Taurano is a village 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 ...

'' in the

province of Avellino The Province of Avellino ( it, Provincia di Avellino) is a province in the Campania region of Southern Italy. The area is characterized by numerous small towns and villages scattered across the province; only two towns have a population over 20,0 ...

, in the

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 ...

region of southern Italy.

Geography

The town lies in the Lauro Valley. It is bordered by

Lauro Lauro is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Avellino, Campania, southern Italy. It is located in lower Irpinia, in a woody valley. Sights include the remains of a 1st-century BC Roman ''thermae In ancient Rome, (fro ...

Monteforte Irpino Monteforte Irpino is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, 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 ...

Moschiano Moschiano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, 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 ...

Pago del Vallo di Lauro Pago del Vallo di Lauro (Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, Campania, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in ...

and

Visciano Visciano (Campanian: ) is a municipality, that is on the edge of the Metropolitan City of Naples, on the border with the province of Avellino in Campania. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 4,607 and an area of 10.9 km2.All demogra ...

History

Bronze Age remains have been found in the area of Taurano, whose name derives from Latin, either the surname ''Taurus'' or the gentilic ''Taurius''. It was a Samnite ''

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretchi ...

'', destroyed by Romans under

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 ...

during the Social War. It later became a summer resort, and two Roman villas have been found from this period, one in Torre and one in San Giovanni in Palco. In the Middle Ages it was part of the Feud of Lauro. Villagers throughout the valley sought refuge in the mountains during the barbarian invasions. Under the administrative reforms of

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

(

King of Naples The following is a list of rulers of the Kingdom of Naples, from its first separation from the Kingdom of Sicily to its merger with the same into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Kingdom of Naples (1282–1501) House of Anjou In 1382, the ...

1808–15), Taurano and the rest of the Lauro Valley became part of the province of

Terra di Lavoro Terra di Lavoro (Liburia in Latin) is the name of a historical region of Southern Italy. It corresponds roughly to the modern southern Lazio and northern Campania and upper north west and west border area of Molise regions of Italy. In Italian th ...

. In the 19th century Taurano offered shelter to brigands such as

Fra Diavolo Fra Diavolo (lit. Brother Devil; 7 April 1771–11 November 1806), is the popular name given to Michele Pezza, a famous guerrilla leader who resisted the French occupation of Naples, proving an "inspirational practitioner of popular insurrect ...

, and anti-Bourbon conspirators such as Father Angelo Peluso. After unification, Taurano become an autonomous Commune except for a brief interruption.

Notes and references

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