Sessa Aurunca

Sessa Aurunca
Comune
Comune di Sessa Aurunca

Coat of arms
Sessa Aurunca

Location of Sessa Aurunca in Italy

Coordinates: 41°14′N 13°56′E / 41.233°N 13.933°E / 41.233; 13.933Coordinates: 41°14′N 13°56′E / 41.233°N 13.933°E / 41.233; 13.933
Country Italy
Region Campania
Province / Metropolitan city Caserta (CE)
Frazioni Aulpi, Avezzano, Baia Domizia, Carano, Cascano, Cescheto, Corbara, Corigliano, Cupa, Fasani, Fontanaradina, Gusti, Lauro, Li Paoli, Maiano, Marzuli, Piedimonte, Ponte, Rongolise, San Carlo, San Castrese, San Martino, Santa Maria a Valogno, Sorbello, Tuoro, Valogno
Government
 • Mayor Silvio Sasso
Area
 • Total 163 km2 (63 sq mi)
Elevation 203 m (666 ft)
Population (28 February 2015)
 • Total 21,840
 • Density 130/km2 (350/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Sessani
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 81037
Dialing code 0823
Patron saint St. Leo IX
Saint day May 8
Website Official website

Sessa Aurunca is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, in the province of Caserta. It located on the south west slope of the extinct volcano of Roccamonfina, 40 kilometres (25 mi) by rail west north west of Caserta and 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of Formia.

It is situated on the site of the ancient Suessa Aurunca, near the river Garigliano. The hill on which Sessa lies is a mass of volcanic tuff.

Toponym

The name Sessa comes from Colonia Julia Felix Classica Suessa (or in short "Suessa"), city belonging to Pentapoli Aurunca, historic core of downtown. It is assumed that the name can be derived from the happy location ("sessio", that is, seat, gentle hill from the mild climate of the territory called by the Romans Campania felix).

Physical geography

Territory Sessa Aurunca is the first municipality in the province of Caserta for territorial extension, the second in Campania after Ariano Irpino and is 44 km from the chief town. His position on the S.S. Appia and the proximity to S.S. Domitiana, links with the Autostrada del Sole (exit at Cassino and Capua) and the railway station on the Rome-Formia-Naples, the remarkable monuments from all eras, modern hotel facilities and leisure in the coast Baia Domizia in the Gulf of Gaeta, make it a big tourist center of the Tyrrhenian coast but also one of the cultural landmarks of the many smaller towns in the area.

The particular geographic location of the Center and 26 villages between large hills and fertile "Piana del Garigliano", makes it increasingly important throughout the city for a highly diversified agricultural production and particularly popular especially with regard to oil and wines already known in Roman times (there are traces on the territory of large industrial sites of the imperial age). From these lands, to the foot of Massico - for several years recognized D.O.C. production area - comes the much-vaunted Falerno wine in ancient times to be considered a gift of the god Dionysus to the hospitable people of the area.

Well known to Pliny for its therapeutic qualities, for Horace, Martial, Petronius and others for his dry and strong taste, Falerno is still the subject of a qualified request also abroad. Equally valuable is the olive oil, Terre Aurunche D.O.P. still produced in the aurunca area with traditional processing methods, such as hand-picking of olives and the milling in old mills. There are also the breeding of livestock (particularly the "hoaxes" in plain and sheep in the hills), recent fish plants or industrial facilities.

History

The ancient chief town of the Aurunci, is believed to have lain over 600 m above the level of the sea, on the narrow south-western edge of the extinct crater of Roccamonfina. Here some remains of Cyclopean masonry exist; but the area enclosed, about 100 by 50 metres (330 by 160 ft), is too small for anything but a detached fort. It dates more probably from a time prior to Roman supremacy.

In 337 BC the town was abandoned under the pressure of the Sidicini, in favour of the site of the modern Sessa. The new town kept the old name until 313, when a Latin colony under the name Suessa Aurunca was founded here. It was among the towns that had the right of coinage, and it manufactured carts, baskets and others. Cicero speaks of it as a place of some importance. The triumviri settled some of their veterans here, whence it appears as Colonia Julia Felix Classica Suessa. From inscriptions it appears that Matidia the younger, sister-in-law of Hadrian, had property in the district. It was not on a highroad, but on a branch between the Via Appia at Minturnae and the Via Latina crater mentioned. Imperial age Suessa knows its maximum urban expansion: the town extended over an area almost twice the current and counted many important sights. In 2001, excavations have brought to light the Roman Theater, a structure that could hold more than 3,500 spectators with a scene of about 30 meters in front and 15 deep; the theater has a natural frame the campaign with the Gulf of Gaeta horizon. On the decline of the Roman Empire, Sessa - Diocese least the fifth century - is experiencing a period of decline.

Monuments and sights


Roman age


Medieval age


Modern age

Main sights

The town contains many ancient remains, notably the ruins of an ancient bridge in brickwork of twenty-one arches, of substructures in opus reticulatum under the church of S. Benedetto, of a building in opus quadratum, supposed to have been a public portico, under the monastery of S. Giovanni, and of an amphitheatre.

The Romanesque cathedral is a medieval basilica with a vaulted portico and a nave and two aisles begun in 1103, a mosaic pavement in the Cosmatesque style, a good ambo resting on columns and decorated with mosaics showing traces of Moorish influence, a Paschal candelabrum, and an organ gallery of similar style. The portal has sculptures with scenes from the life of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. In the principal streets are memorial stones with inscriptions in honour of Charles V, surmounted by an old crucifix with a mosaic cross. The hills of Sessa are celebrated for their wine.

Tradition and folklore

Tourism

Baia Domizia is the brand-new small resort town of the comune of Sessa Aurunca. The village was built since 1964 and is located near the river Garigliano, inside an Italian pine forest and nice volcanic sand beaches. It is a holiday town with 11 kilometres (7 mi) of private beaches. The village offers a superb combination of sea, sand and sightseeing. Baia Domizia gained the status of a main destination of summer tourism on the Litorale Domizio and is one of the best known seaside resorts in Campania Region.

Transportation

Sessa Aurunca is connected by railway to Naples and Rome.

See also

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sessa Aurunca". Encyclopædia Britannica. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 701–702. 

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