LACCO AMENO in Ischia Island
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Istituto Comprensivo Statale “Vincenzo Mennella” Corso Angelo Rizzoli, 118 – LACCO AMENO (Italy) “Pleased to meet EU” Multilateral COMENIUS Project LACCO AMENO in Ischia island Some informations about Lacco Ameno, Ischia island and our school This Comenius project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Our School Our school, the “Istituto Comprensivo Statale” is in Lacco Ameno and it is composed of three school orders: the Nursery School, the Primary School and the Lower Seconadry School. Nursery School, is formed by eight sections or classes and is attended by children of three, four and five years old. Some sections are at school from 8.20 to 16.30 and others from 8.30 to 13.30. The sections called Girasoli, Ginestre, Fiordalisi, Ninfee Margherite, Ciclamini, Mimose and Tulipani.They’re in two buildings called “Pannella” and “Principe di Piemonte”. Primary School is attended by students from the age of 6 to 10. They’re in 14 classes. The students attend school in the morning. They’re at school from a minimum of 29 to 30 hours per week After Primary school the students from the age of 11 to 14 years old attend the Lower Seconday School. The students are in 9 classes and attend this school for three years. At the end of the third year the students have an exam (State exam) before they start the Secondary High School. At the Lower Secondary School there are lots of subjects to study: Maths, Italian, Geography, History, Science, English, German, Art, Music, Phisical Education, Technical Education, Religion. The students also take part in several other project activities. The lessons start at 8.30 a.m. and end at 1.30 p.m. from Monday to Saturday included. The Nursery School purse three main aims: development of competence, reaching autonomy and recognition of identity. To reach these three main aims the children are engaged in lots and different ludic activities. Besides the daily normal didactic activities at the Primary School we have project activities such as: Health Education, Environment and Legality Education, vertical Continuity within the three school orders of the Institute, horizontal Continuity with State and Private Institutions, cultural and sport Associations, Intercultural Education. At the Primary school the classes are organized in modules and the students are also guided to game and work activities on verbal and non verbal languages of the three kind of education (images, motion, music). At the Lower Secondary School of the Institute we have nine classes and one of them apart of the normal state curriculum has extra musical instruments to tudy: piano, guitar, flute and clarinet. During the whole school year at the Lower Secondary School the students also do several activities. They study and work on “Welcome project” in the first year classes, volleyball and bow tounrnaments, Legality and extra studies funded by Europe. The “Welcome project” is carried out in the first starting school days of the new school year with the students coming from the Primary School. There are playful and didactic activities to facilitate students’ wits and help them to join the new school order better. With the project “Legality” there are meetings with social workers, policemen and judges, studing on the youth inconvenience. The activities of the European project Comenius are carried out in the morning timetable and in a planned extra time in the afternoon. Sometimes in december the students do several activities, such as: cooking, charity bazars, ornamental needle-works, Christmas decorations. Afterword in the village square they performe shows and charity bazars with all the works they did. They sell the works and the benefit is for the Unicef Association. To do these all works the students are helped by the teachers and parents. The school year ends with a students’ performance at Villa Arbusto, in the museum park area or at school. Lacco Ameno Our school is in borough of Lacco Ameno. It is on the north coast of the island Ischia in the gulf of Naples, Italy. It is the smallest village on the island with about 4500 inhabitants live there. Lacco Ameno is a very old village. It was the first organized community and it goes back to the eight century B.C. The original name of Lacco Ameno was Pithekoussai, from Pithos (clay vase) a Greek name. After the third century A.D Lacco Ameno lived a period of terrible sufferings with the pirate-like raids.The inhabitants moved from the coast to the hill to defend themselves from the Turkish attacks. They only worked with the agriculture. Ischia island From the 14th and 16th century the inhabitants built a big square tower on the hill Monte Vico to defend themselves from the pirates landings. In 1590 they also built another tower with the Padri Carmelitani. In the 17th century Lacco Ameno developed in its economy, social and artistic life. Its thermal waters attracted well known patients. There were built palaces, churches and chapels. But in Lacco Ameno there were very sad events in short times: the earthquake in 1622, the Turkish landings in 1635 and the plague in 1656. These events caused famine and hunger. In the 19th century there was the war caused by the French and the Bourbons to conquer the Reign of Naples. The inhabitants created small enterprises. They also produced handicraft straw small baskets. In 1883 a big earthquake in Casamicciola Terme, a village nearby, destroyed the historical medieval centre of Lacco Ameno, palaces and three churches. Later the damaged buildings were restructured, the wineyards were put in order, the streets were rebuilt. Today Lacco Ameno is an international thermal resort. You can admire archeological remains of the ancient Pithecussai either in the Villa Arbusto museum or in the museum of Saint Restituta on the central square. At the Villa Arbusto museum you can even admire the world famous Nestore’s cup. Near the Museum and church of Saint Restituta there is the Town Hall building. The Town Hall was built on the remains of Saint Restituta Church (1580) and the Carmelites Friars first lived in the monastery. In 1809 the French with G. Murat transformed it in a barrack. From 1822 the Augustinians repaired the tower of the building and stayed there. From 1868 to 1875 the Serviti Friars lived in the building and from 1880 first the State domain and then the Municipality became the owners and transformed in the town hall. The whole town hall has recently been rebuilt. Lacco Ameno’s symbol is the "Fungo", a mushroom shaped mass of tufaceous rock expelled from the peak of Mount Epomeo. It has been eroded into its present shape by the elements. The patron Saint Restituta In Lacco Ameno from the 16th to the 18th there was the May Santa Restituta’s sacrifice. It’s said that this blessed woman, of Carthaginian origin, didn’t want to abjure her own Christian religious persuasions before Proclino tyrant, who condemned her for this reason to get burnt alive on a boat pushed in the sea. For divine wish, however, she could escape to the fire and landed in the San Montano’s cove in Lacco Ameno. Every year in Lacco Ameno on 16th May in the San Montano's cove is renewed in representation of the miraculous landing of the fragile boat carrying the body of Saint Restituta. The feast of Saint Restituta which takes place on 17th May each year also recalls another important event for the village of Lacco Ameno. In early 1600 the Turks entered in the chapel of Santa Restituta where was exposed the statue of the Virgin. They tried out the gilded wood with a blow of the scimitar. Disappointed, they jumped on the bell tower and stole the bells. They took them on the ships, but a strong wind and big sea waves threatened to sink them. The sailors threw the bells in the sea to lighten the weight of the ships. From the hills to the settlers attended an event so prodigious and swore: we’ll go and take the bells. Returning the good weather the Turks tried to rescue their heritage but they didn’t succeed. I schia island Ischia, the largest of the Neapolitan islands, with its volcanic origins and its thermal spas, some of the largest in the world: 67 fumaroles, 103 springs and 29 thermal spas that can help to cure illnesses, tone up your body and spirit or simply help you relax. In this charming place, travelers are pleased with the climate and the fantastic landscape, the hospitality and the strong perfumes they smell all round the island. History and culture The first human settlements on the island date back to VIII B.C., when the Greeks landed on the island and founded the colony of Pithecusae (today known as Lacco Ameno), on Monte Vico. The colony soon became an important commercial center for the Etruscans, the Phoenicians and the Egyptians who came to purchase goods in ceramics, bronze, iron and other metals that were worked on the island. After about 5 centuries, the island came under the control of the Romans, who were the first to discover the benefits of the thermal spas. From the few remaining accounts of the Medieval period, we know that Ischia was attacked by the Goths, the Lombards and the Normans and was finally conquered by the Swabians who stayed in power for 100 years. A difficult history and not just from a political point of view.