History History

The discovery of flint tools at several sites in the region indicates a human presence in Campania at least as early as the Middle Palaeolithic, i.e. at the time of Neanderthal man. The island of Capri has yielded numerous stone tools, but also the bones of prehistoric animals that fed the imagination of the Romans who discovered them during the construction of the imperial villas. In the province of Avellino, near the municipality of Ariano Irpino, the site of La Starza can be considered the oldest village in Campania: born in the Neolithic period, when the populations became sedentary, it was occupied uninterruptedly from the 4th millennium to 900 BC. A little earlier, around the year 1000 BC, Indo-European populations from the Balkans settled in the region. They spoke Oscan, a language related to Latin, and were part of the Italic peoples who occupied southern Italy. The Campanians settled in the plains and low-lying areas, while the Samnites founded an original culture on the slopes of the Apennines between Campania and Abruzzo.

In search of raw materials and new commercial outlets, the Greeks ventured into the western Mediterranean. In 770, the Chalcidians, from the island of Evia, founded the first Greek settlement in Italy: Pithecusses, on the island of Ischia. It was then a trading post. Very soon, however, this movement turned into a real colonization enterprise, a phenomenon that would affect the whole of southern Italy and Sicily, at the origin of the civilization of Magna Grecia (Great Greece). Driven by economic and political imperatives, contingents of settlers left their homeland and founded new cities bordered by fertile land suitable for cultivation. From Pithecus, the Chalcidians settled on the mainland at Cumae in 750 B.C. They then spread along the coast and founded Parthenope, the origin of Naples. Campania has two other important foundations: Poseidonia (Paestum), a colony created by the Greeks of Sybaris (in Calabria), and Elia, founded by the Phocaeans of Asia Minor especially known for having given birth to Massalia (Marseille).

Composed of a constellation of cities that flourish along the coast, Magna Graecia prospers and this attracts covetousness. The Etruscans, bearers of an original civilization in central Italy, founded Capua in 524 BC and took over several sites including Pompeii, which offered a southern outlet to the sea. Their presence in Campania lasted fifty years, until the battle of Cumae won in 474 BC by the Greeks, ousting the Etruscans from the Campanian coast. From the Apennine plateaus, however, another threat loomed: in search of fertile land, the Samnites invaded the plain and the coastline. Cities fall one after another: Capua is taken in 423, Pompeii in 420. Only Elée was spared. The Samnites, a people with warlike and pastoral traditions, came into contact with Greek culture and assimilated it, adopting the customs of the conquered territories. Samnite domination lasted for several decades, until a territorial dispute prompted the Greek cities to ask for help from the Romans, then an emerging power in Italy. Faced with such an opportunity to extend their influence, the latter confronted the Samnites in three wars: these are the Samnite Wars, which lasted from 343 to 290 BC and ended with the submission of the Samnites to Rome and the control of the victors over the lands of Campania. With the fall of Taranto in 272, the whole of southern Italy came under Roman rule.

The Bay of Naples became one of the privileged holiday resorts of the Roman elite. In the luxurious villas they had built along the coast and on the island of Capri, notables and emperors enjoyed the magnificent panoramas, the mild climate and the abundance of thermal springs, far from the imperatives of Rome, its tumult and the stifling heat of the summer. This long period of Roman domination was not, however, free of confrontations and dramas. In the 1st century BC, the region was shaken by the social wars that opposed Rome to the peoples of Italy claiming Roman citizenship. Shortly afterwards, armies of slaves galvanised by the gladiator Spartacus caused the Roman legions to tremble. And if historical events cause Rome to falter, it is a natural disaster that wipes out two prosperous and dynamic provincial cities: in 79 AD, the eruption of Vesuvius drowns Pompeii and Herculaneum under volcanic deposits, whose precious remains will only be rediscovered in the 18th century.

