Nicotera ( Calabrian: ; grc, Νικόπτερα, translit=Nikóptera) 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) in the

province of Vibo Valentia The province of Vibo Valentia ( it, provincia di Vibo Valentia; Vibonese: ) is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy, set up by a national law of 6 March 1992 which came into effect on 1 January 1996, and formerly part of the Provin ...

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, 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

The origins of Nicòtera lie with the ancient Greek city of

Medma Medma or Mesma (Greek: , Steph. B.; , Strabo, Scymn. Ch.; but on coins, and so Apollodorus of Damascus, cited by Steph. B.; Scylax has , evidently a corruption for ), was an ancient Greek city of Southern Italy ( Magna Graecia), on the west co ...

, which was founded by the Locresis of Locri Epizephyris. During the period of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

domination it survived only in the form of the ''emporium'' (port), near today's

Nicotera Marina Nicotera ( Calabrian: ; grc, Νικόπτερα, translit=Nikóptera) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Vibo Valentia, Calabria, southern Italy. History The origins of Nicòtera lie with the ancient Greek city of Medma, which wa ...

. A Christian bishopric see is attested in Nicotera during the Middle Ages. In 1065

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calabri ...

– enlarging his

Principate 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 ...

– seized it from the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, and the town grew around the castle and the cathedral built under the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...

. In 1122, Nicotera was attacked by an Almoravid fleet: some of the populace were killed while the rest were taken and sold into slavery.Hubert Houben, ''Roger II of Sicily: A Ruler Between East and West'' (Cambridge University Press, 2002), 38. Under

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

Frederick II Nicotera attained economic wealth. To encourage commerce and industry, Frederick promoted Jewish settlement in the area called "

Giudecca Giudecca (; vec, Zueca) is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, in northern Italy. It is part of the ''sestiere'' of Dorsoduro and is a locality of the ''comune'' of Venice. Geography Giudecca lies immediately south of the central islands of Ven ...

", a ghetto area near the castle, in which Jews lived under the protection of the Bishop of Nicotera, and enjoyed protection from Christian persecution. In the 15th century, under the rule of Alfonso of Aragon, the town came under the yoke of

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

and fell into decay. In 1806 the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

swept away the feudal system in Nicotera. After the restoration of

Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...

, Nicotera continued to be chief town of the district, with what are now the modern communes of

Joppolo Joppolo ( grc-x-byzant, Ιάμπολος, translit=Iámbolos) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region of Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southwest of Vibo Valentia. Notabl ...

and

Limbadi Limbadi () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southwest of Vibo Valentia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,688 and an area ...

as its dependencies.

Notes

External links

Cities and towns in Calabria {{Calabria-geo-stub