Licola, Italy - Territory

Territory

The territory of Licola preserves not only an invaluable archaeological heritage but also popular and religious traditions and a significant commercial, cultural and tourist function.

According to the latest archaeological findings, which emerged during excavations carried out by the Archeological Heritage Authority, it is thought that the territory of Licola covers an old Roman road, the Domitian Way, and the remains of an amphitheater of the same period whose precise location has yet to be discovered.

The important archeological site of the town of Liternum (containing the tomb of Scipio Africanus) is located about one kilometer north of Licola, in Lago Patria (where a lake of the same name is located which has the unusual characteristic of being heart-shaped). It was there that Scipio chose to remain in voluntary exile from Rome and where he founded a Roman colony along with his most trusted legionaries and their families.

To the south, Cumae preserves an invaluable acropolis as well as the Cave of the Sibyl, famous for the prophesies uttered there by the Cumaean Sibyl, while slightly further south lies the magnificent Arco Felice Vecchio.

Licola now contains the Regional Park of the Phlegraean Fields (Campi Flegrei), which preserves the dunes and habitat specific to the area and has been declared a Site of Importance to the Community and a Special Protection Zone owing to the rarity of the species living there, such as the sea daffodil.

Along with the remains of the Cumaean Acropolis, the Regional Park of the Phlegraen Fields also contains an area of rare Mediterranean evergreen forest, known to the ancients as the Silva Gallinaria.

Numerous species of both migrating and non-migrating birds—many endangered—take refuge in the marshes and green areas of Licola. Most notably, the heron has returned to the area, while on the beaches there have been sightings of loggerhead sea turtles.

The seabed along the Licola-Cumae beach, between the island of Ischia and Ventotene, contains a submarine canyon, the Canyon of Cumae, which provides a home for cetaceans such as dolphins and Rorqual whales.