Avella

Avella (Latin: Abella; Greek: Ἀβέλλα) is a city and comune in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region of Italy.

Etymology

Could be related to the Indo-European root *h₂ebōl, *h₂ebl (apple), meaning "place where apple-orchards originated" (read below).

History

The ancient Abella was a medium importance center of the Samnites, and then the Romans, about 10 kilometres (6 mi) northeast of Nola. It had a rather large amphitheater, similar to that of Pompeii.

According to Justin, it was a Greek city of Chalcidic origin, which would lead us to suppose that it was a colony of Cumae: but at a later period it had certainly become an Oscan town, as well as the neighboring city of Nola. It must have been at one time a place of importance. Strabo and Pliny both notice it among the inland towns of Campania; and though we learn from the Liber de Coloniis, that Vespasian settled a number of his freedmen and dependants there, yet it appears, both from that treatise and from Pliny, that it had not then attained the rank of a colony, a dignity which we find it enjoying in the time of Trajan. It probably became such in the reign of that emperor.

Avella (disambiguation)

Avella is a town in Italy.

Avella may also refer to: