Rione Terra visto dal porto di Pozzuoli (2010) by RaBoe-22

Rione Terra is a historic quarter in

Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia'' ( el, Δικα� ...

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 ...

, in the

Phlegraean Fields The Phlegraean Fields ( it, Campi Flegrei ; nap, Campe Flegree, from Ancient Greek 'to burn') is a large region of supervolcanic calderas situated to the west of Naples, Italy. It was declared a regional park in 2003. The area of the calde ...

region west 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 ...

. The ancient fortress originally served as the

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

for 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 ...

settlement of Dicearkia before being integrated as the

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 ...

port city of Puteoli. The densely built-up district is located on a small

tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertine. ...

promontory overlooking the

Gulf of Pozzuoli The Gulf of Pozzuoli ( it, Golfo di Pozzuoli; nap, Gurfo 'e Pezzulo), formerly known as the Gulf of Puteoli, is a large bay (aquatic), bay or small gulf (geography), gulf in the northwestern end of the Gulf of Naples in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It l ...

and today serves as a tourist attraction.

History

Rione Terra was originally a fortress for the settlement of Dicearkia founded by Greek colonists from

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate ...

in the 6th century BCE. The fortress became the Roman colony of Puteoli in 194 BCE and was subsequently reinforced by Roman walls. An ancient

Roman temple Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain "the most obvious symbol of Ro ...

dating from this time was reconstructed as a temple for

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 ...

in the 1st century CE in the centre of the fortress. The temple was later converted into the

Pozzuoli Cathedral Pozzuoli Cathedral or the Basilica of San Procolo martire is the main Roman Catholic church in Pozzuoli and the seat of the Diocese of Pozzuoli. It sits at the top of the Rione Terra and is built around an ancient Roman temple. History Origins ...

(''Duomo'') which stands to this day. With its narrow and ancient streets, Rione Terra was populated until 1970 when it was evacuated due to a sudden

bradyseism Bradyseism is the gradual uplift (positive bradyseism) or descent (negative bradyseism) of part of the Earth's surface caused by the filling or emptying of an underground magma chamber or hydrothermal activity, particularly in volcanic calderas. ...

event that raised the hill on which the district is located by relative to sea level. The district was further damaged by the

1980 Irpinia earthquake The 1980 Irpinia earthquake ( it, Terremoto dell'Irpinia) took place in Italy on 23 November 1980, with a moment magnitude of 6.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). It left at least 2,483 people dead, at least 7,700 injured, an ...

and was the subject of a restoration and excavation effort beginning in the 1980s. In 2014, Rione Terra reopened to the public as an open-air museum.

References

{{reflist Pozzuoli