Cava de' Tirreni (; Cilentan: ''A Càva'') is a city and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' in the region of

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

, Italy, in the

province of Salerno The province of Salerno () is a province in the Campania region of Italy. It has 1,054,766 inhabitants as of 2025. Geography The largest towns in the province are: Salerno, the capital, which has a population of 131,950; Cava de' Tirreni, Bat ...

, northwest of the town of

Salerno Salerno (, ; ; ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Campania, southwestern Italy, and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after Naples. It is located ...

. It lies in a richly cultivated valley surrounded by wooded hills, and is a popular tourist resort. The abbey of

La Trinità della Cava The Territorial abbey of La Trinità della Cava (), commonly known as Badia di Cava, is a Benedictine territorial abbey located near Cava de' Tirreni, in the province of Salerno, southern Italy. It stands in a gorge of the Finestre Hills. Hist ...

is located there.

Geography

Overview

Cava de' Tirreni lies among the hills close to the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

, north of the

Amalfi Coast The Amalfi Coast ( or ) is a stretch of coastline in southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno. It is located south of the Sorrentine Peninsula and north of the Cilentan Coast. Attracting international tourists o ...

and serving in practice as its northern gateway. The inhabited area is 198 m above sea level, in a valley situated between two mountain groups: the Lattari Mountains (which separate Cava from the Amalfi Coast) to the west and the Picentini Mountains to the east. Many of Cava's citizens reside in the hills surrounding the town. Cava is bordered to the north by

Nocera Superiore Nocera Superiore ( or ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It was the core of the ancient city of ', later known as ', ' and then ' (), which also included the nowadays territories ...

Roccapiemonte Roccapiemonte (Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Geography Located in the east of the Agro Nocerino Sarnese, it borders with the towns of Castel San Giorgio, Cava de ...

and

Mercato San Severino Mercato San Severino ( Sanseverinese: ) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-west Italy. Mercato San Severino shares borders with the municipalities of Baronissi, Bracigliano, Castel San Giorgio, C ...

; to the east by

Baronissi Baronissi is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is home to a campus of the University of Salerno. History The town develops from the original old area named ''Casali''. Geograph ...

Pellezzano Pellezzano (Campanian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. Geography Pellezzano borders with the municipalities of Baronissi, Cava de' Tirreni and Salerno. It counts 6 civil pari ...

and

; to the south by

Vietri sul Mare Vietri sul Mare is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Salerno, in the Italian region of Campania. It is situated just west of Salerno, separated from the Port of Salerno by only a harbour wall. The town is known for its polychrome ce ...

and

Maiori Maiori (originally in Latin: ''Rheginna Maior'') is a town and ''comune'' on the Amalfi coast in the province of Salerno (Campania, Italy). It has been a popular tourist resort since Roman times, with the longest unbroken stretch of beach on the ...

; and to the west by Tramonti. The town is a link between the geographical area of

Agro Nocerino Sarnese The or is a geographical region of the Province of Salerno, in Campania in southern Italy; the river Sarno flows through it. It is a low-lying area bounded to the south by the Monti Lattari, to the east and north-east by the Monti Picentin ...

(flat, with an agricultural and industrial economy) and the

Sorrento Peninsula The Sorrento Peninsula or Sorrentine Peninsula is a peninsula located in southern Italy which separates the Gulf of Naples to the north from the Gulf of Salerno to the south. Geography Overview The peninsula is named after its main town, Sor ...

(mountainous, with an economy based on tourism).

''Frazioni''

The of Cava are: Alessia, Annunziata, Arcara, Casaburi-Rotolo, Castagneto, Corpo di Cava, Croce, Dupino, Marini, Passiano, Pregiato, San Cesareo, San Pietro, Sant'Anna, Sant'Arcangelo, San Martino, Santa Lucia, Santa Maria del Rovo, Santi Quaranta.

History

The town, initially comprehending present-day

, was founded by the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization ( ) was an ancient civilization created by the Etruscans, a people who inhabited Etruria in List of ancient peoples of Italy, ancient Italy, with a common language and culture, and formed a federation of city-states. Af ...

with the name of ''Marcina'', as part of a colonial system known as ''

Etruria Campana Etruria ( ) was a region of Central Italy delimited by the rivers Arno and Tiber, an area that covered what is now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and north-western Umbria. It was inhabited by the Etruscans, an ancient civilization that flouris ...

