For classical mythology, Procida, in Campania, is a flower that fell from Mount Epomeo of the nearby island of Ischia. Another legend says that in the belly of the island hides the giant Typhon, who wanted to overthrow Jupiter and instead was thrown down to earth; the giant is now under the basalt that imprisons him, shaking his 50 heads to free himself. Let’s see what to see in Procida.
Procida, Italian Capital of Culture 2022
1 Procida, where it is located
Geologically the island is linked to the Campi Flegrei, the “burning fields” of the ancient Greeks and rests on four extinct craters. Procida is a mystical, magical island, rich in popular culture and with a great tradition of maritime art. Its history is quite eventful. It was colonized by the Greeks of the Naples gulf, then by the Chalcidian and Erythraean settlers and in Roman times it was attacked several times. Later, with its lord Giovanni da Procida, it played an important role in the War of the Vespers between the Angevins and the Aragonese in the 13th century.
2 Procida in History
In the Sixteenth Century, Procida suffered repeated attacks from Saracen pirates, which crippled the economy and caused a drastic reduction in the population. At that time, Procida had fewer than 2000 inhabitants, all concentrated within the walls of the small Terra village.
In 1799, during the Neapolitan revolution that established the Parthenopean republic declaring the Bourbon power void, Commodore Trowbridge with his English soldiers occupied the island and by Nelson’s order suppressed the riots by killing 12 Procidians.
The period of overseas emigration at the end of the last century then dealt the final hard blow to the island’s economy. Young Procidian people went elsewhere to find work and left for South America and the United States. Many sailors sought passage on foreign merchant ships and few were the fortunate ones who stayed in their homeland. All these events have made the Procidian character gentle and at the same time courageous, capable of enduring hardships and devoted to religion. Crimes of passion are very rare on the island; its inhabitants are rather reserved and are “islanders” almost by choice.
3 Procida Today
Procida today is a flourishing and rich island, although this is not apparent. Here all men are skilled sailors and competent fishermen. For fishing, they rely on the goodwill of the seasons, drawing favorable signs from the sky. While they have perfect knowledge of their craft, they are cautious and do not risk more than necessary, as taught by their strong maritime tradition. Meanwhile, shipowners and captains with large vessels challenge oceans and storms to successfully complete their rich commercial expeditions.
In the nineteenth century, Procida sailing ships traveled all seas and sailed as far as Australia. In Procida, many families own at least one ship, usually commanded by the same shipowners. It thus becomes a family-run business, where the men on board carry out the seamanship while the women on land manage the ship-enterprise. For many months of the year, contact between the crew and their families happens only by radio, and during rest periods, when everyone is home, there is a great celebration.
4 Procida and the longline fishing lines
It is said that some navigators from Procida, during their long journeys to the East, imported from China a secret recipe for tanning the fishing line and nets. In Procida, two types of lines are produced, one transparent and shiny, unique in Europe, and the other orange, traditional. With this line, fishermen set up their longlines. These are complex systems for deep-sea fishing, often exceeding 500 meters in length and armed with a few thousand hooks.
5 The Procidani and the Sea
The Procidani live next to the sea and naturally live “from” the sea: and this has made their wealth. Economic well-being has led to a demographic increase, and today the island counts 2700 souls per kmq, one of the highest population densities on earth. Life in Procida is peaceful, and among the sunny house walls, one enjoys family serenity; for the Procidani, family is very important, perhaps precisely because of the forced separation caused by sea work. Some houses are nestled among citrus groves and vineyards, or emerge among jasmines and fragrant plants; the island is a large primitive Mediterranean scrub laid on yellow and gray tuffs and volcanic basalts from many millennia ago. Procida is a land of great charm.
6 Vivara, the natural reserve island
At the far edge of the island is Vivara. It is a small islet of just 34 hectares in area, connected to Procida by a bridge-aqueduct. Here, in a sort of phyto-climatic relic that has survived the passage of time, more than 500 botanical entities coexist, including many specimens of downy oak and Quercus pubescens. The wild vegetation of this lush natural reserve, the crest of an open crater, is completed by the prickly pear and the poisonous ferula with its yellow umbels.
In the eighteenth century Vivara was one of many royal hunting reserves, governed by very strict measures. Here the King of Naples Charles of Bourbon had a vivarium established, a rabbit breeding facility. Today the wild rabbits are still there and the access rules are still strict, especially after recent archaeological excavations that brought to light some very important Mycenaean artifacts. Entrance to the nature oasis is only possible from May to October.
From the summit of the 109 meters of Vivara, the island of Procida appears flat as a sole, even though the great Latin poet Virgil said “tum sonitu Prochyta alta tremit“. The highest points of the island are the Elm, with its 51 meters and Terra Murata, 91 meters above the sea.
7 Borgo Terra
In the sixteenth century, the village of Terra was the only urban center on the island. At the top of Terra Murata, overlooking the sea, surrounded by walls and isolated from the island’s daily life, there is the castle that belonged to the abbot of Procida, Cardinal Innico d’Avalos. From this position, you can dominate the channel that separates the island from the mainland. Once the castle was a royal residence. Converted into a high-security prison, the penal institution was then closed in the fifties. Since then, the imposing structure has been abandoned.
8 The Barbarossa Corsair and the Pirates
Defeated by the winds of Libeccio and Tramontana, the castle was a privileged observation point for spotting Saracens and African barbarians, who with their raids spread terror and death throughout the Mediterranean. Legend has it that the corsair Khair-ad-din, better known as “Barbarossa,” in 1534 attempted with his swift ships to assault Procida. But Saint Michael the Archangel appeared in the sky, who with his shining sword girded the citadel with flames to protect it, and with a throw of lightning put the feared Turkish pirate to flight. Even today some old fishermen from Procida tell of having seen chains and anchors on the sea beds that the pirates threw into the water to escape more quickly. History, however, gives us a different version of events. During the assault of 1534, around mid-August, the Muslims landed on the island and almost destroyed it.
The district of Terra Murata was looted and completely burned, the pirates devastated the crops and enslaved many inhabitants. Even worse was the raid in the last decade of June 1544, during which the same corsair Barbarossa and his men captured about fifteen hundred people, after having burned houses, wheat, and whatever else they found along their path. However, in 1627 the islanders, very devoted to Saint Michael, dedicated a silver statue to him and named the Abbey at Terra Murata after him.
