Acerra
—  Comune  —
Comune di Acerra
Acerra Location of Acerra in Italy
Coordinates: 40°57′N 14°22′E / 40.95°N 14.367°E / 40.95; 14.367Coordinates: 40°57′N 14°22′E / 40.95°N 14.367°E / 40.95; 14.367
Country	Italy
Region	Campania
Province	Naples (NA)
Frazioni	Gaudello, Pezzalunga
Government
• Mayor	Raffaele Lettieri (UdC)
Area
• Total	54.08 km2 (20.88 sq mi)
Elevation	26 m (85 ft)
Population (1 April 2009)
• Total	55,003
• Density	1,000/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
Demonym	Acerrani
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	80011
Dialing code	081
Patron saint	St. Cuono and Conello
Saint day	29 May
Website	Official website

Acerra is a town and comune of Campania, southern Italy, in the Province of Naples, about 20 km northeast of the provincial capital in Naples. It is part of the Agro Acerrano plain.

History [link]

Acerra is one of the most ancient cities of the region, probably founded by the Osci with the name of Akeru (Latin: Acerrae). It was the first Roman city that was granted the status of civitas sine suffragio (332 BC).

Acerra was destroyed by Hannibal in 216 BC, but was restored in 210 BC.

Acerra served as a Roman base during the Social War in 90 BC.^[1]

In 826 the Lombards built here a castle, later destroyed by Bono of Naples. In 881 it was sacked by the Saracens. Later it was a Norman possession, the seat of a county. As part of the Kingdom of Naples, it was a fief of the Aquino, the Origlia, the Orsini del Balzo and, from 1496 until 1812, the Cardenas. From 1927 it was part of the province of Terra di Lavoro.

In July 2005 a statue of the Virgin Mary in St Peter's Church was said to move and take on a pink colour. [1]

Influence of Camorra [link]

Acerra has been in the spotlight recently in regard to the growing problem of the disposal and treatment of industrial and urban waste in the area. Acerra, Nola, and Marigliano had been identified as the three points of the so-called "Triangle of Death" in which illegal waste management by criminal organizations ("ecomafia") have resulted in environmental conditions endangering the health of the region's people.

In October 2000, the Italian Parliament approved the findings of a commission which studied activities in Campania by the Camorra, which had been profiting from illegal waste management activities. Incidentally, the Chicago gangster Giuseppe "Diamond Joe" Esposito was born in Acerra in 1872.

The scientific journal The Lancet Oncology published in 2004 a study by the Italian researcher Alfredo Mazza, a physiologist at the Italian CNR (Centro Nazionale per la Ricerca): this study revealed the terrible situation in the countryside of Campania and the negative impact on the people's health. He demonstrated that the deaths by cancer in that region are much higher than the European average.

Main sights [link]

• Acerra Cathedral, originally built over an ancient temple of Hercules and remade in the 19th century. It houses some Baroque canvasses from the 17th century. Annexed is the Bishop's Palace.
• Church of Corpus Domini (16th century).
• Church of Annunziata (15th century), with a 12th century crucifix and a 15th century Annunciation attributed to Dello Delli.
• Church of San Pietro (16th-17th centuries)
• Baronal Castle.
• Archaeological area of Suessula.

See also [link]

• Triangle of death (Italy)

References [link]

Sources [link]

• Senior, Kathryn, and Alfredo Mazza. "Italian 'Triangle of Death' Linked to Waste Crisis". The Lancet Journal, Vol. 5, No. 9. 1 September 2004. (Retrieved from Uonna Club web site, 23 September 2006).
• Bianchi, Fabrizio, Pietro Comba, Marcio Martuzzi, Raffaele Palombino, and Renato Pizzuti. "Reflection & Reaction: Italian 'Triangle of death'". The Lancet Oncology, Vol. 5. December 2004. (Retrieved from the EpiCentro web site, 23 September 2006).

External links [link]

• Relazione della Commissione Parlamentare, an article about the Camorra in Campania (October 2000). (Italian)
• "The Death Triangle", published by the Italian newspaper Repubblica.it (2004). (Italian)
• Acerrae in William Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854).