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SALERNO (anc. Salernum)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 66 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SALERNO (anc. Salernum) , a seaport and archiepiscopal see of See also:Campania, See also:Italy, See also:capital of the See also:province of Salerno, on the See also:west See also:coast, 33 M. by See also:rail S.E. of See also:Naples. Pop. (1901), 28,936 (See also:town); 45,313 (See also:commune). The ruins of its old See also:Norman See also:castle stand on an See also:eminence 905 ft. above the See also:sea with a back-ground of graceful See also:limestone hills. The town walls were destroyed in the beginning of the 19th See also:century; the seaward portion has given See also:place to the Corso See also:Garibaldi, the See also:principal See also:promenade. The See also:chief buildings are the See also:theatre, the prefecture, and the See also:cathedral of St See also:Matthew (whose bones were brought from See also:Paestum to Salerno in 954), begun in 1076 by See also:Robert Guiscard and consecrated in 1084 by See also:Gregory VII. In front is a beautiful quadrangular See also:court (112 by 102 ft.), surrounded by arcades formed of twenty-eight See also:ancient pillars mostly of See also:granite from Paestum, and containing twelve sarcophagi of various periods; the See also:middle entrance into the See also:church is closed by remarkable See also:bronze doors of 11th-century See also:Byzantine See also:work. The See also:nave and two aisles end in apses. Two magnificent See also:marble ambones, the larger dating from 1195, a large 11th-century See also:altar frontal in the See also:south See also:aisle, having scenes from the See also:Bible carved on See also:thirty See also:ivory tablets, with 13th-century mosaics in the See also:apse, given by Giovanni da See also:Procida, the promotor of the Sicilian See also:Vespers, and the See also:tomb of See also:Pope Gregory VII., and that of See also:Queen See also:Margaret of Durazzo, See also:mother of See also:King See also:Ladislaus, erected in 1412, deserve to be mentioned. In the See also:crypt is a bronze statue of St Matthew. The cathedral possesses a See also:fine Exultet See also:roll.

S. Domenico near it has Norman cloisters, and several of the other churches contain paintings by See also:

Andrea Sabbatini da Salerno, one of the best of See also:Raphael's scholars. A fine See also:port constructed by Giovanni da Procida in 126o was destroyed when Naples became the capital of the See also:kingdom, and remained blocked with See also:sand till after the unification of Italy, when it was cleared; but it is now unimportant. The chief See also:industries are See also:silk and See also:cotton-See also:spinning and See also:printing. See also:Good See also:wine is produced in the neighbourhood. A See also:branch railway runs N. up the Irno valley to Mercato S. Severino on the See also:line from Naples to See also:Avellino. A See also:Roman See also:colony (Salernum) was founded in 194 B.C. to keep the Picentini in check. It was captured by the See also:Samnites in the Social See also:War. It was the point at which the coast road to Paestum diverged from the Via Popillia, rejoining it again E. of Buxentum. Inthe 4th century the correctores of Lucania and the territory of the See also:Bruttii resided here, but it did not attain its full importance till after the Lombard See also:conquest. Dismantled by See also:order of See also:Charlemagne, it became in the 9th century the capital of an See also:independent principality, the See also:rival of that of See also:Benevento, and was surrounded by strong fortifications.

The Lombard princes, who had frequently defended their See also:

city against the See also:Saracens, succumbed before Robert Guiscard, who took the castle after an eight months' See also:siege and made Salerno the capital of his new territory. The removal of the court to See also:Palermo and the See also:sack of the city by the See also:emperor See also:Henry VI. in 1194 put a stop to its development. The medical school of the Civitas Hippocratica (as it called itself on its See also:seals) held a high position in See also:medieval times. Salerno university, founded in 115o, and See also:long one bf the See also:great seats of learning in Italy, was closed in 1817. See A. Avena, Monumenti dell' Italia Meridionale (Naples, 1902), i. 371 sqq. (T. As.

End of Article: SALERNO (anc. Salernum)

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