Ischia

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Ischia
View of Ischia from Procida
Highest point
Elevation	789 m (2,589 ft)
Coordinates	40°43′52″N 13°53′45″E / 40.731204°N 13.895721°E / 40.731204; 13.895721
Geography
Ischia Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy Show map of Campania Ischia Ischia (Italy) Show map of Italy
Geology
Mountain type	Complex volcano
Last eruption	January to March 1302[1]

Ischia

Geography
Location	Tyrrhenian Sea
Area	46.3 km2 (17.9 sq mi)
Highest elevation	789 m (2589 ft)
Highest point	Mount Epomeo
Administration
Italy
Region	Campania
Metropolitan City	Naples
Largest settlement	Ischia (pop. 18,253)
Demographics
Population	62,027 (2009)
Pop. density	1,339.7/km2 (3469.8/sq mi)

Ischia (

Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately 10 km (6 miles) east to west and 7 km (4 miles) north to south and has about 34 km (21 miles) of coastline and a surface area of 46.3 square kilometres (17.9 sq mi). It is almost entirely mountainous; the highest peak is Mount Epomeo, at 788 metres (2,585 feet).^[3] The island is very densely populated, with 60,000 residents (more than 1,300 inhabitants per square km).^{[citation needed]} Ischia is the name of the main comune of the island. The other comuni of the island are Barano d'Ischia, Casamicciola Terme, Forio, Lacco Ameno and Serrara Fontana.

Geology and geography

The roughly trapezoidal island is formed by a

The surrounding waters including gulfs of Gaeta,^[7][8] Naples and Pozzuoli are both rich and healthy, providing a habitat for around 7 species of whales and dolphins including gigantic fin and sperm whales. Special research programmes on local cetaceans have been conducted to monitor and protect this bio-diversity.^[9][10]

Name

Virgil poetically referred to it as Inarime and still later as Arime.^[11] Martianus Capella followed Virgil in this allusive name, which was never in common circulation: the Romans called it Aenaria, the Greeks, Πιθηκοῦσαι, Pithekoūsai.^[12]

(In)arime and Pithekousai both appear to derive from words for "monkey" (Etruscan arimos,^[13] Ancient Greek πίθηκος, píthēkos, "monkey"). However, Pliny derives the Greek name from the local clay deposits, not from píthēkos; he explains the Latin name Aenaria as connected to a landing by Aeneas (Princeton Encyclopedia). If the island actually was, like Gibraltar, home to a population of monkeys, they were already extinct by historical times as no record of them is mentioned in ancient sources.

The current name appears for the first time in a letter from Pope Leo III to Charlemagne in 813: the name iscla mentioned there would allegedly derive from insula, though there is an argument made for a Semitic origin in I-schra, "black island".^{[citation needed]}

History

Ancient times

An acropolis site of the Monte Vico area was inhabited from the

The ceramic Euboean artifact inscribed with a reference to "Nestor's Cup" was discovered in a grave on the island in 1953. Engraved upon the cup are a few lines written in the Greek alphabet. Dating from c. 730 BC, it is one of the most important testimonies to the early Greek alphabet, from which the Latin alphabet descended via the Etruscan alphabet. According to certain scholars the inscription also might be the oldest written reference to the Iliad.

In 474 BC,

In 6 AD,

With the extinction of the D'Avalos line in 1729, the island reverted to state property. In March 1734 it was taken by the

On June 21 and 22, 1809 the islands of Ischia and Procida were attacked by an Anglo-Bourbon fleet. Procida surrendered on June 24 and Ischia soon afterwards. However the British soon returned to their bases in Sicily and Malta.^[15] In the 19th century Ischia was a popular travel destination for European nobility.

On July 28, 1883, an earthquake destroyed the villages of Casamicciola Terme and Lacco Ameno.

