Lacco Ameno ( nap, U Làcchë) is a town and ''

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 ...

'' situated in the northwest of the island of

Ischia Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to west ...

, in the

Metropolitan City of Naples The Metropolitan City of Naples ( it, Città metropolitana di Napoli) is an Italian metropolitan city in Campania region, established on 1 January 2015. Its capital city is Naples; within the city there are 92 comunes (municipalities). It was ...

off the west coast of

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 ...

. The town has a population of around 4,800 inhabitants. It is located at the feet of

Mount Epomeo Mount Epomeo (Italian: ''Monte Epomeo'') is the highest mountain on the volcanic island of Ischia, in the Gulf of Naples, Italy. Epomeo is believed to be a volcanic horst. Reaching a height of , it towers above the rest of Ischia. Much of Epome ...

, facing the sea. The name most likely derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''lakkos'', meaning "stone". The name ''

ameno Ameno may refer to: *Ameno, Italy, a comune in the Province of Novara, Piedmont, Italy *Lacco Ameno, a town and comune situated in the northwest of the island of Ischia, in the Gulf of Naples, Italy * "Ameno" (song), a song by musical project Era ...

'' was added to the official name in 1862. On July 28, 1883, Lacco Ameno was severely damaged by an earthquake; together with the neighboring town of Casamicciola, the earthquake claimed over 2,300 victims. 269 houses, about 69% of the entire building fabric, were completely destroyed, and only 18 buildings remained undamaged. However, this could not stop the change from a fishing village to a health resort with thermal springs. The Italian publisher

Angelo Rizzoli Angelo Rizzoli, OML (; 31 October 1889 – 24 September 1970) was an Italian publisher and film producer. Early life Rizzoli was born in Milan on 31 October 1889. Orphaned at a young age and raised in poverty, he rose to prosperity. He apprent ...

made Lacco Ameno a place for the international

jet set In journalism, jet set is a term for an international social group of wealthy people who travel the world to participate in social activities unavailable to ordinary people. The term, which replaced "café society", came from the lifestyle of tra ...

by building several hotels in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1962 he also donated to the only hospital on Ischia, "Ospedale Anna Rizzoli". On August 21, 2017, a moderate magnitude 4 earthquake struck Lacco Ameno and Casamicciola Terme, killing two people, partially collapsing a church and destroying several houses.

Main sights

Lacco Ameno is home to an 11th-century church, built over a pre-existing

Palaeo-Christian The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish teac ...

edifice. The Museum of

Santa Restituta Santa Restituta is a church in Naples, southern Italy, dedicated to Saint Restituta. The foundation of the basilica is attributed to the Emperor Constantine the Great in the 4th century and is mentioned in a passage from the life of Pope Sylves ...

houses several prehistorical findings and Greek ceramics from the 8th-2nd centuries BC. There are many luxury hotels and boutiques frequented, especially in the summer months. Ischia Fungo Lacco Ameno

References

External links

Official website
Cities and towns in Campania Ischia {{Campania-geo-stub