Giugliano in Campania, Italy: travel guide to the home of ancient Liternum near Naples

Giugliano in Campania is a large town in the Metropolitan City of Naples, in Campania, set in the fertile plain of the Terra di Lavoro in the north-western hinterland of Naples, close to the Domitian coast. With well over 120,000 inhabitants across a territory of nearly 95 square kilometres, it is the third most populous town in the whole region after Naples and Salerno.

For travellers searching for Giugliano in Campania, ancient Liternum, Scipio Africanus or the coast near Naples, the town is best known for the Roman city that lies within its borders and for its lakeside beaches.

History and ancient Liternum

The area was inhabited by the Oscans and the town's name is thought to derive from the Latin Julius. Its great claim to fame lies near Lake Patria, on the coast, where stood the Roman city of Liternum, founded as a colony in 194 BC and settled with veterans of the Second Punic War. Liternum is celebrated above all as the place where the great general Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal, withdrew in voluntary exile after quarrelling with the Roman Senate, and where he died in 183 BC; his villa and tomb were described by the philosopher Seneca. The Roman town, with its forum, theatre and amphitheatre, was sacked by the Vandals in 455 AD and gradually abandoned, its surviving people moving inland to form the present centre of Giugliano.

Sights and coast

Today the Archaeological Park of Liternum, beside Lake Patria, preserves the remains of the forum, basilica, theatre and amphitheatre. In the town itself the Church of the Purgatorio and the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista hold notable works of art, and the 18th-century Palazzo Colonna di Stigliano recalls its noble past. Along the coast, the beaches of Lido di Licola and Marina di Varcaturo draw summer visitors.

Practical information

Giugliano lies about 18 kilometres north-west of Naples and is well connected by road, making it an easy base for combining the archaeology of Liternum and the nearby Phlegraean Fields with the beaches of the Domitian coast.