PROCIDA
The island of Procida with its 3,7 km² is the third largest in terms of area of Campania. The current name of the island of Procida derives from the Roman era Prochyta. According to a first hypothesis this name derives from First Cyme, or “close to Cuma”, as was the island appear to Greek colonists in migration from the island of Ischia in Cuma. Another hypothesis, the name comes from the greek pròkeitai (going), namely “lying”, in view of the island as it appears, view from the sea. Its territory is part of the municipality of the same name with the little Vivara. Procida dista dalla costa solo 3,4 km ed è collegata con Vivara mediante un ponte. Its formation is probably due to the eruption of a multitude of volcanoes belonging to the region of the Campi Flegrei separated from its shores by the channel of Procida, his main observation is actually a modest hill called Terra Murata (91 m.s.m.). Most of the coast of Procida is included in marine protected Kingdom of Nettuno.Tradizionalmente, the town is divided into nine districts, this Grancia: Terra Murata (the oldest suburb), Corricella (a quaint fishing village), Sent'Co with the commercial port of Marina Grande, San Leonardo, Santissima Annunziata (also known as the Madonna of the Free), Sant'Antuono, Sant'Antonio and Chiaiolella (a marina in the southern part of the island). During the rule of Charles V in Naples the island of Procida was confiscated last Cossa and granted a fief to the family of d'Avalos Aquinas of Aragon (1529), faithful to the house of Habsburg. The first vassal was precisely Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis of Vasto and General Charles V, cousin Fernando d'Avalos. Meanwhile continued even in this the raids of Saracen pirates, accentuated further by the struggle between the Ottomans and the Spanish Empire. Very documented and was particularly bloody raid 1534, ad opera del pirata Kahir-Ad-Din, called Barbarossa, ended with devastation and with a large number of Procida deported as slaves, and then wanted to repeat the feat in 1544. His successor, Cute, meant that the island was again devastated in 1548, in 1552, in 1558 and in 1562. A further incursion Barbary is documented in 1585. Testimonies of this period are the towers of the sea, later became the symbol of the island, a second wall around the village of Terra Murata and the start of construction of the Castello D'Avalos (1563), by the architects and Giovan Battista Cavagna Welcome Tortelli. An improvement of the living conditions in the island came, however, only after the Battle of Lepanto that greatly reduced the activity of the Ottoman navy in the western Mediterranean, allowing, finally, the birth of the island economy tied to the navy. In the seventeenth century the island was occupied by the French fleet commanded by Thomas Francis of Savoy, the background of the events related to the revolt of Masaniello and following the birth of the Republic. With the advent of the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples, in 1734, Meanwhile he had a further improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the island, also due to the extinction of feudalism in 1744 by Charles III, Procida who inserted between the freehold property of the crown, making it one of his hunting ground. In this period the navy Procida is moving towards its heyday, combining this also a thriving shipbuilding: until the next century, are launched in the island ships and brigs facing the ocean navigation; towards the middle of the nineteenth century about one third of all “woodwind” great coastal southern Italy comes from construction sites procidani. The population ascends up to a maximum of about 16000 People in the late eighteenth century, or about one and a half times the current population. In 1799 Procida takes part in riots that lead to the proclamation of the Neapolitan Republic; with the return of the Bourbons, a few months after, twelve o'clock procidani, among the most influential and in sight of the island, are hanged for this in the same square where he had been hoisted the tree of liberty. In the following years (and in particular in “French decade”), the island of Procida sees several times to pass the war on its territory with heavy fighting and devastation, because of its basic strategic position in the war on the sea, contention between the French and English; chronicles report that in only 1809 about 4000 people left the island in the wake of the British ships defeats at the end of the sixth anti-French coalition. Also for these reasons, in 1860 the fall of the Bourbons and the Italian unification are welcomed by the population. Every summer, between July and August, she was elected the Graziella, or a young Procida wearing the typical costumes of the island, referring to the story told in the novel of Alphonse De Lamartine. Also in summer, in addition to, was awarded the literary prize dedicated to Elsa Morante and his novel The Island of Arturo. In recent years, at last, arose several festivals during which you can taste typical dishes and drinking the local wine; between those of the most successful “Wine Festival”, to November. The 5 July we celebrate the beginning of summer.