In 476 AD, the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, was deposed by the barbarian Odoacre, sealing the end of the Western Roman Empire. In the east, from his capital Constantinople, the emperor Justinian aims to restore the glory of the Roman Empire and undertakes the reconquest of Italy: in 537, the south of the peninsula enters the Byzantine orbit. But the arrival of the Lombards, a Germanic people settled in Italy since the 6th century, changed the political game and southern Italy was split into several small states. Around the year 1000, Campania was divided between the Lombard principalities of Benevento, Capua and Salerno, the independent Duchy of Naples and the Duchy of Amalfi (which was the first Italian maritime republic, before Genoa, Pisa and Venice, independent since 839).

In the 11th century, southern Italy experienced a gradual arrival of Normans. Coming from the duchy of Normandy in France, they were hired as mercenaries by the local potentates. The first Norman stronghold is attested in 1030, when Rainulf Drengot received the county of Aversa from the Duke of Naples for having helped him against the Prince of Capua. As fine strategists, the Normans Robert de Hauteville, known as Robert Guiscard, and his brother Roger will in turn make alliances bear fruit and extend their domination in the South. In a few decades, they unified the whole of southern Italy, from Abruzzo to Sicily, wrested from the Arabs. The Norman Kingdom of Sicily was proclaimed in 1130 under the reign of Roger II, who established his capital in Palermo. But the marriage in 1187 of Constance of Hauteville, the last legitimate heir to the throne, to the future Henry VI of Hohenstaufen (Germanic emperor) marked the end of Norman domination. The crown passed into the hands of the Swabian dynasty. Between 1220 and 1250, Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen exercised his prerogatives with an iron hand. This fascinating character, with his great erudition and subtle political intelligence, made Naples an important intellectual centre with the foundation of a university, one of the oldest in Italy. He asserted his power by relying on a centralized administration and on a strengthened legislation with the promulgation of the Constitutions of Melfi, a code of criminal and civil laws. An admired and controversial figure, Frederick II had a sulphurous relationship with the papacy (he was excommunicated twice!) and, on his death, Pope Urban IV did not recognise the authority of his son Manfred. He perceived the Swabian hegemony as a threat and appealed to King Louis IX of France. The latter saw an opportunity for France to establish itself in the Mediterranean and wanted to place his brother Charles of Anjou, Count of Anjou and Provence, at the head of the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1266, at the Battle of Benevento, Manfred was defeated by the armies of Charles of Anjou and the Pope, and died in battle. Fifty days after his victory, Charles of Anjou was crowned King of Sicily.

Under the Angevin dynasty, Naples experienced a considerable expansion. Charles of Anjou transferred the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily there; from then on, and until the unification of Italy in 1861, Naples was to fulfil its functions as the main metropolis of southern Italy. But this shift of the centre of gravity from Palermo to Naples provoked the discontent of the Sicilian nobility. A stubborn resentment that led, in 1282, to the famous Sicilian Vespers during which the French were massacred and driven from the island, which came under the yoke of Aragon. This event did not disturb the Angevin domination over the rest of the kingdom. In Naples, the city's appearance was changed by a great deal of building activity, with new port districts around Piazza del Mercato and the foundation of monasteries, convents and churches in the Gothic style imported from France. The Castel Nuovo, built from 1279, houses one of the most refined Italian courts of the time. Under Robert of Anjou, Naples exerted a cultural influence that attracted poets (Boccaccio, Petrarch) and artists (the painter Giotto, the sculptor Tino di Camaino).

Alfonso of Aragon, known as the Magnanimous, seized the Kingdom of Naples in 1442 and drove out King René of Anjou. Under his reign and that of his successor Ferrante I, Naples became home to one of the most brilliant European courts, imbued with the spirit of the Renaissance and contributing to its spread. The metropolis became a cultural crossroads between the Italian, Flemish and Spanish schools of art. The kings of Aragon welcomed intellectuals to their court and called upon the artists of the Florentine Renaissance. But on the other side of the Alps, the French had not said their last word: King Charles VIII claimed the throne of Naples. He embarked on a lightning conquest and made his triumphal entry into Naples in 1495. However, his Neapolitan reign lasted only a few months..

