Origins and History of Casamicciola

Where it is

Casamicciola Terme lies on the northern side of the island of Ischia, at the foot of Monte Epomeo, between Ischia to the east and Lacco Ameno to the west. The municipality, covering about 5.85 km², is largely hilly: from the coast, with the harbour and Piazza Marina, it climbs towards the Piazza Bagni spa quarter and the hamlets of upper Casamicciola, while to the east lies the Castiglione coastal strip.

The origins

People have frequented this area since very ancient times. On the Castiglione hill, excavations have brought to light a village of huts with features of the Apennine culture, dating from between the Middle Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age: bowls, amphorae, large basins and incised vases in which the archaeologist Giorgio Buchner recognised the skill of local potters. According to tradition, the Greek settlers who reached the island in the 8th century BC were also drawn by the hot waters of this coast. For the geological background, read The Volcanic Origins of Casamicciola.

The name

The place name is first recorded in 1265, in the form “Casamiczula”. Various theories about its origin have circulated for centuries: the physician Giulio Iasolino proposed “Casanizzola”, while a legend tells of a woman named Nisula who was healed by the local waters. None has been proven. The suffix “Terme” (spa) was added in 1956, to underline the town's vocation.

From springs to European fame

In 1588 Iasolino published in Naples his famous treatise on the island's natural remedies, in which he praised the Gurgitello as the “queen” of Ischia's thermal mineral waters. On the hills between Casamicciola and Lacco Ameno alunite was also worked to extract alum, which was carried along the old Via dei Carri (Cart Road) to the harbour of Casamicciola. In the 17th century the Pio Monte della Misericordia of Naples, whose statute was approved in 1604, opened a hospice near the Gurgitello springs to provide thermal cures for the needy: this was the beginning of the story of the Pio Monte of Casamicciola, told in The Origins of Thermal Cures and The Birth of Spa Tourism.

In the 19th century Casamicciola became a spa resort of European standing. Its guests included Alphonse de Lamartine, Henrik Ibsen, Ernest Renan and, in 1864, Giuseppe Garibaldi. Alongside the spas a long ceramics tradition developed, linked to the local clay deposits.

Rebirth towards the sea

After 1883 Casamicciola renewed itself: a new building code guided the rise of new buildings, and the focus of town life gradually shifted towards the coast, where the new Pio Monte della Misericordia and the new mother church were built. This is told in Casamicciola after 1883: the rebirth.

The 20th century and today

Between 1938 and 1945 Casamicciola was merged with the municipality of Ischia, later becoming independent again. In the 1950s the island's tourism revival, promoted among others by Angelo Rizzoli, involved the historic spas of Piazza Bagni. Its harbour, the second most important on the island, remains one of Ischia's gateways. The patron saint is Saint Mary Magdalene, whose feast day is 22 July.