Ischia developed into a well-known artist colony at the beginning of the 20th century. Writers and painters from all over the world were attracted. Eduard Bargheer, Hans Purrmann and Arrigo Wittler lived on the island. Rudolf Levy, Werner Gilles, Max Peiffer Watenphul with Kurt Craemer and Vincent Weber stayed in the fishing village of Sant'Angelo on the southern tip of the island shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1936 Ischia had a population of 30,418.^[16]

Spa tourism did not start again until the early 1950s. At that time, a quite remarkable artist colony of writers, composers and visual artists lived in Forio, including Ingeborg Bachmann. Elizabeth Taylor and Luchino Visconti stayed here for filming. On August 21, 2017, Ischia had an 4.2 magnitude earthquake^[17] which killed 2 people and injured 42 more.^[18][19]

Today, Ischia is a popular tourist destination, welcoming up to 6 million visitors per year, mainly from the Italian mainland as well as other European countries like Germany and the United Kingdom (approximately 5,000 Germans are resident on the island), although it has become an increasingly popular destination for Eastern Europeans. The number of Russian guests rose steadily from the 2000s onwards,^[20] before the number came to an almost complete standstill due to the currency depreciation of the ruble and COVID-19 pandemic.

From Ischia, various destinations such as

In literature and the arts

Events

The island is home to the Ischia Film Festival, an international cinema competition celebrated in June or July, dedicated to all the works that have promoted the value of the local territory.

Notable guests and works

• The Italian politician Giuseppe Garibaldi, one of the most important figures of Italian unification, stayed on the island for healing himself from a serious injury and finding relief in the peaceful area of Casamicciola Terme (at the Manzi Hotel).
• The Russian revolutionary
  Nikolai Ogarev
  .
• In May 1948 W. H. Auden wrote his poem "In Praise of Limestone" here, the first poem he wrote in Italy.^[21]
• In 1949, British classical composer William Walton settled in Ischia. In 1956, he sold his London house and took up full-time residence on Ischia; he built a hilltop house at Forio, called it La Mortella, and Susana Walton created a magnificent garden there.^[22] Walton lived on the island for the remainder of his life and died there in 1983.^[23]
• German composer Hans Werner Henze lived on the island from 1953 to 1956 and wrote his Quattro Poemi (1955) there.^{[citation needed]}
• Samuel Taylor's Broadway play Avanti! (1968) takes place on the island.
• Endaddine Akass' villa in the unfinished 24th and final book, Tintin and Alph-Art
  .
• French novelist Pascal Quignard set much of his novel Villa Amalia (2006) on the island.
• In
  Neapolitan Novels
  , the island serves as the setting of several summer holidays of the main characters.

Film setting

In addition to the works noted above, multiple media works have been set or filmed on the island. For example:

• The American swashbuckler film The Crimson Pirate (1952) was filmed on and around the island during the summer of 1951.^[24]
• Part of Purple Noon ("Plein Soleil", 1959), directed by René Clément starring Alain Delon and Marie Laforêt
• Jack Lemon and Juliet Mills
  .
• Part of Cleopatra (1963), starring Elizabeth Taylor, was filmed on the island.^{[citation needed]}
• Ischia Ponte stood in for "Mongibello" in the Hollywood film of The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).^[25]
• The American film And While We Were Here (2012), starring Kate Bosworth, was filmed on the island.^[26]
• Castello Aragonese was used as the 'Riva's Fortified Fortress' island in Men in Black: International (2019).^[27]

Wines

The island of Ischia is home to the eponymous

wine production. Vineyards planted within the 179 hectares (440 acres) boundaries of the DOC tend to be on volcanic soils with high pumice, phosphorus and potassium content.^[28]

The white wines of the island are composed primarily of

alcohol level of at least 11%. For wines labeled as Bianco Superiore, the yield is further restricted to a maximum of 8 tonnes/ha with a minimum alcohol level of 12%. Only certain subareas of the Ischia DOC can produce Bianco Superiore with the blend needing to contain 50% Forastera, 40% Biancolella and 10% San Lunardo.^[28]

Red wines produced under the Ischia DOC are composed of 50%

Guarnaccia, 40% Piedirosso (known under the local synonym of Per'e Palummo) and 10% Barbera. Like the white wines, red grapes destined for DOC production are limited to a harvest yield of no more than 10 tonnes/ha though the minimum finished alcohol level is higher at 11.5% ABV.^[28]

Main sights

Castello Aragonese

Olive tree

in La Mortella

Aragonese Castle

The

Assunta

. The first was built in 1737 on the location of a smaller chapel dedicated to Saint Francis, and closed after the suppression of convents in 1806, as well as the Poor Clares convent.

