CAPUA (anc.

See also:

• CASILINUM (mod. Capua)

Casilinum;, a

See also:

• TOWN

town and archiepiscopal see of

See also:

• CAMPANIA

Campania,

See also:

• ITALY
• ITALY (Italia)

Italy, in the

See also:

• PROVINCE
• PROVINCE (Lat. provincia; perhaps a contraction of providentia)

province of

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• CASERTA

Caserta, 7 M. W. by

See also:

• RAIL

rail from the town oI Caserta. Pop. (1901) 14  ,285 . It was erected in 856 by Bishop Landulf on the site of Casilinum (q.v.) after the destruction of the ancient Capua by the Saracens in 84o, but it only occupies the Ate of the original pre-Roman town on the left (south) bank of the river . The cathedral of S . Stefano, erected in 856, has a handsome atrium and a lofty Lombard campanile, and a (modernized) interior with three aisles; both it and the atrium have ancient granite columns . The Romanesque crypt, with ancient columns, has also been restored . It has a fine paschal candlestick, and the fragments of a pulpit with marble mosaic of the r3th century . There are also preserved in the cathedral a fine Exultet roll and an evangelarium of the end of the 12th century, bound in bronze decorated with gold filigree and enamels . The mosaics of the beginning of the 12th century in the apses of the cathedral and of S . Benedetto, were destroyed about 1720 and 1620 respectively . The small church of S . Marcello was also built in 856 . In 1232–1240 Frederick II. erected a castle to guard the Roman bridge over the Volturno, composed of a triumphal arch with two towers .

This was demolished in 1557 . The statues with which it was decorated were contemporary imitations of classical sculptures . Some of them are still preserved in the Museo Campano (E . Bertaux, L'

Art clans l'Italie meridionale, Paris, 1904, i . 707) . The Museo Campano also contains a considerable collection of antiquities from the ancient Capua . Capua changed hands frequently during the middle ages . One of the most memorable facts in its history is the terrible attack made on it in 15or by Caesar Borgia, who had entered the town by treachery, in which 5000 lives were sacrificed . It remained a part of the kingdom of Naples until the 2nd of November 186o, when, a month after the battle of the Volturno, it surrendered to the Italian troops . (T .