entry
June 2013, updates Aug 2015, Dec '17, June '18, Jan '23, May
'23
UNESCO (1)
Campanian sites [directly below] (2) Intangible Cultural
Heritage (3) Underwater
Cultural Heritage
(4) Memory
of the World Program
(5)
Primeval Beech Forests
1.
—sites
in or near Campania
Readers may know that UNESCO,
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization, maintains a "World Heritage
list," that is, a list of cultural and natural
sites that the World Heritage Committee considers
to have outstanding universal value. (Earlier mention here.)
As of June 2013 the list includes 981 properties
in 160 nations. Italy is well-represented, and
within Italy, the Campania region is
well-represented. This is a list of those sites
that are either in the Campania region or close
enough to be accessible. A couple are farther
away, but I include them because I like them and
have mentioned them somewhere in these pages. Note
that many of the so-called "sites" are not single
buildings or even a complex of buildings; they are
entire areas. I have provided appropriate links
where available. Also, there are a number of
worthwhile sites in and around Naples that are not
on the UNESCO list—other sites of Magna Grecia such as Cuma, for example and Pithecusa (Ischia),
but we take what we can get.

—HISTORIC
CENTER OF NAPLES. From the UNESCO
text:
From the Neapolis founded by Greek
settlers in 470 B.C. to the city of today,
Naples has retained the imprint of the
successive cultures that emerged in Europe
and the Mediterranean basin. This makes it a
unique site, with a wealth of outstanding
monuments such as the Church of Santa
Chiara and the Castel
Nuovo. (Map of the Historic
Center.)
photo:
Piazza del Gesù Nuovo
—18th-CENTURY
ROYAL PALACE AT CASERTA WITH THE PARK,
AQUEDUCT OF VANVITELLI AND SAN LEUCIO COMPLEX.
From the UNESCO
text:
The monumental complex at Caserta,
created by the Bourbon king Charles III in the
mid-18th century to rival Versailles and the
Royal Palace in Madrid...brings together a
magnificent palace with its park and gardens,
as well as natural woodland, hunting lodges
and a silk factory. It is an eloquent
expression of the Enlightenment in material
form, integrated into, rather than imposed on,
its natural setting.
photo:looking
back at the Caserta palace from within
the grounds
—CASTEL
DEL MONTE. This is
not in Campania but rather in Puglia, close enough
to get to and definitely worth it. From the UNESCO
text:
When
the Emperor Frederick II built this castle near
Bari in the 13th century, he imbued it
with symbolic significance, as reflected in
the location, the mathematical and
astronomical precision of the layout and the
perfectly regular shape. A unique piece of
medieval military architecture...it is a
successful blend of elements from classical
antiquity, the Islamic Orient and north
European Cistercian Gothic.
—ARCHAEOLOGICAL
AREAS OF POMPEII,
HERCULANEUM &
TORRE ANNUNZIATA.
This now includes the Mt. Vesuvius
National Park. The Torre Annunziata reference is
to the Villa Oplontis
site in that town. It's one of the "entire area"
sites, mentioned above. From the UNESCO text:
When Vesuvius erupted on 24 August AD
79, it engulfed the two flourishing Roman
towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, as well as
the many wealthy villas in the area. These
have been progressively excavated and made
accessible to the public since the mid-18th
century. The vast expanse of the commercial
town of Pompeii contrasts with the smaller but
better-preserved remains of the holiday resort
of Herculaneum, while the superb wall
paintings of the Villa Oplontis at Torre
Annunziata give a vivid impression of the
opulent lifestyle enjoyed by the wealthier
citizens of the Early Roman
Empire.
photo:
Herculaneum
—THE
AMALFI COAST. Again,
this covers a vast area. From the UNESCO
description:
The Amalfi coast is an area of great
physical beauty and natural diversity. It has
been intensively settled by human communities
since the early Middle Ages. There are a number
of towns such as Amalfi
and Ravello with
architectural and artistic works of great
significance. The rural areas show the
versatility of the inhabitants in adapting their
use of the land to the diverse nature of the
terrain, which ranges from terraced vineyards
and orchards on the lower slopes to wide upland
pastures.
photo: Amalfi
—SU
NURAXI DI BARUMINI. Not
even close to Naples or Campania, but I like it,
and it's in keeping with the fact that a section
of Naples: Life, Death & Miracles is reserved for
Sardinia. Go anyway. It's an impressive
example of the island's prehistory Nuraghic
culture. From the UNESCO text:
During
the late 2nd millennium B.C. in the Bronze
Age, a special type of defensive
structure...developed on Sardinia...circular
defensive towers in the form of truncated
cones built of dressed stone, with
corbel-vaulted internal chambers. The complex
at Barumini...extended and reinforced in the
first half of the 1st millennium under
Carthaginian pressure, is the finest and most
complete example of this remarkable form of
prehistoric
architecture."
photo: The Barumini nuraghi
complex
—CILENTO
& VALLO DI DIANO NATIONAL PARK with the sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula. This is
a huge area. There is an entire Cilento portal on
this website. From the UNESCO text:
...The
dramatic groups of sanctuaries and settlements
along its three east–west mountain ridges
portray the area's historical evolution: it was
a major route for trade and cultural and
political interaction during the prehistoric and
medieval periods. The Cilento was also the
boundary between the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia and
the indigenous
Etruscan and Lucanian
peoples...

