Conza della Campania (or Conza di Campania; formerly called

Compsa Compsa (modern Conza della Campania) was an ancient city of the Hirpini, near the sources of the Aufidus, on the boundary of Lucania and not far from that of Apulia, on a ridge 609 m above sea level. It was betrayed to Hannibal in 216 BC af ...

, commonly known as Conza (

Campanian The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...

: )) is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) and former Latin Catholic (arch)bishopric in the province of Avellino in the region of

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

in southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

Early history

was an ancient city of the

Hirpini The Hirpini (Latin: ') were an ancient Samnite tribe of Southern Italy. While generally regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of Samnium, in the more ...

occupied by the Carthaginian conqueror Hannibal in 216 BC.

Medieval and modern history

During the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

, it was a

gastald A gastald (Latin ''gastaldus'' or ''castaldus''; Italian ''gastaldo'' or ''guastaldo'') was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne (a gastaldate, ''gastaldia'' or ''castaldia'') with civil, martial, and judicial powers. ...

ate in the

Principality of Salerno The Principality of Salerno ( la, Principatus Salerni) was a medieval Southern Italian state, formed in 851 out of the Principality of Benevento after a decade-long civil war. It was centred on the port city of Salerno. Although it owed all ...

. In 973, the gastald (city-based Lombard royal domain district administrator and judge) Landulf seized the principality. Later, it belonged to the

Balvano Balvano ( Lucano: ) is a small city and a ''commune'' in the province of Potenza (Basilicata, southern Italy). The recent history of Balvano is connected to several catastrophes. In 1944, a steam train stalled in a nearby railway tunnel, suffocat ...

, the Gesualdo, and the Mirelli families.

Recent history

The town was almost completely destroyed by the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. It was rebuilt in the area called Piano delle Briglie, from the former center. Conza della Campania is now a turistic attraction, since it can count among its territory the WWF Oasi, including the lake of Conza and the area outside. Conza della Campania has also about 10,000 visitors a year at its Archeological site, Compsa, discovered after the earthquake of 1980 that destroyed the old town.

Main sights

The main church is the Concattedrale (co-

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

) of S. Maria Assunta. Other sights include the archaeological area of

and the natural oasis of Lake Conza, an artificial basin on the

Ofanto The Ofanto (), known in ancient times as Aufidus or Canna, is a river in southern Italy that flows through the regions of Campania, Basilicata, and Apulia, into the Gulf of Manfredonia near Barletta. Geography The river's source is on the Irpi ...

river.

References

Brief description on Italy World Club

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conza Della Campania Cities and towns in Campania