Acerra claims a distinction that makes the world smile: being the birthplace of Pulcinella. In the counts' castle — a medieval keep rebuilt in the eighteenth century — the museum devoted to the mask gathers the tradition of the commedia dell'arte alongside the peasant tradition of the plain. The town is among the oldest in Campania: it was founded by the Osci under the name Akeru, and as a Roman town it was the municipium of Acerrae.
Its Roman history is one of stubbornness: loyal to Rome in the Second Punic War, it was besieged by Hannibal in 216 before Christ, abandoned by its inhabitants and burnt; six years later, in 210, the Acerrani came back and rebuilt it. Virgil praised the fertility of its land, but the floods of the Clanio had almost emptied it. The plain made it a land of hemp and wheat for centuries; today Acerra is the third comune of the metropolitan city by area, after Naples and Giugliano, and it lives the transition of the hinterland with Naples twenty minutes away and Vesuvius in front. The feast of Pulcinella, in September, is its calling card.
Museo della Maschera di Pulcinella · Scavi archeologici di Suessula
Pizza Napoletana · Caprese
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Next up: Saint Cuono and his son, patrons of the birthplace of Pulcinella, Saturday 29 May
Nearest airport: Napoli Capodichino, 10 km away
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📅 Every year, on 29 May
Acerra celebrates Saint Cuono and his son on 29 May; the town, which tradition says was the birthplace of the Pulcinella mask, preserves an ancient church dedicated to the patron dating from the 11th century, alongside the remains of ancient Suessula.
Museo della Maschera di Pulcinella Scavi archeologici di Suessula
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Outside Acerra, but an easy day trip away.
