Mariglianella

The historians of the Vesuvian towns all tell the same founding act: in the second century before Christ the Neapolitans and the people of Nola quarrelled over these lands, and Rome sent an arbitrator who assigned them to itself. On who he was there is no agreement — Quintus Fabius Labeo or the praetor Caius Atinius Labeo in 195 — and some even hold that the whole business never happened.

Here in 1561 was born Carlo Carafa, a captain under Philip II of Spain, who died in 1633 with a reputation for sanctity: cured of a grave illness, in gratitude he rebuilt the village's old church and wanted it named Madonna della Sanità, Our Lady of Health. From 1334 Mariglianella was no longer a hamlet but a università, with mayors who held office for a fixed term.