Gardens of La Mortella

Main article: La Mortella

The gardens, located in Forio-San Francesco, were originally the property of English composer

Susana. When the composer arrived on the island in 1946, he immediately called Russell Page

from England to lay out the garden. Wonderful tropical and Mediterranean plants were planted and some have now reached amazing proportions. The gardens include wonderful views over the city and harbour of Forio. A museum dedicated to the life and work of William Walton now comprises part of the garden complex. There's also a recital room where renowned musical artists perform on a regular schedule.

Villa La Colombaia

Villa La Colombaia is located in Lacco Ameno and Forio territories. Surrounded by a park, the villa (called "The Dovecote") was made by Luigi Patalano, a famous local

socialist and journalist. It is now the seat of a cultural institution and museum dedicated to Luchino Visconti

. The institution promotes cultural activities such as music, cinema, theatre, art exhibitions, workshops and cinema reviews. The villa and the park are open to the public.

Others

• Sant'Angelo (Sant'Angelo, in the comune of Serrara Fontana)
• Maronti Beach (Barano d'Ischia)
• Church of the Soccorso' (Forio)
• Piazza S.Restituta, with the best luxury boutiques (Lacco Ameno)
• Bay of Sorgeto, with hot thermal springs (Panza)
• Poseidon Gardens – spa with several thermal pools (Panza)
• Citara Beach (Panza)
• English's Beach (Ischia)
• Pitthekoussai Archaeological museum^[29]
• The Angelo Rizzoli museum^[29]

Voluntary associations

Committees and associations work to promote tourism on the island, and provide services and activities for residents. Among these are:

• Il coniglio di Rocco Alfarano, associazione per la protezione del quadrupede sull’isola
• Accaparlante Società Cooperativa Sociale, Via Sant'Alessandro
• Associazione Donatori Volontari di Sangue, Via Iasolino, 1
• Associazione Nemo per la Diffusione della Cultura del Mare, via Regina Elena, 75 Cellulare: 366–1270197
• Associazione Progetto Emmaus, Via Acquedotto, 65
• A.V.I. Associazione Volontariato e Protezione Civile Isola D'Ischia, Via Delle Terme, 88
• Cooperativa Sociale Arkè onlus, Via delle Terme, 76/R Telefono: 081–981342
• Cooperativa Sociale Asat Ischia onlus, Via delle Terme, 76/R Telefono: 081–3334228
• Cooperativa Sociale kairòs onlus, Via delle Terme, 76/R
• Kalimera Società Cooperativa Sociale, Via Fondo Bosso, 20
• Pan Assoverdi Salvanatura, Via Delle Terme, 53/C
• Prima Ischia – Onlus, Via Iasolino, 102

Town twinning

• Los Angeles, US (2006)^[30]
• Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (2006)^[31][32]
• Maloyaroslavets, Russia

Environmental problems

The sharp increase of the population between 1950 and 1980 and the growing inflow of tourists (in 2010 over 4 million tourists visited the island for at least one day) have increased the anthropic pressure on the island. Significant acreage of land previously used for agriculture has been developed for the construction of houses and residential structures. Most of this development has taken place without any planning and building permission.^[33] As at the end of 2011, the island lacked the most basic system for sewage treatment; sewage is sent directly to the sea.^{[citation needed]} In 2004 one of the five communities of the island commenced civil works to build a sewage treatment plant but since then the construction has not been completed and it is currently stopped.

On June 14, 2007, there was a breakage in one of the four high-voltage underwater cables forming the power line maintained by Enel S.p.A. — although never authorized by Italian authorities – between Cuma on the Campania coast and Lacco Ameno on the island of Ischia. Inside each cable there is an 18 mm‑diameter channel filled with oil under high pressure.^[34] The breakage of the Enel cable resulted in the spillage of oil into the sea and into other environmental matrices – with the consequent pollution by polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs, the use of which was banned by the Italian authorities as long ago as 1984), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and linear alkyl benzenes (aromatic hydrocarbons) — in the ‘Regno di Nettuno’, a marine protected area, and the largest ecosystem in the Mediterranean Sea, designated as a ‘priority habitat’ in Annex I to the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and comprising oceanic posidonia beds.^{[citation needed]}

To reduce pollution due to cars, Ischia has been the place of the first complete sustainable mobility project applied to an urban center, created in 2017 with Enel in collaboration with aldo Arcangioli, one the main Italian experts of green mobility, under the name of "Green Island".

