- Nisida
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Isle of Nisida in the Gulf of Naples.
Nisida is a volcanic islet of the Flegrean Islands archipelago, in southern Italy. It lies at a very short distance from Cape Posillipo, just north of Naples; it is now connected to the mainland by a stone bridge. The islet is almost circular, with a flooded crater forming the bay of Porto Paone on the southwest coast. It has a diameter of c. 0.5 km and a highest altitude of 105 m.
The name of the island comes from the Greek for "islet" (small island), νησίς, for which the Latinized accusative was nesida.[1]
Contents
Overview
In ancient times Lucius Licinius Lucullus built a villa on Nisida, and also Marcus Iunius Brutus had a holiday villa there. Cicero's letters record him visiting Brutus there, and it was there that Brutus's wife Porcia, the daughter of Cato Uticensis, committed suicide. He also may have agreed with Cassius on the assassination of Julius Caesar there.[2] The claim is made that some of archaeological remains on Nisida are, indeed, those of the villa of Brutus. There may have been a monastery there in the 7th century (see below).[3] In the 16th century a castle was built, which was subsequently a fief of the Macedonio family.
In the 19th century, Nisida was the site of an infamous Bourbon prison that gained notoriety when - after a visit to the prison in 1851 - William Ewart Gladstone wrote his Two Letters to the Earl of Aberdeen on the State Prosecutions of the Neapolitan Government, exposing the harsh conditions. In these letters, Gladstone coined the now famous description of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies as "the negation of God erected into a system of Government." Indignation throughout Europe was partially responsible for the at least partial bettering of such conditions in the prison.
During the Second World War, the island was occupied by British Army and used by them as a prison facility. At least one execution of a war criminal (by firing squad) took place there during this time.
Nisida is divided now between a naval headquarters belonging to NATO and a juvenile detention facility.
A monastery at Nisida?
The surprisingly extensive connections between the island and Britain may begin in the 7th century with Hadrian or Adrian of Canterbury, abbot of Christchurch, Canterbury. Bede records that he was a Greek-speaking Berber from North Africa, who was abbot of a monastery near Naples (non longe a Neapoli). The name of the monastery varies with different textual traditions between monasterium Niridanum and Hiridanum. Neither is identifiable as a place near Naples, which has lead many scholars to think that "Nisidanum", or "of Nisida" was meant. There are no other records of a monastery there, although there were many around the Bay of Naples.[4] Hadrian was twice offered the position of Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Vitalian, but instead suggested Theodore of Tarsus, who then insisted that Hadrian accompany him. It is thought that a hypothetical "Neapolitan Gospelbook" which then ended up at Wearmouth-Jarrow is the source of some Neapolitan elements found in Northumbrian gospel manuscripts including the Lindisfarne Gospels, which records feasts which were celebrated only in Naples: the birth of Saint Januarius and the Dedication of the Basilica of Stephen.
Notes
References
- Bischoff, Bernhard, and Lapidge, Michael, Biblical commentaries from the Canterbury school of Theodore and Hadrian, Volume 10 of Cambridge studies in Anglo-Saxon England, 1994, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521330890, 9780521330893, google books
External links
Coordinates: 40°47′43″N 14°09′48″E / 40.79528°N 14.16333°E
Categories:- Zones of Naples
- Islands of Campania
- Volcanoes of Italy
- NATO installations in Italy
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