Ariano Irpino

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At a height of 817 m above sea level, Ariano Irpino is practically centred between the Adriatic Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Formerly called just Ariano, it was built on three hills, and for that reason it is also known as Città del Tricolle ("City of the Three Hills"). From 1868 to 1930 it was known as Ariano di Puglia. It is a commune which now belongs to Campania, Italy, in the province of Avellino, on the railway between Benevento and Foggia, 24 miles east of the former by rail. Its present population is 22,906.

It lies in the centre of a fertile district, but has no buildings of importance, as it has often been devastated by earthquakes. A considerable part of the population still dwelled in caves as of 1911. It has been supposed to occupy the site of Aequum Tuticum, an ancient Samnite town which became a post-station on the Via Traiana in Roman times; but this should probably be sought at S. Eleuterio 51 miles north. It was a military position of some importance in the Middle Ages. Thirteen miles south-south-east is the Sorgente Mefita, identical with the pools of Ampsanctus.

[edit] History

Its origins are very ancient, the first inhabitated site of the land is in fact neolitic (circa 7000 BC) which continued to be inhabitated until 900 BC. Successively a row of the brave Samnites - the Hirpi, the warriors of the wolf - foundates Aequum Tuticum; a site which within years becomes Roman and a very important stradal node (which still continues to be), in the crossing between the Via Traiana road and the Via Herculeia.

Romanic Cathedral (X century)

The decadency of Aequum Tuticum arrives with the first barbaric invasions. And this way the three hills start to be inhabitated, a high and easily defendable place, and it's here that Ariano is born, fortified city in a strategic position; today it's ancient and imponent defensive walls are still recognizable and are part of the city. In a secure place away from the invasions of Goths and Byzantines, Ariano becomes a fortified city of the Lombards. Around 1000 is built the Castle to defend the city against the Greeks which, also if a little bit wrecked, pridely stands into the big and green Villa Comunale, i.e. the city park.

View of the Russo-Anzani road

Successively conquered by the Normans, in 1140 it was the place where were promulgated, by Roger II of Sicily, the Assizes of Ariano, the then-new constitution of the Kingdom of Sicily. This legal corpus will be adopted almost integrally and with a few variations into the Constitutions of Melfi of the Emperor Frederick II. In the same year it is conied the ducat, a coin that will last for seven centuries, until 1860.

In 1255, Manfred of Hohenstaufen, son of Frederick, besieged the city, which resisted strongly thanks to its walls and the combative nature of the inhabitants. During the siege, a group of soldiers from Lucera pretended to be diserters of Manfred's army, and were welcomed into the city. During the night, they revealed their double face, sacking and destroyng the city with the fire and killing all the inhabitants. There's still a road in memory of that tragic event, called La Carnale (The Carnage).

More than ten years later, in 1266, Charles of Anjou rebuilt the city and gave it two thorns of the crown of Christ, still conserved in a reliquiary into the city's romanesque cathedral. All these happenings are reproduced every year in the Rievocazione Storica del Dono delle Sante Spine ("Historical Reinvocation of the Gift of the Sacred Thorns") and in the reproduction of the Incendio del Campanile ("Belltower Burning"), a pyrotechnic event that lights the main square of the city and the side of the cathedral.

When the reign of the Angevins ends, the city passes to the hands of the Provenzale dei Desambramo family from 1294 to 1413; and then in the hands of the Caraffa and of the Gonzaga. Still today are there in the city buildings that were of the Spanish families which governed at that time. The 2nd of August 1545 the city rebels itself against the feudal regyme, it becomes Città Regia (City of the Reign) and depends by this moment from the Viceré del Regno delle Due Sicilie.

Later, in 1868, the city takes the name of Ariano di Puglia which lasts until 1930, when it changes its name again in that is the actual one: Ariano Irpino.

[edit] Maiolics

Fine and longed for in all the Campania, but appreciated also in the remainder of Italy and even abroad, is the maiolic production of Ariano. There are manufacts already from the XIII century, but Ariano Irpino's maiolic starts to become more and more raffinate around the XVIII century, when the first amphoras and pitchers appear, often simple in the shape, but thinly elaborated. Today's production is more than ever huge, including flask, busts, cups, plates, figures, amphoras.. All pieces are splendidly decorated by the craftsmen of Ariano, and often they've got a fine and elaborated shape.