Torre Annunziata is a city and
comuneIn Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the
province of NaplesThe Province of Naples is a province in the Campania region of Italy. Its capital city is Naples, within the province there are 92 Comuni of the Province of Naples.-Demographics:...
, region of
CampaniaCampania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. It is located at the
Gulf of NaplesThe Gulf of Naples is a c. 15 km wide gulf located in the south western coast of Italy, . It opens to the west into the Mediterranean Sea. It is bordered on the north by the cities of Naples and Pozzuoli, on the east by Mount Vesuvius, and on the south by the Sorrentine Peninsula and the main...
at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius.
History
The city was destroyed in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD and in 1631. It is known locally in the
NeapolitanNeapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples , and Campania. On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
dialect as
Torre Nunziata. The city was once the seat of important ironwork (Deriver,
DalmineDalmine is a comune in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about 40 km northeast of Milan and about 8 km southwest of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 22,326 and an area of 11.6 km².The municipality of Dalmine contains the...
) food processing and pasta industries. Today industries still active include naval, armament and pharmaceutical ones.
The archaeological site of Oplonti is a
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage siteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
since 1997.
Main sights
On the
Tabula PeutingerianaThe Tabula Peutingeriana is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map of which this is a unique copy was last revised in the fourth or early fifth century. It covers Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa...
Torre Annunziata is called
Oplonti.
In the communal territory, one of the richest Roman villas has been excavated. Dating to the 1st century BC, it probably belonged to the
gens Poppaea, and is known as
Villa PoppaeaThe Villa Poppaea is a Roman villa situated between Naples and Sorrento, in southern Italy, which dates from the early Imperial times.The villa is a large structure situated in the Roman town of Oplontis , about ten metres below the modern level...
.
Dialect
Although a comparatively small town, essentially a suburb of Naples, Torre Annunziata has its own unique dialect, a variation of
NeapolitanNeapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples , and Campania. On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
, quite distinct, particularly in pronunciation, which is known as Torrese.
Sport
Torre Annunziata is home to
F.C. Savoia 1908Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Calcio Savoia is an Italian association football club located in Torre Annunziata, Campania. It currently plays in Serie D. Its colors are all-white....
who play at the Stadio Giraud and currently play in
Serie DSerie D is the top level of the Italian non-professional football association called Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. The association represents over a million football players and thousands of football teams across Italy. Serie D ranks just below Lega Pro Seconda Divisione , and is thus considered the...
of Italy's football pyramid. Their highest achievement was during the 1923-24 season where they finished
Serie ASerie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
runners up.