Terra di Lavoro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Terra di Lavoro is the name of a historical region of southern Italy. It corresponds roughy to the modern southern Lazio and northern Campania regions of Italy.

In Italian the name means literally "Land of Work", but in fact derives from the ancient Liburia, a territory north of Aversa which took its name from the ancient tribe of the Leborini.

[edit] History

The Terra di Lavoro was originally a giustizierato (circumscription) and then a province of the Kingdom of Sicily, later Kingdom of Naples. After the Congress of Vienna (1815) it became a department of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and, after the [[unification of Italy (1860s), a province of the Regno d'Italia. The capital was Capua until 1818 and then Caserta.

In the pre-Republican Italy, the Terra di Lavoro was one of the largest provinces: it comprised the current province of Caserta, the southern part of today's provinces of Latina and Frosinone, the countryside of Nola of the province of Naples, and the Sannio (provinces of Benevento, Campobasso and Isernia).

The main cities in the province were Capua, Caserta, Formia, Gaeta, Isola del Liri, Itri, Nola, Sora, Aquino, Arpino and Roccasecca. The Pontine Islands were also part of the province.

Terra di Lavoro in an old city plate of Casalattico

In 1863 the upper valley of the Volturno was separated to form the new province of Campobasso, while the communes in the Valle Caudinia became part of the provinces of Benevento and Avellino. In 1927 the province of Frosinone was established and the Terra di Lavoro was abolished, probably by personal order by Benito Mussolini. Its communes were annexed to the province of Rome, Naples, Benevento, Campobasso and, after 1934, to the province of Littoria (modern Latina).

In 1945 the new province of Caserta was created, including communes of the central Terra di Lavoro (including Aversa) previously part of the province of Naples, Benevento and Campobasso.

In the 1920s it was divided into the current provinces of Frosinone, Latina (both in Lazio) and Caserta (Campania).