aragon was the Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno, as the son of King Alfonso II of Naples by his mistress Truzia Gazzela ....

, it passed under the yoke of feudalism

Feudalism

Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...

 and it decayed. In 1806 the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 swept away the feudal system in Nicotera. After the restoration of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies

Ferdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...

, Nicotera continued to be chief town of the district, with what are now the modern communes of Joppolo

Joppolo

Joppolo is a comune in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region Calabria, located about 70 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 20 km southwest of Vibo Valentia.-Noted people:...

 and Limbadi

Limbadi

Limbadi is a comune in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region Calabria, located about 70 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 15 km southwest of Vibo Valentia...

as its dependancies.