In the 16th century, the Kingdom of Naples was part of the immense Spanish Empire and was governed by viceroys who sat in Naples. The metropolis was an important commercial and military port that had a great power of attraction over the provinces of the kingdom: in a century, its population doubled, making Naples the second most populous city in Europe after Paris. Such a demographic explosion required considerable urban redevelopment, which Viceroy Don Pedro de Toledo undertook. Under his government (from 1532 to 1553), the Via Toledo was opened. With its two-kilometre-long route, this artery was the longest in Europe at the time. The Spanish quarters were built, the surface of the city increased by a third and the city walls were reinforced. In the city, religious complexes and palaces of the nobility flourished

With the passage to the 17th century, difficult times were to come, marked by a socio-economic crisis. Naples was overpopulated and some districts were unhealthy, which favoured the spread of disease. The plague epidemic of 1656 killed nearly two thirds of the Neapolitan population. In addition, the people were burdened by the heavy taxation of the Spaniards who had to finance their wars, and protests broke out. In 1647, the revolt of Masaniello, a Neapolitan fisherman, took place and led a popular uprising. The insurrection was quickly put down and Masaniello was executed. But Spanish authority was shaken and in the countryside there was a guerrilla war between the peasants and the aristocracy. The 17th century also saw the explosion of the Baroque style, the dominant artistic style in Naples, which dressed churches, palaces and chapels in a profusion of polychrome marble, gilding and shimmering paintings.

In 1700, King Charles II of Spain died without an heir son. In his will, he bequeathed the crown to his grand-nephew Philip, Duke of Anjou, who was also the grandson of Louis XIV. The latter took the Spanish crown under the name of Philip V, giving birth to the Bourbon dynasty of Spain. The other European powers contest his legitimacy, they feel threatened by this dynastic alliance between France and Spain, and the War of Spanish Succession breaks out. By the treaty of Utrecht signed in 1713, Philip V is finally recognized sovereign of Spain, but he must give up his possessions in Italy. The Kingdom of Naples fell into the hands of the Habsburgs of Austria, a domination that lasted until 1734 when the Bourbons regained control of southern Italy. Charles of Bourbon, the son of Philip V, was crowned King of Naples and Sicily. He inaugurated the dynasty of the Bourbons of Naples, which would reign for more than a century over a territory that would later be called the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Marked by the spirit of the Enlightenment, Charles of Bourbon wanted to give Naples the image of a great European metropolis and a cultural capital. He had the San Carlo Theatre and the Royal Palace of Caserta built, inspired by Versailles. The discovery of the sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum caused a real craze, and the sovereign encouraged archaeological excavations, which he financed generously. His mother, Elizabeth Farnese, the only descendant of the House of Farnese, bequeathed to him the immense artistic heritage created by her ancestors; Charles had the ancient marbles and paintings transferred to Naples, which form the core of the current collections of the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Capodimonte. Sensitive to the plight of the poorest, the sovereign supported the creation of shelters for the needy. In 1759, Charles of Bourbon had to leave Naples to take the Spanish crown in Madrid; it was with regret that he left his kingdom to his son Ferdinand.

In 1789 the French Revolution broke out and Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, who was married to Marie-Caroline of Austria, the sister of the French Queen Marie-Antoinette, joined the European coalition led by England against France. In 1799, General Championnet, at the head of the French armies, entered Naples. He established the Parthenopean Republic, which was short-lived but left a lasting impression on Neapolitan intellectual circles. The Bourbons regained power but lost it again between 1806 and 1815. Napoleon first placed his brother Joseph at the head of the kingdom, then his brother-in-law Joachim Murat. The defeat at Waterloo in 1815 put an end to Napoleon's ambitions and the Treaty of Vienna established the return of the Bourbons. King Ferdinand of Bourbon, who had the title of Ferdinand IV in Naples and Ferdinand III in Sicily, united the two crowns under the title of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.