—AEOLIAN
ISLANDS. These are
just north of Sicily and easily accessible from
Naples. From the UNESCO text:
The Aeolian Islands provide an outstanding
record of volcanic island-building and
destruction, and ongoing volcanic phenomena...
the islands have provided vulcanology with
examples of two types of eruption (Vulcanian
and Strombolian)
and have featured prominently in the education
of geologists for more than 200 years. The
site continues to enrich the field of
vulcanology.
photo:
Stromboli [see The Islands of
Sicily]
—THE
SANTA SOFIA CHURCH & COMPLEX. (top photo, right) This is in nearby
Benevento, just east of Naples. It is part of a
UNESCO conglomerate site called The Longobards in Italy, Places of
the Power, 568 - 774 A.D. i.e. fortresses,
churches, and monasteries at seven locations in
Italy...(from the UNESCO text)...:
...that testify to the high
achievement of the Lombards, who migrated from
northern Europe and developed their own specific
culture in Italy where they ruled over vast
territories in the 6th to 8th centuries. The
Lombards synthesis of architectural styles
marked the transition from Antiquity to the
European Middle Ages, drawing on the heritage of
Ancient Rome, Christian spirituality, Byzantine
influence and Germanic northern Europe. The
serial property testifies to the Lombards' major
role in the spiritual and cultural development
of Medieval European Christianity, notably by
bolstering the monastic movement.
See link to Lombards in next item, below.
Also on that list and a bit farther away,
on the Gargano "spur"
on the Adriatic is the
—SANCTUARY
OF SAN MICHELE (bottom
photo, right) in
the town of Monte Sant'Angelo. The town is at 831 meters/2500 feet and
is the highest town on the spur. It is also the
site of the oldest sanctuary in western Europe
dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It was one of
the important sites of early Christianity.
[Also see The
Lombards, Monte Sant'Angelo & the Sanctuary
of St. Michael.]
For good measure, Mt. Etna on
Sicily, just made the list! Still a very
active volcano.

-added Jan 2022. The Appian Way, the
first great road built by the Romans
as their gateway to the southern peninsula is on
the verge of being added to the Cultural Heritage
List. (image, right)
2.
UNESCO
—also maintains an Intangible
Cultural Heritage list—that
is, updated August 2015
...practices, representations, expressions,
knowledge and know-how that communities
recognize as part of their cultural heritage.
Passed down from generation to generation, it is
constantly recreated by communities in response
to their environment, their interaction with
nature and their history, providing them with a
sense of identity and continuity.
Such things include dance, music
and theatrical traditions, traditional handicraft,
gastronomy and so forth. So far Italy has six
items on the list:
(1) the Sardinian pastoral
songs known as Canto a tenore;
(2) Sicilian puppet theater;
(3) traditional violin craftsmanship
in Cremona;
(4)
the
Mediterranean diet (a
heritage shared with Spain, Greece and Morocco). In Campania
there is indeed a place where the Mediterranean diet has
been studied quite thoroughly (see this
link). I don't know why that surprised me; maybe
it's because I've noticed an increase in the number of
fast-food places. Yet, who knows...that, too, may be Mediterranean!
(5) the Gigli
(spire floats) of Nola. This is a joint listing
shared among four cities in Italy that have such
processions: Nola, Sassari (Sardinia), Palmi (Calabria) and Viterbo
(Lazio). There is at least one other city in Italy with
such a procession
—Gubbio and the
Festival of the Candles.
(6) from the island of Pantelleria, south of
Sicily, the traditional practice of cultivating
head-trained bush vines (vite ad alberello). The
technique consists of levelling the soil and digging a
hollow to plant the vine. The main stem of the vine is
then carefully pruned to produce six branches, forming a
bush with a radial arrangement. The hollow is constantly
reshaped to ensure the plant is growing in the right
microclimate. The wine grapes are then harvested by hand
during a ritual event starting at the end of July.
Proposals for inclusions on the Intangible
Heritage List for Italy for 2015 and 2016 include
the traditional Neapolitan Pizza. Update directly
below.....drumroll...!
