Somma Vesuviana is a town and comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in the province of Napoli, Campania

Campania

Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

History

Before the Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 colonization, the area of today's Somma Vesuviana was probably inhabiteed by Italics populations like Samnites and Oscans. Later it became a vacation place for the rich patricians of Rome, who built here magnificent villas. A villa of emperor Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

 was discovered in the 1930s in the frazione

Frazione

A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...

of Starza della Regina, where he probably passed his last days of life. The villa was probably buried during the eruption of Vesuvius of 79 CE.

Demographic evolution

According to ISTAT

Istituto Nazionale di Statistica

Istituto Nazionale di Statistica is the Italian national statistical institute.-History:Istat was created in 1926 to collect and organize essential data about the nation. Administering the census is one of its activities...

, the population of Somma Vsuviana has increased each decade since 1861, with a total of 33,261 inhabitants in 2001.

Main sights

• The ancient quarter of Casamale has noteworthy walls of Aragonese times.
• The Collegiata.
• Church of San Domenico.
• Church of Santa Maria del Pozzo (15th century). Its cloister is home to a museum of the peasant culture of the area.