Sarno
Sarno is a town and comune and former Latin Catholic bishopric of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, 20 km northeast from the city of Salerno and 60 km east of Naples by the main railway.
Overview
It lies at the foot of the Apennine Mountains, near the sources of the Sarno River, called Sarnus in ancient times, a stream connected by canal with Pompei and the sea.
Paper, cotton, silk, linen and hemp are manufactured. The travertine which forms round the springs of the Sarno was used even at ancient Pompeii as building material.
History
The area of Sarno was inhabited since Neolithic times, and in pre-historical times housed Oscan and Samnites settlements. Later it was acquired by the Romans, who held it until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. The first nucleus of the future Sarno grew in the 8th century around a castle founded by the Lombards of Benevento.
Before its incorporation with the domains of the crown of Naples, Sarno gave its name to a county held in succession by the Orsini, Coppola, Tuttavilla, and Colonna families.