...and...drumroll... now 7! As of December 2017,
the craft of the Neapolitan pizza maker
(Pizzaiuolo) has been added to the list. In
Unesco-ese:
Inscribed in 2017
(on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity
The art of the Neapolitan
‘Pizzaiuolo’ is a culinary practice comprising four
different phases relating to the preparation of the
dough and its baking in a wood-fired oven, involving a
rotatory movement by the baker... etc. See this miscellany link.
3.
UNESCO
—also maintains an Underwater
Cultural Heritage program. See this
link.
added January
2016, updated May 2023
4.
UNESCO
Memory
of the World Program
-
from UNESCO sources:
They have
added the Banco di Napoli Archives to the list!
My bank!
UNESCO established the Memory of the
World Program in 1992. Impetus came originally from
a growing awareness of the precarious state of
preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage
in various parts of the world. War and social
upheaval, as well as severe lack of resources, have
worsened problems which have existed for centuries.
Significant collections worldwide have suffered a
variety of fates. Looting and dispersal, illegal
trading, destruction, inadequate housing and funding
have all played a part. Much is vanished forever;
much is endangered. This is a vast undertaking. The
inclusions on the "must save" list are by now many
hundreds from around the word. From Italy they include:
- the Codex Purpureus
Rossanensis, one of the
oldest illuminated manuscripts of the New
Testament (currently held in the archdiocese of
Rossano, near Cosenza in Calabria);
-
- the so-called Longobard Parchments, "...documents of
irreplaceable, universal historical value with
unique information for the political,
economic, religious, and cultural history of
Italy and of medieval and modern Europe" (held
in the Diocesan Archives in Lucca in Tuscany);
- the Newsreels and photographs
of Istituto Nazionale L.U.C.E. (the
corporation in Fascist Italy that produced
newsreels and documentaries. Clever name: Luce
means "light" but was an acronym for L'unione
cinematografica educativa...
The
Collection isan inimitable documentary
corpus for understanding the formation
process of totalitarian regimes...but also well beyond
the areas occupied by Italy during
fascism, especially as regards the
period of the Second World War) and
about mass society in the 1920s and
1930s;
- The
Malatesta Novello Library in
Cesena (the world's first public city
library);
added
20 May 2023
- Now the historical
archives of the Banco di
Napoli have been added to the
list. Here's why.
And so forth. I don't think the Constitution of
Melfi is on the list yet, but it should be. Here's why.
Among various publications that
accompany the general presentation of the program is a
UNESCO document entitled LOST
MEMORY - LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES DESTROYED IN THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY. In Italy, Naples was among the victims when
retreating German forces set fire to the university
library in 1943 and destroyed around 200,000 volumes.
5. added June 25 2018
Ancient and Primeval
Beech Forests
of the Carpathians and Other Regions
of Europe
The graphic
shows that this is truly a UNESCO "transnational World
Heritage Site." It involves the participation of 12
countries (now including Italy) in Europe. The original
Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians project was
just what it said, a project to protect the beech
forests in the Carpathian mountains of northern and
central Europe. Then it just spread out.
The plant species under discussion is the Fagus
sylvatica, (also the European beech or common
beech) is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family
Fagaceae. Fagus sylvatica is a large
tree, capable of reaching heights of up to 50 m (160 ft)
tall and 3 m (9.8 ft) trunk diameter.
The forests stands
provide habitat to a great number of predators such as
the European brown bear, the Gray wolf, Lynx, and
wildcat, as well as to large herbivorous mammals such as
deer and wild boar. Generally, these "primeval beech
forests," given their wide distribution and ecological
importance, are globally significant and [from the
UNESCO description]:
...are undisturbed,
complex temperate forests, exhibiting the most
complete and comprehensive ecological patterns and
processes of pure and mixed stands of European Beech
across a variety of environmental conditions, such as
climatic and geological conditions
...[and]...represent an outstanding example of the
re-colonization and development of terrestrial
ecosystems and communities after the last ice age...
The dominance by Beech across extensive areas of
Europe is testament to the tree’s genetic
adaptability.
The Italian
forests now added to the UNESCO list include three major
ones in southern Italy:
- The National Park of
Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise. Headquarters are in
Pescasseroli in the Province of L'Aquila. (The park
boasts of the tree in this image (right). They claim it
is at least 500 years old and one of the oldest beeches
in Europe.)
- Pollino National
Park. The park straddles the regions of Basilicata
and Calabria. It is Italy's largest national park.
- The Gargano National Park,
in the province of Foggia. Aside from the Mount Gargano
promontory from which it takes its name, the park also
includes the Tremiti Islands archipelago and the Foresta
Umbra, a large protected area.
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