Ravello
Encyclopedia
Ravello is a town and comune
situated above the Amalfi Coast
in the province
of Salerno
, Campania
, southern Italy
, with has approximately 2,500 inhabitants. It is a popular tourist destination.
. In the 9th century Ravello was an important town of the maritime republic of Amalfi
, a producer of wool from its surrounding country that was dyed in the town and an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200.
In 1086 it was made the seat of a bishopric by will of the Norman count Roger Borsa
, as a counterweight to powerful Amalfi. In the 12th century it had some 25,000 inhabitants, and retains a disproportionate number of palazzi of the mercantile nobility, the Rufolo, d'Aflitto, Confalone and Della Marra. In 1137, after a first failed attack two years before, it was destroyed by the Republic of Pisa
. After this event, it started a demographic and economical decline, and much of its population moved to Naples
and its surroundings.
, Edvard Grieg
, M. C. Escher
, Giovanni Boccaccio
, Virginia Woolf
, Greta Garbo
, Gore Vidal
, André Gide
, Joan Mirò
, Truman Capote
, Tennessee Williams
, Graham Greene
, Leonard Bernstein
and Sara Teasdale
(who mentioned it in her prefatory dedication in Love Songs).
Every year in the summer months, the "Ravello Festival
" takes place. It began in 1953 in honour of Richard Wagner
, who signed the guestbook of his local hotel with the words "The magical garden of Klingsor is found" suggesting that it was in Ravello that the composer found the inspiration for his Parsifal.
There is an ancient legend, still recounted by tour guides in Salerno and Amalfi, that it was to Ravello, with its breathtaking view of the Mediterranean and the dramatic Amalfi coastline, that Satan transported Jesus during His second temptation to show the beauty of the world's kingdoms. (Luke 4: 5-8)
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:...
situated above the Amalfi Coast
Amalfi Coast
-In popular culture:The Amalfi Coast is a popular destination among tourists. It was featured in "Positano," a short story written by American author John Steinbeck in 1953...
in the province
Provinces of Italy
In Italy, a province is an administrative division of intermediate level between a municipality and a region .-Overview:...
of Salerno
Province of Salerno
The Province of Salerno is a province in the Campania region of Italy.-Geography:The largest towns in the province are: Salerno, the capital, which has a population of 139,579; Cava de' Tirreni with a population of 53,488; Battipaglia with a population of 51,115; and Nocera Inferiore which has a...
, Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
, 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...
, with has approximately 2,500 inhabitants. It is a popular tourist destination.
History
Ravello was founded in the 5th century as a shelter place against the barbarian invasions which marked the end of the Western Roman EmpireWestern Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
. In the 9th century Ravello was an important town of the maritime republic of Amalfi
Amalfi
Amalfi is a town and comune in the province of Salerno, in the region of Campania, Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno, c. 35 km southeast of Naples. It lies at the mouth of a deep ravine, at the foot of Monte Cerreto , surrounded by dramatic cliffs and coastal scenery...
, a producer of wool from its surrounding country that was dyed in the town and an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200.
In 1086 it was made the seat of a bishopric by will of the Norman count Roger Borsa
Roger Borsa
Roger Borsa was the Norman Duke of Apulia and effective ruler of southern Italy from 1085 until his death. He was the son of Robert Guiscard, the conqueror of southern Italy and Sicily; Roger was not as adept as his father, and most of his reign was spent in feudal anarchy.-Biography:Roger was the...
, as a counterweight to powerful Amalfi. In the 12th century it had some 25,000 inhabitants, and retains a disproportionate number of palazzi of the mercantile nobility, the Rufolo, d'Aflitto, Confalone and Della Marra. In 1137, after a first failed attack two years before, it was destroyed by the Republic of Pisa
Republic of Pisa
The Republic of Pisa was a de facto independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa during the late tenth and eleventh centuries. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century before being surpassed and...
. After this event, it started a demographic and economical decline, and much of its population moved to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and its surroundings.
Overview
- The Duomo (Cathedral) of Ravello: the central nave contains the "Pulpit of the Gospels", on the right of the central nave, created in 1272 by Nicolò di Bartolomeo from FoggiaFoggiaFoggia is a city and comune of Apulia, Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known as the "granary of Italy".-History:...
. - Villa RufoloVilla RufoloVilla Rufolo is a building within the historic center of Ravello, a town in the province of Salerno, Italy, and which overlooks the front of the cathedral square...