''. The modern name Cava de' Tirreni ( 'Cave of the

Tyrrhenians Tyrrhenians (Attic Greek: ''Turrhēnoi'') or Tyrsenians ( Ionic: ''Tursēnoi''; Doric: ''Tursānoi'') was the name used by the ancient Greeks authors to refer, in a generic sense, to non-Greek people, in particular pirates. While ancient so ...

') is a tribute to the Etruscan heritage of the area. The church and the greater part of the abbey buildings were entirely modernized in 1796. The old

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

cloisters are preserved. The church contains a fine organ and several ancient

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...

. The archives, now national property, include fine ''

incunabula An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside (printing), broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentiall ...

'', documents and manuscripts of great value (including the ''Codex Legum Longobardorum'' of 1004 and the

La Cava Bible The La Cava Bible or ''Codex Cavensis'' (Cava de' Tirreni, Biblioteca statale del Monumento Nazionale Badia di Cava, Ms. memb. I) is a 9th-century Latin illuminated Bible, which was produced in Spain, probably in the Kingdom of Asturias during th ...

Main sights

Abbey of La Trinità della Cava An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conc ...

, founded in 1011. Features include the ambon with mosaics (12th century), the grotto of St. Alferius, the Romanesque

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

(13th century) and the large library, housing more than 50,000 volumes. *Cathedral (''Duomo''), begun in 1517 and opened in 1571. *Sanctuary of St. Francis and St. Anthony, an early 16th-century structure restored after the 1980 earthquake had damaged it. The façade is in

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

and

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

, with three large arches, the central one surmounted by a balcony. The main portal has a series of friezes sculpted in 1528 by local masters and containing scenes from the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sen ...

. The belltower, with three orders, was finished in 1584. The interior is on the Latin Cross plan, with some 16th-century frescoes by

Belisario Corenzio Belisario Corenzio ( 1558–1646) was a Greek-Italian painter, active in Venice and Naples. He is one of few Greek painters that did not belong to the Cretan Renaissance like his contemporaries of the time. He escaped the maniera greca complete ...

in the sacristy.

Personalities

* Lucia Apicella (Mamma Lucia, philanthropist) * Ferrante I d'Aragona (Ferdinand I of Naples, King of Naples from 1458 to 1494) * Mario Avagliano (historian and journalist) * Tommaso Avagliano (writer and publisher) *

Ferdinando Baldi Ferdinando Baldi (19 May 1927 – 12 November 2007) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Throughout his career he used a number of pseudonyms, including Ted Kaplan, Ferdy Baldwin and Sam Livingstone. Biography Baldi was born in ...

(film director, film producer and screenwriter) * Alfonso Balzico (sculptor and painter) * Luca Bisogno (footballer) *

Pope Boniface IX Pope Boniface IX (; ; c. 1350 – 1 October 1404, born Pietro Tomacelli) was head of the Catholic Church from 2 November 1389 to his death, in October 1404. He was the second Roman pope during the Western Schism.Richard P. McBrien, ''Lives of t ...

* Alda Borelli, actress in theatre and

silent films A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

* Donato Antonio Cafaro (16th century engineer) * Donato Antonio Cafaro (17th century royal engineer, probably descended from the previous) * Giambattista Castaldo (16th century soldier) *

Giuliana De Sio Giuliana De Sio (born 2 April 1957) is an Italian actress, the younger sister of pop music, pop-Folk music, folk singer Teresa De Sio. She won two David di Donatello for Best Actress and a Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress. Biography and career ...

(actress) *

Teresa De Sio Teresa De Sio (born 3 November 1952) is an Italian pop-folk singer and songwriter. She is the elder sister of actress Giuliana De Sio. Life and career Teresa De Sio was born in Naples and grew up in Cava de' Tirreni, where her family was origin ...

