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Nola, a city and episcopal see of Campania, Italy, in the province of Naples, pleasantly situated in the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines, 16 miles ENE of Naples, 121 feet above sea-level. Pop. (2001) 32,730.

It is served by the local railway from Naples to Baiano , and is 22 miles from Naples by the main line via Cancello . The more conspicuous buildings are the ancient Gothic cathedral (restored in 1866, and again in 1870 after the interior was destroyed by fire), with its lofty tower, the cavalry barracks, the ex-convent of the Capuchins at a little distance from the city, and the seminary in which are preserved the famous Oscan inscription known as the Cippus Abellanus (from Abella, the modern Avella ) and some Latin inscriptions relating to a treaty with Nola regarding a joint temple of Hercules.

Two fairs are held in Nola, on June 14 and the November 12; and July 26 is devoted to a great festival in honour of St Paulinus, one of the early bishops of the city, who invented the church bell (campana, taking its name from Campania). The church erected by him in honour of St Felix in the 4th century is extant in part. There is a monument (restored in 1887) to Giordano Bruno, the free-thinker, who was born at Nola in 1548Events Mary I of Scotland sent to France Births Deaths September 7 Catherine Parr, widow of King Henry VIII of England. Sigismund I of Poland 1548..

Nola was one of the oldest cities of Campania, variously said to have been founded by the Ausones , the Chalcidians and the Etruscans. The last-named were certainly in Nola about 560 BC At the time when it sent assistance to Neapolis against the Roman invasion ( 328 BCCenturies: 5th century BC 4th century BC 3rd century BC Decades: 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 333 BC 332 BC 331 BC 330 BC 329 BC 328 BC 327 BC 326 BC 325 BC 324 BC 323 BC Events Births Deaths .) it was probably occupied by Oscans in alliance with the Samnites. The Romans made themselves masters of Nola in 343 BC, and it was thenceforth faithful to Rome. In the Second Punic WarHistory Military history War The Second Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome from 218 to 204 BC. It was the second of three major wars fought between the Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic, then still confined to the Italian P it thrice bade defiance to HannibalHannibal Barca ( 247 BC- 182 BC) was a military commander of ancient Carthage, best known for his achievements in the Second Punic War in marching an army from Spain over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy and defeating the Romans at the Battle; but in the Social WarThe Social War (also called the Italian War was a war from 91 88 BC between the Romans and the other cities in Italy. In 90 BC almost all of the Italian allies of Rome rebelled in what the Romans called the Social War (allies in Latin being Socii related it was betrayed into the hands of the Samnites, who kept possession till Marius, with whom they had sided, was defeated by SullaThis page is about the Roman dictator Sulla, for the Brythonic goddess sometimes called Sulla, see Sul. Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix ( Latin: L·CORNELIVS·L·F·P·N·SVLLA·FELIX) (ca. 138 BC 78 BC) was usually known simply as Sulla . His cognomen Felix — the, who in 80 BCCenturies: 2nd century BC 1st century BC 1st century Decades: 130s BC 120s BC 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC Years: 85 BC 84 BC 83 BC 82 BC 81 BC 80 BC 79 BC 78 BC 77 BC 76 BC 75 BC Events Battle of the Baetis River Rebel subjected it with the rest of Samnium. Seven years later it was stormed by Spartacus.

Whatever punishment Sulla may have inflicted, Nola, though it lost much of its importance, remained a municipium with its own institutions and the use of the Oscan language. It became a Roman colony under Augustus, who died at Nola. Sacked by Genseric in 455, and by the Saracens in 806 and 904, captured by Manfred of Sicily in the 13th century, and damaged by earthquakes in the 15th and 16th, Nola lost much of its importance. The revolution of 1820 under General Pepe began at Nola. The sculptor Giovanni Marliano was a native of the city; and some of his works are preserved in the cathedral.

Nola lay on the Via Popillia from Capua to Nuceria and the south, and a branch road ran from it to Abella and Abellinum . Mommsen (Corp. inscr. Lat. X. 142) further states that roads must have run direct from Nola to Neapolis and Pompeii, but Kiepert's map annexed to the volume does not indicate them.

In the days of its independence it issued an important series of coins, and in luxury it vied with Capua. Its territory was very fertile, and this was the principal source of its wealth. A large number of vases of Greek style were manufactured here and have been found in the neighbourhood. Their material is of pale yellow clay with shining black glaze, and they are decorated with skilfully drawn red figures. Of the ancient city, which occupied the same site as the modern town, hardly any thing is now visible, and the discoveries of the ancient street pavement have not been noted with sufficient care to enable us to recover the plan.

Numerous ruins, an amphitheatre, still recognizable, a theatre, a temple of Augustus, etc., existed in the 16th century, and have been since used for building material. They are described by A Leone, De Nola (Venice, 1514). A few tombs of the Roman period are preserved. The neighbourhood was divided into pagi, the names of some of which are preserved to us (Pagus Agrifanus, Capriculanus, Lanitanus).

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica