Giugliano in Campania (), also known simply as Giugliano, is a city and in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, Italy. A suburb of Naples, as of 2017, it had some 124,000 inhabitants, making it the most populated Italian city that is not a provincial capital.
History
In 5th-4th century BCE the territory of Giugliano was settled by the Osci, who founded, among the many cities, Atella and Liternum, both of them flourished under the dominion of Rome. The area is that known as Terra di Lavoro, which was the most fertile part of Campania felix.
Near "Lake Patria", there was the ancient city of Liternum. In 194 BC it became a Roman colony. The town is mainly famous as the residence of the elder Scipio Africanus, who withdrew from Rome and died there. His tomb and villa are described by Seneca the Younger. In 455, the town was pillaged and destroyed by Genseric and his Vandals. The surviving population migrated to the present historical center of Giugliano.
The city remained a small center until 1207, when Cuma was destroyed by the Neapolitans; some of the citizens from that town, including the clergy and the cathedral capitular, took shelter in Giugliano. The first documents mentioning a fief in Giugliano dates from 1270.
In 1495 Charles VIII of France, having occupied the Kingdom of Naples, gave the feud to Count Michele Riccio, from whom it was taken away with the defeat of the French.
Carbones in 1536 and then Carafas in 1542 sold their shares to Cosimo Pinelli, whose family administered Giugliano correctly for about a century. Cosimo, with his influence, obtained the concession of the jurisdiction which administratively freed the fief of Giugliano from Aversa's interference. In 1545 he had the ducal palace built there, at the time the center of power. In this period there was a notable boost to the economy and to the cultural and social growth of the Giugliano university, leaving various artistic testimonies. In 1639 Galeazzo Pinelli sold the shares due to Cesare D'Aquino. The period of the lordship of the D'Aquinos created chaos and discontent among the population, who asked the viceroy for help for the abuses suffered. In 1647, Henry I, Duke of Guise descended into Italy with his army, with claims to the crown of Naples, and set up his camp in Giugliano with about 5,000 soldiers.
During the seventeenth century the Mancini family was invested, probably for a short time, with the barony of Giugliano with Domenico Nicola II, former Marquis of Fusignano and Vice Grand Chancellor of the Kingdom of Naples. In 1691 the feud passed to Francesco Grillo who acquired the title of "Duke of Giugliano". With the death of Duke Domenico Grillo, without children, it was devolved to the Royal Court.
The Viceroy and Prince of Stigliano, Marcantonio Colonna, bought it in 1778 and held it until the French Revolution. With the French decade of Joseph Bonaparte, the subversive laws of feudalism were enacted decreeing the end of all feudal privileges in the Kingdom of Naples and the beginning of the municipal administration. Therefore the last to govern the Giuglianese feud was the Colonna dynasty, after which power passed into the hands of the citizens. Lords of the city were, in sequence, the Vulcano, Filomarino, Pignatelli, D'Aquino, Pinelli and Colonna.
After the unification of Italy, in 1863, the specific "In Campania" was added to the name "Giugliano" to distinguish it from the homonyms then existing.
Geography
It is located in a fertile coastal plain north-west of Naples, the so-called Agro Giuglianese, thus serving as a market for agricultural products to the city. The plain on which it sits was known in ancient Roman times as the Campania Felix, the only relief being Monte San Severino.
The altitude difference is between a few meters above sea level in the maritime area and 97 m above sea level in the historic centre. The coastal stretch, low and sandy, extends on the Domitian coast for over 3 km, from Marina di Varcaturo to Lido di Licola. Within the territory is Lago Patria, with the locality of the same name on its banks. The lake is not of volcanic origin, but residual behind the dunes, i.e. generated by the closure of sand dunes towards the sea.
Neighboring communes
Giugliano in Campania borders the following municipalities: Aversa, Casapesenna, Castel Volturno, Lusciano, Melito di Napoli, Mugnano di Napoli, Parete, Pozzuoli, Qualiano, Quarto, San Cipriano d'Aversa, Sant'Antimo, Trentola-Ducenta, Villa Literno and Villaricca.