(singer) * Giovanni Vincenzo Della Monica (16th century engineer; collaborated with Giovan Battista Cavagna) * Raffaele Della Monica (cartoonist) *

Antonietta Di Martino Antonietta Di Martino (born 1 June 1978) is a retired Italian high jumper. She currently holds the Italian records in athletics, Italian national women's high jump record at 2.03 metres for outdoor events and 2.04 metres for indoor events. She al ...

(

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er, Italian indoor/outdoor champion) * Antonio Fiorentino della Cava (architect, designer of the cloisters of

Santa Caterina a Formiello Santa Caterina a Formiello is a church in Naples, in southern Italy, located at the extreme eastern end of the old historic center of the city, on Via Carbonara and Piazza Enrico de Nicola, near the gate called Porta Capuana. The term ''Formiello' ...

) *

Giulio Genoino Giulio Genoino (born c. 1565 in Cava de' Tirreni), the 'mind of Masaniello', was a key figure in the 7 July 1647 popular insurrection against Spanish authority in the Kingdom of Naples. Biography A priest, lawyer, and academic, Genoino had for ...

(Catholic priest; originator, with

Masaniello Tommaso Aniello (29 June 1620 – 16 July 1647), popularly known by the contracted name Masaniello (, ), was an Italian fisherman who became leader of the 1647 revolt against the rule of Habsburg Spain in the Kingdom of Naples. Name and place ...

, of the Neapolitan Revolt of 1647) * Costantino Grimaldi (philosopher, jurist, politician and noted anticurialist) * Simonetta Lamberti (10-year-old victim of a

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

killing) * Sabato Martelli Castaldi (General of the Italian Air Force, partisan and martyr killed in the slaughter of the

Fosse Ardeatine massacre The Ardeatine massacre, or Fosse Ardeatine massacre (), was a mass killing of 335 civilians and political prisoners carried out in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops during the Second World War as a reprisal for the Via Rasella ...

on 24 March 1944; posthumous

Gold Medal of Military Valor The Gold Medal of Military Valor () is an Italian medal established on 21 May 1793 by King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia for deeds of outstanding gallantry in war by junior officers and soldiers. The face of the medal displayed the profile o ...

) * Attilio Mellone (member of the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

order and man of letters) * Eduardo Migliaccio (actor and comedian) * Gino Palumbo (journalist) * Giampaolo Parisi (football player) * Andrea Rispoli (football player) *

Fausto Salsano Fausto Salsano (born 19 December 1962) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder. He most recently served as a technical coach for the Saudi Arabia national team. Honours Sampdoria * Coppa Italia: 1984–85, ...

(football manager) * Raffaele Schiavi (football player) *

Stefano Sorrentino Stefano Sorrentino (born 28 March 1979) is an Italian former footballer. A professional goalkeeper for his whole career, he is currently a football agent. Sorrentino played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, being mainly known fo ...

(football player) *Federico Pisapia, Marco Senatore, Vincenzo Schiavo, Giuseppe Schiavo (First FLAGS artists in Cirque du Soliel 2011)

Twin towns – sister cities

Cava de' Tirreni is twinned with: *

Gorzów Wielkopolski Gorzów Wielkopolski (), often abbreviated to Gorzów Wlkp. or simply Gorzów (formerly ), is a city in Geography of Poland, western Poland, located on the Warta, Warta River. It is one of the two principal cities and seats of the Lubusz Voivodes ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Pittsfield Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsf ...

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Schwerte Schwerte (; Westphalian: ''Schweierte'') is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Schwerte is situated in the Ruhr valley, at the south-east border of the Ruhr Area. South of Schwerte begins the mountain ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Nesvizh Nyasvizh or Nesvizh is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Nyasvizh District. Nyasvizh is the site of Nesvizh Castle, a World Heritage Site. In 2009, its population was 14,300. As of 2025, it has a population ...

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

References

External links

Tuttosucava.it – All about Cava
(click on union flag to see English translation)
Local Tourist Office of Cava de' Tirreni
(English version)
CampaniaMeteo: weather report and forecast

Archidiocese of Amalfi-Cava de' Tirreni

Photos of Cava de' Tirreni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cava De' Tirreni Cities and towns in Campania