Licola, Italy - History

History

The town of Licola, together with the neighboring towns of Lago Patria and Varcaturo, comprise the territory formerly inhabited by the Osci in the 5th to 4th century BC. The Osci founded many cities in Campania, including Liternum, the remains of which are located just north of Licola. This town experienced a remarkable development, especially during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire.

The first reference to Liternum dates from Roman times: the historian Livy wrote that in 194 BC thirty Roman families set up a colony there. Later many additional colonies were added and in the 2nd century Liternum was already among the most prosperous prefectures of the "fertile countryside" of Campania (Latin: Campania felix). The archaeological remains of the forum, temple, church and theater of Liternum are preserved from this period.

Liternum was also one of the four oldest cities in Campania in which Christianity was introduced and widely practiced, in the 1st and 2nd century AD.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the ONC (Opera Nazionale Combattenti, ‘National Soldiers Works’, a welfare agency formed by the fascist regime) directed a large agricultural business in Licola. With the start of World War II, this business ceased activity and was subsequently dismantled.

In the 1960s and 1970s Licola emerged as a significant tourist attraction. After the Irpinia earthquake in 1980 and the bradyseism of 1982, however, many displaced people sought shelter in Licola and its tourist industry went into a period of decline. A strong revival in tourism occurred subsequently in the 1990s.

Numerous quarries for the extraction of sand were opened in the 1970s and 1980s. These have now all been closed owing to environmental and archeological regulations imposed by the Cultural and Environment Heritage Ministry and the Archeological Heritage Ministry.