San Giorgio A Cremano

San Giorgio a Cremano is a primarily residential town and comune in the province of Naples, in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is located on the foothills of Mount Vesuvius to the west of the volcano, and is six kilometres to the south east of the centre of Naples. Most parts of the commune command excellent views of Mount Vesuvius, Mount Somma and the Bay of Naples.

San Giorgio a Cremano was first settled in the 10th and 11th centuries, and has since been fairly regularly affected by the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius. Along with Portici, Ercolano, Torre del Greco, and Torre Annunziata, San Giorgio a Cremano is one of the five traditional towns that were to be found heading south from Naples on the coastal road along the Bay of Naples. In the 18th century the comune had become an extremely popular tourist resort, and attracted wealthier residents and the aristocracy from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, before going into decline following Italian unification, although primary industries and agriculture have persisted within the comune from its foundation to the modern day.

By the 19th century San Giorgio a Cremano had been absorbed by the expanding urban conglomeration of Naples, and it now has a population of 50,763, making it the second most densely populated commune in Italy after neighbouring Portici, and one of the most densely populated areas in the whole of the European Union. San Giorgio a Cremano is served by the Circumvesuviana metropolitan railway which connects it with central Naples, and is easily accessible by a number of major roads.

A comune of the Somma-Vesuvio National Park, San Giorgio a Cremano is known for hosting a huge number of so-called Ville Vesuviane (Vesuvian Villas), built between XVIII and XIX century for the nobility of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. These are a part of the Miglio d'Oro (the Golden Mile), an urbanistic and artistic complex which in 1997 have been included in the World Biosphere Network list of UNESCO (Somma-Vesuvius and Golden Mile).

It is also known for having a strong theatre tradition, whose highest representant was the actor and producer Massimo Troisi, which was one of only seven actors to be posthumously nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Il Postino.

Read more about San Giorgio A Cremano:  Etymology, Geography, Main Sights, Demographics, Economy, Culture, Housing

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