What to see · Giugliano in Campania

More places of interest

• Parco archeologico di Liternum

  Liternum was a Roman town of ancient Campania, on the south shore of Lake Patria, near the mouth of the river Clanio, in what is now the district of Lago Patria in Giugliano in Campania; the archaeological park keeps the remains of its forum, Capitolium, basilica and theatre, and tradition remembers it as the place where Scipio Africanus withdrew and died.

  What to see

  The excavations have brought to light the remains of the forum, the Capitolium, the basilica and the theatre. Outside the city walls the remains of the amphitheatre and the necropolis have been identified, with most of its burials of the imperial age. In the park stands a votive altar to Scipio Africanus, placed there on 15 September 1936. The archaeological and nature park lies within the Foce Volturno-Costa di Licola nature reserve; the area of the nature park next to the forum excavations has been redeveloped, with the paving and accessory works restored, and was inaugurated on 5 May 2024. Some of the finds are kept in a dedicated room of the Archaeological Museum of the Campi Flegrei.

  The area was inhabited already in prehistoric times and afterwards by peoples of Oscan stock. In 194 BC a Roman colony was settled here, probably of veterans of the Second Punic War from the army of Scipio Africanus, who withdrew here in exile and died in 183 BC. Already the ancients doubted whether he had been buried here or in the family tomb at Rome, since both had a funerary monument of his with a statue; the one at Liternum is said to have borne the epitaph «Ingrata patria, ne ossa quidem mea habes». According to tradition, among the ruins a fragment of the inscription was found reading only «...ta Patria ne...» and for this reason the place took the name Patria, and the lake was called Lake Patria. Seneca described Scipio's villa and tomb during his stay at Liternum. The town developed in the Augustan age and above all between the end of the 1st and the 2nd century AD, thanks to the Via Domitiana, which linked it to the port of Pozzuoli; it lived on fishing and, probably, on the use of the fine white sand of the shore for glass, and there were shops, craft workshops, perfumers and ceramic production. It was also a bishop's see, until the relics of Saint Fortunata were moved to Naples; from the late imperial age it declined progressively, and after the 4th century the surviving population moved towards the historic centre of present-day Giugliano. The excavations resumed in 1930, when the superintendent Amedeo Maiuri entrusted them to the honorary inspector Giacomo Chianese to look for Scipio's villa and tomb, and in the early 1930s they brought to light the forum, Capitolium, basilica and theatre. The park, begun in 2006 by the comune of Giugliano with funds obtained through the Superintendency of Naples, was completed in 2009; since 2016 the park and the amphitheatre have been part of the circuit of the Campi Flegrei Archaeological Park.

  Visiting

  The park is at Lago Patria, a district of Giugliano; since it belongs to the circuit of the Campi Flegrei Archaeological Park, opening hours, ticket and access should be checked with it, because the sources consulted do not give them.

  Our editors' tip

  Look for the votive altar to Scipio Africanus and think again of the epitaph that tradition attributes to him, «Ingrata patria, ne ossa quidem mea habes»: from the word «patria» the name of the place and of the lake is said to have come.

• Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista

  The church of San Giovanni Evangelista, also called San Giovannello and formerly the church of the Most Holy Sacrament, is a parish church in Giugliano in Campania, along the Corso Campano, in the diocese of Aversa.

  What to see

  The building has a rectangular plan with a single nave, its walls of regular plastered tuff blocks. The façade, in a classicising style, is divided into two orders: in the lower order the portal is framed by two columns on bases, carrying an entablature with a projecting cornice; the upper order is flanked by two small bell towers, at the sides of the pediment, joined to the body of the church and reached by two corner staircases. The interior has a single nave with side chapels and a presbytery with a curved end: the nave is covered by a lunetted barrel vault, the presbytery by a barrel vault with coffered decoration, and the floor is of white Carrara marble and grey bardiglio. The presbytery is raised by one step; the altar table is of marble, the seat and lectern of wood. At the back, on a high base, rises an aedicula with two pairs of coupled columns at the sides of a niche holding the statue of Saint John the Evangelist, titular of the church, crowned by a triangular pediment.

  The parish of San Giovanni Evangelista originally stood outside the built-up area, where the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie now stands, attested since the 10th century, considered among the oldest in Giugliano and then known as San Giovanni a Campo. When that building became dilapidated the community moved to the church of Santa Sofia for religious services only. In 1648 the parish priest Don Pietro Paolo Magliola began the building of a new church in the heart of the town, popularly called San Giovannello; the works ended around 1673, when the Most Holy Sacrament and the sacramentals were moved there, for which reason for a time it was also called the church of the Most Holy Sacrament. In November 1724 the parish community moved there permanently. In the second half of the 18th century the church was partly rebuilt, inside and out, according to the taste of the time, and in 1776 the two bell towers of the façade were completed; in the 19th and early 20th centuries further work enriched the decoration, above all in the presbytery.

  Visiting

  The church is along the Corso Campano, in the centre of Giugliano; opening hours and service times should be checked with the parish, because the sources consulted do not give them.

  Our editors' tip

  Look at the two small bell towers at the sides of the pediment, completed in 1776, and, inside, at the aedicula behind the altar with the statue of the titular saint.

• Villa comunale di Giugliano in Campania

  The villa comunale of Giugliano in Campania is the town's main urban park: it lies in the centre, between the Corso Campano and via Primo Maggio, on the area that once housed the town market.

  What to see

  The park is a tree-lined area equipped for rest and outdoor exercise, with pedestrian avenues, lawns and open spaces. Among the redevelopment works a small square was made, named after the Madonna della Pace, patron of the town, and a playground was set up. As a connection the source gives line 11, Giugliano station.

  The garden was born at the end of the 1990s, financed with the so-called environmental compensation funds. In 2010 the town administration announced its intention to recover it and to redevelop the whole surrounding area: the work led to the reopening of the park under the mayor Giovanni Pianese, at a cost of about six hundred thousand euros; the avenues and equipment were rebuilt, the wall that cut the garden off from the street was pulled down and the small square was created. A new building site for further equipped areas then forced its closure to the public from 19 September 2018, by mayoral order.

  Visiting

  The villa is in the centre of Giugliano, between the Corso Campano and via Primo Maggio; the sources consulted do not say whether and when the park reopened after 2018, nor give opening hours, so the present state should be checked with the comune.

  Our editors' tip

  If the park is open, look for the small square of the Madonna della Pace, made when the wall that cut the garden off from the street was pulled down.

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