HISTORY

The name “de’ Tirreni” comes from the identification of the territory with the Etrurian Marcina mentioned by Strabone.

This territory was inhabited during Roman age and was a holiday resort for noble families, as the archaeological finds show (I-II century a.C.). It was inhabited for three centuries by Longobards as some ancient tower testify.

At the beginning of XI century, some monks arrived at the slopes of Finestra Mount following the story of a noble local Longobard prince, considered a Saint. He was Alferio Pappacarbone (he was the first abbot and died in the Abbey in 1050 when he was 120 years old). The Benedictine Abbey became one of the most active cultural and religious centres of Southern Italy. Abbots were considered as wise and right men, so population started to live in the proximity of the monastery. The monastery received continuous donations, while the inhabitants developed handicraft and commerce.

On the 7th August 1394 Pope Bonifacio IX, with a bull, made Cava a town and gave the new diocese to a Bishop who had to be also the Abbot. The town took the name of Cava (only after the Unity of Italy, with a referendum, the name became Cava de’ Tirreni). Cava was now a rich and prosperous town, weaving was very well developed. Architects and engineers were very famous and worked in all Southern Italy. The administrative part of the town gradually moved from Corpo di Cava, a fortified village near the Abbey, to Borgo Scacciaventi. The main part of population lived in hamlets, difficult to attain (the territory arrived to Cetara; Cetara, Vietri and other minor hamlets detached from Cava in 1806). Borgo Scacciaventi was the place of commerce and business. The richest families started to build their houses in this Borgo, the merchants and the artisans built their houses on their shops, decorating this part of the town with porticos.

In the fight between Angevins and Aragons Cava supported Aragons, in fact the town obtained some advantages and privileges and could put the royal coat of arms on its coat of arms. Cava was a state town and the inhabitants were proud for that even if they had to pay high taxes. The most serious problems for Cava were pirates' invasions and plagues, such as the terrible plague of 1656 that killed a large part of the population.

In 1799 Cava fought against Neapolitan revolution thus supporting the Aragons. French armies attacked it and the town was sacked, destroyed, humiliated. During XIX century textile production lived a terrible crisis, when machines were introduced in the factories of Salerno. The population reacted thanks to tobacco cultivation and working.

At the end of XIX century and the beginning of XX century Cava became famous as a holiday town thanks to its wonderful landscapes (painted by the artists of the so-called Scuola di Posillipo) and for the climate. Many tourists and travellers arrived. Many painters portrayed the beautiful landscapes: for example the artists of Scuola Pittorica Paesaggistica di Napoli, Gigante, Morelli, Palizzi, Van Pitloo, Poussin. The town became more beautiful: a theatre, boulevards, new roads, a “garden” were built to decorated and enrich Cava.

After the First World War (1915-1918), Cava became a “Stazione di Soggiorno e Turismo”. In 1943 the town was bombed, many bridges and buildings were destroyed (including the XVI century San Francesco bridge). Many citizens took refuge in the abbey. The abbot and the Bishop of Cava were imprisoned by Germans. In the years following the war, a brave woman became famous, she was called Mamma Lucia: a strong, courageous woman who worked to find the bodies of all the soldiers dead during the war.