San Gennaro Vesuviano

Infobox CityIT
official_name = Comune di San Gennaro Vesuviano
region = Campania
province = Naples (NA)
elevation_m = 56
population_as_of = December 31, 2001
population_total = 10110
population_density_km2 =1683
timezone = CET, UTC+1
coordinates = coord|40|52|N|14|32|E
frazioni =
telephone = 081
postalcode = 80040
gentilic = Sangennaresi
saint = San Gennaro
day = September 19
website = [http://www.comune.sangennarovesuviano.na.it www.comune.sangennarovesuviano.na.it]

San Gennaro Vesuviano is a village of 10.100 people situated in the province of Naples in Southern Italy.

Geography

San Gennaro Vesuviano is located in the country-side area around Nola (the so called “agro Nolano") around 25 kilometers east of Naples and within a 9-kilometer distance from Nola. It is linked to the A30 Caserta-Salerno both through the highway junction in Palma Campania and the SS268 (a State-run toll-free road). There is also a Trenitalia railway station called “Palma-San Gennaro”. A shuttle is available downtown to reach the local Circumvesuviana train Station in Rione Trieste...

History

The early human settlements in the area are very old. The village of San Gennaro Vesuviano is positioned in the site of the Pianura Campana (the Campania Plain – once named the Planum Palmae) now best known as ‘Il Piano” and surrounded by the Vesuvius and the Mountain “Sant’Angelo”. The Piano symbolizes almost a natural linkage between the agro sarnese-nocerino and the agro-nolano, two major distinct countryside areas.

A number of recent archeological findings made it possible to date some settlements, back to the Bronze Age, around 2000 b.c., when a sudden eruption of the Vesuvius wiped out the ancient communities settled in the area. Only several centuries later, new peoples started colonizing again the area.

In 1631 by means of a deed properly executed by notary Galeota at the Episcopal curia of Nola, Mr. Scipione Pignatelli, count of San Valentino and marquis of Lauro, made a prosperous bequest in favor of the monastic order of the Padri Minori Riformatori of San Francesco. At the time, the marquis also initiated an annual trade-fair that is still organized yearly.

The bequest to the Franciscan clerics, included among other things, a piece of land in what at the time was still part of the territory of Palma Nolana (now Palma Campania) allegedly directed to build a Franciscan convent and a small adjoining community.

The inhabited center around Cavallerizza and Convento, grew up until it became first a neighbourhood of Palma Campania and later on, a self-governing entity by decree of King Ferdinando II di Borbone.

Famous people

Father Angelo Peluso

Father Angelo Peluso, a Franciscan monk, was born on September 13, 1801 in San Gennaro Vesuviano, at a time when the small village was still a hamlet belonging to the neighboring township of Palma Campania. He was very young when he vowed to the clerical order at the age of 18 in a ceremony officiated at the local Franciscan convent.In 1820-1821, at the time of the Neapolitan risings under the command of Nolan military officers Morelli and Silvati and abbot Luigi Menichini, the monk was temporally allocated at the church of Sanita’ in Nola. The years to come were remarkably harsh for the people of San Gennaro Vesuviano: in fact, the decade following the failure of the Carbonari insurrections was marked by a general intensification of tax burden and by additional expenditure needs required to undertake the massive patch-up work to repair the buildings, severely damaged by the Vesuvius eruption of 1822 and the copious floods of 1823.

Those were also the years when the persistent abuses of power from the controlling government of Palma Campania inspired a sense of desperation, rage and hopelessness among the residents of the small “contrada” of San Gennaro.

In 1832 nonetheless, new insurrectional thrills were about to shake the Institutional structure of Naples and Italy. In fact, that very same year, Father Angelo Peluso conceived and led a new rebellion thus drawing national attention to the small Vesuvian village.Such rising known as the “conspiracy of Father Angelo Peluso” or just as the “Conspiracy of the monk” failed most likely due to the lack of preparation of the other insurrectionists who were not fit, psychologically and culturally, to undertake an ongoing rebellion such as the one conceived by the revolutionary cleric.

However, some fellows lent their stronger hand to the Father until the very end: Mr. Domenico Morici from Calabria, Captain of the Corps of military engineers; Lieutenant Filippo Agrestri; Mr. Francesco Vitale, a local attorney, and a fellow Luigi D’Ascoli: a rich landowner. According to the trial record, among thousands of insurrectionists who were supposed to gather on the mountains between Lauro and Taurano, only a small group of 27 showed up for the important congregation and only after a man Pietro Russo reported the intentions of conspirators to the local police authorities.

Father Angelo, now a fugitive, found a temporary shelter in the Church of the Sanita’. There, he was arrested on September 14 and later given the death penalty. Then again, the punishment was commuted to life imprisonment by decree of King Ferdinando II. The monk died in 1854 in a secluded cell at the penitentiary of the Holy Office. On November 4, 1975, the town council of San Gennaro Vesuviano laid a memorial tablet on the main façade of the Franciscan Convent.

Local government

The independence of San Gennaro Vesuviano dates back to 1841 when King Ferdinando II di Borbone issued a decree to recognize the independence of the Vesuvian hamlet (until then identified as “contrada San Gennaro”) from Palma Campania. The local government has since then been dissolved more than once and periodically administered through an external prefect commissioner. More recently, Italian President of Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi ordered the dissolution of the City Hall Government by decree on November 6, 2001 due to undue external influence by the local Camorra clan.

Economy

Major Industries and Trading

Nowadays, San Gennaro Vesuviano belongs to a larger industrial district which consists of a territorial consortium of small businesses with a discernible specialization in the general manufacturing industry. Such businesses can somehow carry out an efficient manufacturing process and are able to compete against larger companies.

This situation is the result of consolidated reciprocal partnerships and solid commercial relationships made possible by a marked familiarity with the territory, mutual knowledge sharing and know-how dissemination.The relevant territorial district is led by the township of San Giuseppe Vesuviano which favors the industries of textile, clothing, and fabric manufacturing. These industries are not as developed in San Gennaro Vesuviano where, conversely, there is a noticeable business presence operating in the field of food processing.

The growing globalization, the prevailing family-oriented proprietary structure and erroneous managerial choices have substantially annihilated the once flourishing industry of plastic connectors supplying, nationally and internationally, construction companies and major general contractors.

Agriculture and cattle breeding

Despite the recent overpopulation which makes it similar to a degrading metropolitan outskirt, agriculture is still employed by a number of local farmers and small landowners as a prevailing mean of economical support in San Gennaro Vesuviano.

In particular, hazelnut, grain and tobacco growing ("nicotina tabacum": indigenous of North-America) as well as vineyards (although the local grape varieties are not particularly valuable) are still common in San Gennaro. Green vegetable growing is generally only intended for personal consumption and there is no significant tomato growing which is nonetheless very common throughout the whole adjacent farming area of the “agro nocerino-sarnese”.

A limited availability of farming land promotes intensive over extensive cultivation and favors the widespread use of chemical fertilizers and herbicides. On the other hand, a certain common financial shortage and a someway prevailing backwardness, limit the excessive employment of industrial machineries for the farming, the harvesting and the early on-site processing that is still characterized by the extensively manual nature of crop harvesting and processing.

At the present, pig and cow breeding is not a relevant entry for the local economy, however there are several specialized horse breeders.