THE CITY OF FRATTAMAGGIORE
«Di qua dai monti, e non lontan dal mare
V'ha di belle, terre, e castella,
Ma Fratta, dove io nacqui, è singolare,
Onde col titol di Maggior s'appella.»
(Carlo Mormile, prima quartina del Sonetto a Frattamaggiore, 1830 ca)
A rich and industrious city, it arose about 1,200 years ago.
It is located a few kilometers north of Naples.
Thanks to the production of hemp Frattamaggiore had a great economic fortune, in fact, at the beginning of the 1900s and until the advent of synthetic fibers, it was among the richest cities in Southern Italy,
In 1902 it was awarded the title of "CITY" by King Vittorio Emanuele III°, in 1997 of "BENEDICTINE CITY" and in 2008 of "CITY OF ART".
The word Frattamaggiore has a Latin etymology (Fracta Major).
“Fracta” means “Bosco”, while “Maior” was added later because a small group of scattered people from Atella settled in that area, giving rise to a new tiny village which was called Frattula, currently Frattaminore, Fratta to distinguish itself from the latter took the name of "Major", "Major" thus becoming "Fracta Maior".
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Frattamaggiore boasts belonging to that territory that Pliny the Elder loved to call "Campania Felix", not only for its wealth, in fact, in ancient times it was the most fertile area of the Italian peninsula, but also for its beauty.
The territory is mostly flat.
Frattamaggiore, thanks to the abbey of San Sossio, was a "monastic land" in the Carolingian period.
In 850 AD the inhabitants of Fracta, mostly woodcutters, were joined by a colony of refugees from Miseno, who fled from their coastal city, which was destroyed by the Saracens.
Thus a new city was born, in fact the Misenate transformed the woods into fruitful land, cultivated hemp, planted the first rudimentary spinning wheels, but above all built a sumptuous temple in honor of San Sosio, their fellow citizen.
In 1493 Frattamaggiore became the seat of the Gran Corte della Vicaria which was born from the merger of the Tribunal of the Vicar with the Gran Corte, was established by Charles II of Anjou and constituted the first appellate magistracy of all the courts of the Kingdom of Naples for criminal cases and civilians.
At the same time, its ropes and hawsers were exported throughout the Spanish empire, probably also accompanying the enterprise of Christopher Columbus. In the Bourbon period the canapé craft was transformed into a flourishing textile industry, which was able, at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, to rise to the highest European levels.
In 1901 the tramway networks and public electric lighting were inaugurated, and in 1904 the Church of San Sossio, which houses the bodies of San Sossio and San Severino, became a National Monument.
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Even today in the town there are buildings and monuments that bear the signs of the various historical periods: medieval, Aragonese-Spanish, Bourbon, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In the last 50 years the city has changed its economy, modernized its services, extended its urban configuration and today appears, with good shares of activity in the various economic sectors, one of the most important centers of the Neapolitan hinterland.
In 2008 Frattamaggiore was named city of art for seven monuments:
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the historic centre,
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the Church of Sant'Antonio,
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the Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception,
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the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie,
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the Church of San Rocco,
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the Basilica of San Sossio,
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the Civic Tower.
Important is the Sansossiano Museum of Sacred Art which is located in the Basilica of San Sossio
In Frattamaggiore there is a municipal library with a heritage of 13,476 monographs, 47 current periodicals and 120 out of date, 4 manuscripts and 3 editions from the 17th century, 117 from the 18th century and 1006 from the 19th century.
Frattamaggiore has always lived on artistic and literary culture.
For years, it has boasted of the establishment of cultural circles, in which young people have found constructive moments of growth through discussion, poetry, reading, music and bel canto.
Frattamaggiore, in fact, has given birth to numerous illustrious personalities: artists, sportsmen, professionals and writers who have distinguished themselves in the world.
Even today this city continues to live in a climate dominated by the awareness of the artistic and cultural value that has characterized it throughout history.
A value that is adopted, interpreted and transmitted both by the numerous and productive associations that work in the area with great passion and professionalism, and by the schools that always start from the knowledge and love of their land in their educational offer, aware that without the knowledge of the roots there can be no clear future.