However, republican ideals had made their way and voices were raised against the absolutism of the Bourbons. The Carbonari revolt, led by a liberal middle class, was harshly repressed. In intellectual and academic circles, an Italian national feeling develops. People wanted to fight the monarchies, free the north of the peninsula from the Austrian yoke and unify Italy. In 1859, the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia drove the Austrians out of Lombardy, and the states of northern Italy voted to be annexed to the kingdom. From Genoa, General Garibaldi set sail with an army of a thousand volunteers and landed in Sicily. In the space of a few months, the Expedition of the Thousand conquered southern Italy. On 7 September 1860, Garibaldi triumphantly entered Naples and handed over power to King Victor Emmanuel II. In March 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed.

The first decades of the unitary state were difficult for the Mezzogiorno. While the North was industrializing, the South, entangled in an archaic agricultural policy, sank into poverty. The inability of the state to maintain order led to the formation of criminal societies, giving rise to the Italian mafias, including the Camorra, which still operates today from its birthplace in Campania. This was also the beginning of the great waves of Italian emigration.

After the First World War, a serious social, economic and political crisis hit Italy. Benito Mussolini, founder of the National Fascist Party in 1921, exploited the situation. Appointed head of government by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1922, he ended up establishing an authoritarian regime. The Duce's domestic policy did not take into account the misery of the Mezzogiorno. His action in the South was essentially focused on eradicating the mafia, with little concern for economic recovery. During the Second World War, Campania was under Nazi occupation and its major cities fell prey to Allied bombing: Salerno, Caserta, Benevento, and above all Naples, which held the sad record of being the most damaged city on the peninsula at the end of the war. After the Allied landings in Sicily and Salerno, in 1943 Campania became the scene of extremely hard fighting. From 27 to 30 September, the "Four Days of Naples" took place, marked by the heroism of the Neapolitans: without the help of the Allies, the civilian population rose up against the German army and liberated the city from occupation.

After the Second World War, an institutional referendum abolished the monarchy and ratified the birth of the Italian Republic.

After the war came the time of reconstruction. The South still lagged behind the North and the government tried to redress the balance with the creation of a fund for the Mezzogiorno in 1950. Campania, however, remained one of the regions most affected by the phenomenon of emigration.

On 23 September 1980, an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 struck Campania, Basilicata and Apulia. The province of Avellino, in Irpinia, was the hardest hit, with hundreds of deaths and some municipalities completely destroyed. Paradoxically, this disaster caused a small economic revival: centres were rebuilt and entrepreneurs invested.

The Conte II Government, in office since 5 September 2019, is formed by a coalition composed of the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement and the Italia Viva Party, created by Matteo Renzi in 2019 following his departure from the Democratic Party. On 13 January 2021, following disagreements over the stimulus package, Renzi announced the withdrawal of Italia Viva from the government, which thus lost its majority in parliament. Council President Giuseppe Conte was forced to announce his resignation two weeks later. Attempts to reform the outgoing government fail, so President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella turns to former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, the man of providence who saved the eurozone in 2012. Draghi is tasked with forming a new government. This deep political crisis comes in the midst of a pandemic, when the Italian economy is bloodless and the country is counting on European funds to finance a recovery plan. Draghi received the support of the majority of the parties in Parliament and accepted the post of President of the Council of Ministers. On 13 February 2021, the Draghi government was proclaimed: it was made up of a coalition of parties with very different orientations: the Five Star Movement, the Lega, the Democratic Party, Forza Italia, Italia Viva and Free and Equal.

Following a new government crisis that led to the resignation of Mario Draghi, Italians were called to the polls for new parliamentary elections. The victory was won by a centre-right coalition formed by Matteo Salvini's Lega, Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia party and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, among others. Giorgio Meloni, the leader of the Fratelli d'Italia party, became President of the Council of Ministers, the first woman to hold that position in Italy.