The name of this town means rubble. It reflects the Latin maceria, already attested in the fifth century in the sense of a town knocked down, reduced to ruins, and it must be linked to the destruction of ancient Capua and its hamlets by the Vandals of Genseric: the survivors who took on the burden of rebuilding very probably used the expression Villa Macerata, the destroyed hamlet, to name the place where they had lived and where they meant to live again. The name has remained, contracted into Macerata. The history here, after all, is that of ancient Capua, today's Santa Maria Capua Vetere, of which the town was part for centuries until 841, the year of the Saracen invasion that destroyed the ancient city; and it was precisely near the chapel of the Beata Vergine delle Grazie that the Porta Atellana opened, from which left the via Atellana joining Capua to Atella.
The comune has changed its name three times and disappeared once. Until 1862 it was called simply Macerata; a royal decree of 12 October 1862 turned it into Macerata Marcianise, inside the province of Terra di Lavoro, and another, of 19 November 1925, authorised the passage to Macerata Campania. Then, from the first of January 1929, the province of Terra di Lavoro having been suppressed, the comune was united with neighbouring Portico di Caserta into a single comune called Casalba, from the name of an old frazione of Macerata, with the town hall here and the whole thing moved into the province of Naples. It lasted until a decree of 29 March 1946: from 30 June of that year the two comuni got back their autonomy and their territory, in the newborn province of Caserta. The most recent name, however, it chose for itself: on 21 November 2012 the town council adopted the typical denomination of Paese della Pastellessa, for the music a pastellessa, a tradition born only here and going back to the thirteenth century.
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📅 Every year, on 11 November; the most beloved feast remains Sant'Antuono, on 17 January
Macerata Campania celebrates Saint Martin, bishop of Tours, on 11 November, in the church dedicated to him. The most important and beloved feast for the people of Macerata remains, however, that of Saint Anthony Abbot, known as Sant'Antuono, on 17 January, involving the whole comune.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Macerata Campania, but an easy day trip away.
