Pompei

• For the ancient city of Pompeii see.
• For the Belgian workboat see Pompei (ship).
• For the Royal Bavarian officer and treasurer, see Vincent de Pompei.

Pompeii is an Italian town with 25 421 inhabitants ( 31 December 2012) in the province of Naples. It is located south of Mount Vesuvius on the right bank of the river Sarno, about three kilometers from its mouth in the Gulf of Naples. The neighboring municipalities are Torre Annunziata, Boscoreale, Castellammare di Stabia, Sant'Antonio Abate, Santa Maria la Carita and Scafati (SA).

History

Pompei is a city in the shadows of their own past. Who does not stem from the direct surroundings and speaks of Pompei, inevitably thinks of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD and buried later rediscovered and excavated city, Pompeii.

The outbreak of the August 24, 79 buried the thriving city and the. Surrounding fertile countryside with up to six meters thick ash and lapilli The entire land was uninhabitable for centuries. Only in the 3rd / 4th Century there is evidence that isolated settlement. Even throughout the early Middle Ages, the conditions were extremely unfavorable. Repeated, albeit smaller eruptions of Vesuvius, invasions of barbarian tribes, constant raids by Saracens and pirates, as well as an unhealthy climate through malarial swamps inhibited the emergence of a new settlement on the territory of the lost city.

It was only in the 11th century was built around the small church of San Salvatore di Valle, later SS Salvatore ( Santissimo Salvatore ), on the shores of Sarno, in the immediate vicinity of the sunken and long-forgotten ancient Pompeii, a small settlement, the first cell of the new Pompeii. In a papal bull in 1511, which is now preserved in the episcopal curia of Nola, we find the first mention as a parish.

The territory passed through multiple resale in the changing ownership of many famous families, among others the Toraldo, the De Bucchi and the Piccolomini. But the area of ​​Valle always remained sparsely populated. Finally, in 1662 the priest had even reported to the bishop that Valle due to the unhealthy climate on the marshy river for two years was completely uninhabited.

In 1740, the Church of SS Salvatore was removed and one kilometer from the river, in Fossa di Valle, newly built, on the site, which is the central square of modern Pompei today. But laid in 1876 right here in Valle di Pompei, as the area was now called, later beatified Bartolo Longo, a lawyer who had taken the dissemination of prayer of the Holy Rosary mission in life, the foundation stone for the Basilica della Beata Vergine del Rosario, the Madonna of the Rosary.

Within a short time came, first from Naples, then from around the world, donations for the construction of the new church. Already in 1883 gathered in Valle di Pompei more than 20,000 pilgrims to jointly address their prayers to the Virgin of the Rosary. In 1891 the new church was completed and consecrated.

Today, there is an elevator inside the bell tower of this church. Tourists can use it for a fee and overlook the city. The oldest church, SS Salvatore, who stood in the way of the new building, had to give way. It has been at its present location behind the new basilica, rebuilt

Sons and daughters of the town

• Pino D' Angio (born 1954 ), musician
• Giuseppe Abbagnale ( born 1959 ), rower
• Carmine Abbagnale (born 1962 ), rower
• Agostino Abbagnale (born 1966 ), rower