Caiazzo (Campania)

Caiazzo commented by Braun

“Caiazzo is an old town in the fertile countryside of Campania beside the River Volturno. It formerly had Roman civic right, as can be read in the inscription on an ancient stone in the markerplace even today. A large part of the Old Town wall still survives and makes no mean contribution to the beauty of the town. There are further antiquities and old inscriptions to be seen in the town, which cannot all be described on this one page […]. The church of Caiazzo maintains the old tradition of icons, little known in Germany and France. “

TRANSLATION OF CAPTION TOP: Caiazzo speaks to the reader: I am mighty through piety and the equal of Rome in age; Tullius (Cicero) and our ruins bear witness to this. 1597.

CARTOUCHE LEFT: Calatia, in Italian Caiazzo, very ancient town in fertile Campania.

Taschen on Caiazzo

The well-fortified town of Caiazzo (also called the Città dell’Olio, “City of Oil”), which lies northeast of Capua in the immediate vicinity of the Vilturno, is seen in a bird’s-eye view from the southwest. Caiazzo became a bishopric as early as AD 966 and the episcopal complex with its house, gardens and church occupies a large part of the town centre. The fortifications were built in the 13th century. The fortress itself (Arx Civitatis) is strategically sited on a hill overlooking the town and was built on top of an earlier Lombard castle that itself stood on the ruins of a Roman fort. Lying within the hilly, picturesque countryside around Caiazzo are a Franciscan monastery towards the west, a Capuchin monastery (bottom left) and – near the Porta Vetus – a hospital (Hospicium publicum) and a potters’ workshop (officina figulorum)