Ottaviano Dandini, Riposo Durante La Fuga In Egitto, Xviii Secolo 02
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Ottaviano ( nap, Uttajano) 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
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 ...
in the Italian region
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 ...
, located about east of
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and is located in the Vesuvian Area. Ottaviano was in Roman times a hamlet of houses within a vast estate (praedium Octaviorum) belonging to the gens Octavia, Augustus's family. The territory of the country includes most of the crater of Vesuvius. The Medici Castle in Ottaviano houses the headquarters of the National Park of Vesuvius. Ottaviano suffered significant destruction during the 1944 eruption of neighboring Mount Vesuvius. Now the city is home to the center office of Vesuvius National Park.


History

Ottaviano was in Roman times a hamlet of houses within a vast estate (''praedium Octaviorum)'' belonging to the gens Octavia,
Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
's family. The territory was the scene of a battle between
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had t ...
and Lucius Cluentius in 90 BC, during the Social War. On the territory of Ottaviano, during the Third Servile War, in 73 BC, Spartacus defeated the force stationed there. The village (called Octavianum) grew in importance, becoming a municipality. According to some historians, it was here that the Emperor Augustus actually died, his body then being moved to
Nola Nola is a town and a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. It lies on the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines. It is traditionally credited as the diocese that introduced bells to Christian worship. ...
. The remains of the Roman era were buried by successive eruptions of Vesuvius, but the ruins and tombs have been unearthed in excavations in various parts of the country. In 1085,
Pope Gregory VII Pope Gregory VII ( la, Gregorius VII; 1015 – 25 May 1085), born Hildebrand of Sovana ( it, Ildebrando di Soana), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. He is venerated as a saint ...
visited the city and celebrated mass in a
church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...
(church of Vaglio) located at the baronial castle (today the Palazzo Mediceo). Several lords and barons held the city in this period. In the 13th century it was in the possession of Thomas Aquinas, the grandfather of Saint
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...
. During the Angevin rule of Naples, in 1304, the village was put to fire and sword by Carlo di Lagonessa by order of king Charles II, because of the killing of a regional officer ("superintendent of the woods") and his escort by the brothers John and Roberto de Marrone. Between 1532 and 1551 it was the fief of
Fabrizio Maramaldo Fabrizio Maramaldo (1494December 1552) was an Italian Condottiero. An illiterate native of Naples or Calabria, his exact origins are unknown, though he hailed from the Kingdom of Naples, and was perhaps of Spanish origin. He fled Naples after havin ...
, who had obtained it through services rendered to Charles V. The fief was then transferred to the Gonzaga of Molfetta and after, in 1567, to Bernadetto de' Medici, cousin of the Grand Duke
Cosimo de' Medici Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth ...
. The fief remained in possession of this family until 1860 and also included the current municipalities of Terzigno and San Giuseppe Vesuviano. Of the de' Medici family was part Luigi de' Medici, the representative of the Kingdom of Naples at the Congress of Vienna. The city has long suffered from eruptions of Vesuvius, and in particular was almost completely buried by volcanic ash from Vesuvius's eruption of 1631, 1779 and 1906. According to Sir William Hamilton, during the first and second eruptions Ottaviano "was buried like Pompeii", and also in the third, as testified by Matilde Serao, who called the city "the new Pompeii". In the third eruption also the roof of the Mother Church of San Michele Arcangelo collapsed under the weight of the ash, but without killing anyone. Ottaviano in the 1980s became painfully famous for being the general headquarters of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata, a powerful Camorristic organization headed by Raffaele Cutolo. Currently Ottaviano people is strongly against organized crime and has chosen the title of "City of Peace".


Notable people

* Gaetano Manfredi, teacher and politician * Raffaele Cutolo,
mob boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...
, former head of Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO) and younger brother of Rosetta Cutolo * Rosetta Cutolo, mobster, high-ranking member of Nuova Camorra Organizzata (NCO) and older sister of Raffaele Cutolo.


References

{{authority control Cities and towns in Campania Mount Vesuvius