Ravello

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Ravello
Comune di Ravello
Ravello-coastline.jpg
Amalfi Coast looking south from Ravello
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Location of Ravello
Ravello
Italy provincial location map 2016.svg
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Ravello
Location of Ravello in Italy
Italy Campania location map.svg
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Ravello
Ravello (Campania)
Coordinates: 40°39′N14°37′E / 40.650°N 14.617°E / 40.650; 14.617
Country Italy
Region Campania
Province Salerno (SA)
Frazioni Sambuco, Torello, Castiglione, Marmorata, San Cosma, San Pietro alla Costa, Monte, Casa Bianca
Government
  MayorPaolo Vuilleumier
Area
[1]
  Total7.94 km2 (3.07 sq mi)
Elevation
[2]
350 m (1,150 ft)
Population
 (31 December 2014) [3]
  Total2,500
  Density310/km2 (820/sq mi)
Demonym Ravellesi
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
  Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
84010
Dialing code 089
Patron saint St. Pantaleon
Saint dayJuly 27
Website Official website

Ravello (Campanian: Raviello, Reviello) is a comune (municipality) situated above the Amalfi Coast, in the province of Salerno, Campania, with approximately 2,500 inhabitants. Its scenic location makes it a popular tourist destination, and earned it a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Contents

History

Piazza with Villa Ruffolo's entry tower Center of Ravello Italy.JPG
Piazza with Villa Ruffolo's entry tower

Ravello was founded in the 5th century as a shelter place against the barbarian invasions which marked the end of the Western Roman Empire.

In the 9th century Ravello was an important town of the maritime Republic of Amalfi.

It was a producer of wool from its surrounding country that was dyed in the town and an important trading power in the Mediterranean between 839 and around 1200.

In 1086, at the request of the Italo-Norman count Roger Borsa, who wished to create a counterweight to the powerful Duchy of Amalfi, Pope Victor III made Ravello the seat of a diocese immediately subject to the Holy See, with territory split off from that of the archdiocese of Amalfi. Early on, the bishops of Ravello all came from patrician families of the city, showing the church's municipalized character.

In the 12th century, Ravello had some 25,000 inhabitants, and it retains a number of palazzi of the mercantile nobility, the Rufolo, d'Aflitto, Confalone, and Della Marra.

In 1137, after a first failed attack two years before, the Duchy was destroyed by the Republic of Pisa. After this, a demographic and economic decline set in, and much of its population moved to Naples and its surroundings in the Kingdom of Naples.

In 1944 during WW2, the king of Italy lived in Ravello—at the "Palazzo Priscopio"—while waiting to go back to Rome [4]

View of Amalfi Coast from Ravello Ravello, Villa Rufolo - panoramio.jpg
View of Amalfi Coast from Ravello
Garden terrace at Villa Cimbrone Ravello - Villa Cimbrone 03.jpg
Garden terrace at Villa Cimbrone
Gothic Cloister at Villa Rufolo Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Ravello, 1965) - BEIC 6328862.jpg
Gothic Cloister at Villa Rufolo

Main sights

Culture

The town has served historically as a destination for artists, musicians, and writers, including Giovanni Boccaccio, Richard Wagner, Edvard Grieg, M. C. Escher, [9] Virginia Woolf, Greta Garbo, Gore Vidal, André Gide, Joan Miró, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Graham Greene, Jacqueline Kennedy, Leonard Bernstein and Sara Teasdale (who mentioned it in her prefatory dedication in Love Songs). [ citation needed ]

Every year in the summer months, the "Ravello Festival" takes place. It began in 1953 in honour of Richard Wagner.[ citation needed ]

The 1953 film Beat the Devil , directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, and Gina Lollobrigida in her English language debut, was shot in Ravello. [10] An extended scene of Bogart and Jones romancing was filmed on the Terrazza dell'lnfinito at the Villa Cimbrone .[ citation needed ]

Transportation

Ravello can be reached from the 163 Amalfitana State Road by private car. The town centre is also served by the 511006 bus.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Giovanni del Toro</span> Church in Ravello, Italy.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Rufolo</span>

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References

  1. "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. "Ravello". Tuttitalia (in Italian).
  3. "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  4. [https://www.ilvescovado.it/it/sezioni-25/storia-e-storie-12/11-febbraio-1944-salerno-capitale-il-re-dimora-a-21881/articleThe king of Italy at Ravello, www.ilvescovado.it Archived 2020-11-25 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Duomo di Ravello
  6. Villa Rufolo
  7. Villa Cimbrone
  8. David, Mark (2015-11-03). "For Sale: Gore Vidal's Italian Cliffhanger (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  9. Emmer, Michele (2004). Matematica E Cultura 2004. Springer. p. 248. ISBN   978-88-470-0291-3.
  10. "Beat the Devil (1953) - IMDb". Archived from the original on 2014-10-14.