(1270), built by Nicola Rufolo, one of the richest Patricians of Ravello, on a ledge and it has become a famous attraction for thousands of visitors. The villa was mentioned by Giovanni BoccaccioGiovanni BoccaccioGiovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
in his Decameron and it is the place where Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
in 1880 was inspired for the stage design of his opera ParsifalParsifalParsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.Wagner first conceived the work...
. - Villa CimbroneVilla CimbroneVilla Cimbrone is a historic building in Ravello, on the Amalfi coast of southern Italy, dating from at least the 11th century AD, although little of the original structure is now visible...
, famous for its "Terrace of the Infinite". - The church of San Giovanni del ToroSan Giovanni del ToroThe Chiesa di San Giovanni del Toro is a church in Ravello, Italy. Consecrated in the eleventh century, the church was restored in 1715 after damage caused by an earthquake, and it was restored again in the 1990s...
(Saint John of the Bull) dating to before the year 1000. The church contains the BoveHouse of BoveThe House of Bove is an ancient noble patrician family of Ravello, Maritime Republic of Amalfi that held royal appointments in the Kingdom of Naples, and presided over feudal territories. After the dissolution of noble seats of the Kingdom of Naples in 1800 they were ascribed in the Libro d'Oro of...
pulpit, dateable to 1200-1230, incorporated as mosaic fragments Raqqa bacini. - The small church of Santa Maria a Gradillo (11th century). It has a basilica plan, with three apses.
- Sanctuary of Sts. Cosmas and Damian (14th century)
- Two famous gardens: Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo.
- Amalfi Coast: the amalfi coast, or Costiera Amalfitana in Italian, is a stretch of coastline on the southern side of the Sorrentine Peninsula of Italy, extending from Positano in the west to Vietri sul Mare in the east
Airport
The nearest airport is Salerno-Pontecagnano Airport (QSR).Culture
The town has served historically as a destination for artists, musicians, and writers, including Richard WagnerRichard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
, M. C. Escher
M. C. Escher
Maurits Cornelis Escher , usually referred to as M. C. Escher , was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints...
, Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
, Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century....
, Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
, André Gide
André Gide
André Paul Guillaume Gide was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism between the two World Wars.Known for his fiction as well as his autobiographical works, Gide...
, Joan Mirò
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
, Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
, Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
and Sara Teasdale
Sara Teasdale
Sara Teasdale , was an American lyrical poet. She was born Sara Trevor Teasdale in St. Louis, Missouri, and after her marriage in 1914 she went by the name Sara Teasdale Filsinger.-Biography:...
(who mentioned it in her prefatory dedication in Love Songs).
Every year in the summer months, the "Ravello Festival
Ravello Festival
The Ravello Festival is also popularly known as the "Wagner Festival" and is an annual summer festival of music and the arts held in the town of Ravello on the Amalfi coast in the Campania region of Italy...
" takes place. It began in 1953 in honour of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, who signed the guestbook of his local hotel with the words "The magical garden of Klingsor is found" suggesting that it was in Ravello that the composer found the inspiration for his Parsifal.
There is an ancient legend, still recounted by tour guides in Salerno and Amalfi, that it was to Ravello, with its breathtaking view of the Mediterranean and the dramatic Amalfi coastline, that Satan transported Jesus during His second temptation to show the beauty of the world's kingdoms. (Luke 4: 5-8)
See also
- Amalfi CoastAmalfi Coast-In popular culture:The Amalfi Coast is a popular destination among tourists. It was featured in "Positano," a short story written by American author John Steinbeck in 1953...
- Sorrentine PeninsulaSorrentine PeninsulaThe Sorrentine Peninsula or Sorrento Peninsula is a peninsula located in southern Italy that separates the Gulf of Naples to the north from the Gulf of Salerno to the south.-Overview:...
- Villa CimbroneVilla CimbroneVilla Cimbrone is a historic building in Ravello, on the Amalfi coast of southern Italy, dating from at least the 11th century AD, although little of the original structure is now visible...
- Villa RufoloVilla RufoloVilla Rufolo is a building within the historic center of Ravello, a town in the province of Salerno, Italy, and which overlooks the front of the cathedral square...
External links
- Official website
- Ravello Tourism Board with a good page on the town's history
- Ravello Concert Society
- Ravello e le sue chiese
- News about Ravello - in Italian and English. News in English are normally posted under "News Amalfi Coast"
- Ravello Festival official website of the famous local Music-Dance Festival