Ravello: Some hints of history
Ravello was probably founded in the sixth century by Romans colonists who ventured among the mountains, a good shelter to escape the destruction of the Vandal barbarians; the first certain information about Ravello date to the ninth century, when all the towns of the Amalfi Coast are united in the state. Around the year 1000 the town was populated by a group of nobles of the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, who rebelled against the authority of the doge. The city quickly prospered, thanks to a flourishing wool spinner activity, once called "Celendra".
In the eleventh century, the inhabitants of Ravello tried to break free from their bonds to Amalfi: the village was surrounded by walls and patrician families started building their sumptuous mansions, electing its own Duke. In 1086 Ravello also became a bishopric. With the Norman conquest, and their success in the South the decline of Ravello began, which has become part of the kingdom in 1131. In 1137 the Republic of Pisa devastated Ravello for three days: despite this, the inhabitants of Ravello, clever merchants, had also conquered the Arabian markets, between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the city reached about 36,000 inhabitants.
During the Sicilian Vespers (1282-1302) the French occupied Ravello, which redeemed itself with 135 ounces of gold. Led by Judge Giovanni Frezza, Ravello supported Ladislas of Durazzo in his struggle for the reconquest of the kingdom and occupied the town of Scala, which instead supported Louis II of Anjou. In the following centuries Ravello began its decline and its population reduced. In the seventeenth century the plague further weakened the town and decimated the population; in 1818 the diocese of Ravello was suppressed and aggregated to the archdiocese of Amalfi.
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