See also

• List of islands of Italy
• List of castles in Italy
• List of volcanoes in Italy
• Castello d'Ischia Lighthouse
• 2017 Ischia earthquake

References

1. ^ "Ischia: Eruptive History". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
2. ISBN 978-1-5266-0518-4
   .
3. ^ "Mount Epomeo". Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites.
4. S2CID 134849098
   .
5. ^ "Ischia: General Information". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
6. ^ "Ischia: Synonyms & Subfeatures". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution.
7. ^ 2016. Orca avvistata (Orca sighted) www.caiccomed.com, accessed September 21, 2019
8. ^ D'Alelio D.. 2016. Laggiu soffia! Cronaca di una “caccia” al capodoglio nelle acque tra Ischia e Ventotene – Leviatani, nascosti e preziosi. The Scienza Live. Retrieved on March 29, 2017
9. ^ Mussi B.. Miragliuolo A.. Monzini E.. Battaglia M.. 1999. Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) feeding ground in the coastal waters of Ischia (Archipelago Campano) (pdf). The European Cetacean Society. Retrieved on March 28, 2017
10. ^ RAICALDO P.. 2014. Delfini e capodogli tra Ischia e Procida. Retrieved on March 29, 2017
11. Typhoeus being chained down ein Arimois
12. ^ The plural likely so as to include nearby Procida as well.
13. ^ Robinson, Andrew (2002). Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undechiphered Scripts. Nevraumont Publishing.
14. ISBN 978-1-118-34046-2
    .
15. ^ "ISCHIA – A brief history of Ischia – Austrians and Bourbons – HOTEL ISCHIA – OFFERTE HOTEL ISCHIA". www.ischiaonline.it. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
16. ^ Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer, p. 849
17. ^ Terremoto di magnitudo Mw 3.9 del 21-08-2017 ore 20:57:51 (Italia) in zona: 1 km SW Casamicciola Terme (NA) cnt.rm.ingv.it, accessed September 21, 2019
18. ^ Terremoto a Ischia, due morti e 52 feriti. Salvati i fratelli rimasti sepolti Borrelli: ‘Case con materiali scadenti’ www.corriere.it, accessed September 21, 2019
19. ^ Forte terremoto a Ischia, crolli a Casamicciola. Due morti e almeno 39 feriti. Salvi tutti e tre i fratelli rimasti imprigionati sotto le macerie www.lastampa.it, accessed September 21, 2019
20. ^ "Italy: Land of the rich Russian".
21. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30775. Retrieved June 16, 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
22. ^ Kennedy, pp. 208–209
23. ^ Kennedy, pp. 75, 140, 143, 144 and 208
24. ^ "Lancaster already in Italy". Screenland. Henry Publishing. October 1951. p. 74. Retrieved April 8, 2021.
25. ^ The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) film locations Movie-Locations.com, Retrieved November 1, 2019
26. ^ Fred Topel- Exclusive Interview: Kat Coiro on And While We Were Here September 17, 2013, www.mandatory.com, accessed September 21, 2019
27. ^ Men In Black International (2019) film locations Movie-Locations.com] Retrieved November 1, 2019
28. ^
    ISBN 1-55297-720-X
    .
29. ^ ^{a b} "Museo Angelo Rizzoli – Museums – Ischia – Napoli". InCampania. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
30. ^ "Sister Cities of Los Angeles". Retrieved January 9, 2017.
31. ^ "A Message from the Peace Commission: Information on Cambridge's Sister Cities," February 15, 2008. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
32. ^ Richard Thompson. "Looking to strengthen family ties with 'sister cities'," Boston Globe, October 12, 2008. Retrieved October 12, 2008.
33. ^ Pleijel, Christian (October 22, 2015). "ENERGY AUDIT ON ISCHIA" (PDF).
34. ^ "Written question – Environmental catastrophe in Ischia – E-3253/2008". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved March 8, 2018.

Bibliography

• Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Aenaria (Ischia), Italy".
• ISBN 0-521-42164-0
• Kennedy, Michael (1989). Portrait of Walton. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-816705-1
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ischia (island).

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Ischia.

• Visit Ischia Official Tourist Board [en]
• Ischia at
  Curlie
• Ischia Photos with maps [en]
• Archaeology of Ischia (in Italian)