Sarno is a town 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 ...

'' and former Latin Catholic bishopric 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 ...

, 20 km northeast from the city of Salerno and 60 km east of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

by the main railway.

Overview

It lies at the foot of the

Apennine Mountains The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...

, near the sources of the

Sarno River The Sarno, known as ''Sarnus'' to the Romans, is a stream that passes through Pompeii to the south of the Italian city of Naples. It is considered the most polluted river in Europe. It flows about from the base of Mt. Sarno to the Bay of Naples c ...

, called Sarnus in ancient times, a stream connected by canal with

Pompei Pompei (; ), also known in English as Pompeii ( ) after the name of the ancient city, is a city and in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy. It contains the ancient Roman ruins of Pompeii, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. History Modern Po ...

and the sea.

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...

and

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

are manufactured. The

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 ...

which forms round the springs of the Sarno was used even at ancient Pompeii as building material.

History

The area of Sarno has been inhabited since the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

, and in pre-historical times housed

Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian and South Picene. Oscan was spoken by a number of t ...

and

Samnites The Samnites () were an ancient Italic peoples, Italic people who lived in Samnium, which is located in modern inland Abruzzo, Molise, and Campania in south-central Italy. An Oscan language, Oscan-speaking Osci, people, who originated as an offsh ...

settlements. Later it was acquired by the Romans, who held it until the fall of the

Western Roman Empire In modern historiography, the Western Roman Empire was the western provinces of the Roman Empire, collectively, during any period in which they were administered separately from the eastern provinces by a separate, independent imperial court. ...

in the 5th century AD. The first nucleus of the future Sarno grew in the 8th century around a castle founded by the Lombards of

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

. Before its incorporation into the domains of the crown of Naples, Sarno gave its name to a county held in succession by the

Orsini Orsini is a surname of Italian origin, originally derived from Latin ''ursinus'' ("bearlike") and originating as an epithet or sobriquet describing the name-bearer's purported strength. Notable people with the surname include the following: * Aaro ...

, Coppola, Tuttavilla, and Colonna families. On May 5, 1998, Sarno and the neighbouring villages of Quindici, Siano and Bracigliano were devastated by a series of landslides. One hundred eighty houses were destroyed, 450 were severely damaged, and 161 people died in what was one of the worst catastrophes of its kind in modern Italy. The landslides had been caused by several days of torrential rainfalls but were also blamed on agricultural, residential, industrial

overexploitation Overexploitation, also called overharvesting or ecological overshoot, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to ...

, and the lack of any substantial environmental programs. The catastrophe prompted the Italian Ministry of the Environment to introduce legislative measures for environmental protection which have come to be known as ''legge Sarno''.

Ecclesiastical history

The Diocese of Sarno was established circa 1000 AD, presumably as

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oristano. In 1534 it lost territory to the

Diocese of Nola The Diocese of Nola () is a Latin Church, Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy, suffragan diocese, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Naples.Cava de' Tirreni was held in

personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...

with Sarno (united ''aeque principaliter'') from 27 June 1818 till 25 September 1972. Suppressed on 30 September 1986, its territory and title being merged into the thus renamed Diocese of Nocera Inferiore-Sarno.

Episcopal ordinaries

Suffragan Bishops of Sarno (without ordinals; ''first incumbent(s) lacking?) * Riso (1066? – ?) * Giovanni (1111–1118) * Giovanni (1119–1134) * Pietro (1134–1156) * Giovanni (1156–1180) * Unfrido (1180–1202) * Tibaldo (1201–1208) * Ruggiero (1209–1216) * Giovanni (1216–1224) * Giovanni (1224–1258) * Angelo d’Aquino (1258–1265) * Giovanni (1265–1296) * Guglielmo (1296–1309) * Ruggiero De Canalibus (1310–1316) * Ruggiero (1316–1316) * Ruggiero De Miramonte (1316–1324) * Antonio da Ancona (1324–1326) * Napoleone (1326–1330) * Nicola (1330 – death 1333) * Francesco,

Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (commonly called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the t ...

(O.F.M.) (13 March 1333 – 1340) * Napoleone (1340–1350) * Teobaldo (25 April 1350 – 1370) * Giovanni (1372–1404) * Giovanni (1404–1407) * Francesco Mormile (1407–1408), later Bishop of Cava (Italy) (1408–1419) * Giovanni (1408–1414) * Francesco Anconitano (1414–1419) * Marco da Teramo (29 December 1418 – death 1439); previously Bishop of

Monopoli Monopoli (; ) is a town and comune, municipality in Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Bari and region of Apulia. The town is roughly in area and lies on the Adriatic Sea about southeast of Bari. It has a population of 49,246 (2014), ...

(Italy) (24 March 1400 – 15 December 1404), Bishop of

Bertinoro Bertinoro () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Forlì-Cesena, in the Italy, Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. It is located on hill Mount Cesubeo, in Romagna, a few kilometers from the ''Via Aemilia, Via Emilia''. History There ...

(Italy) (15 December 1404 – 29 December 1418) * Andrea da Nola (23 October 1439 – 1454) * Ludovico Dell'Aquila (1454–1470) * Antonio de' Pazzi (1475 – 26 February 1477), later Bishop of Mileto (Italy) (26 February 1477 – death 1479) * Giovanni da Viterbo (30 September 1478 – 16 February 1481), later Bishop of

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

(Italy) (16 February 1481 – death 25 November 1496) * Andrea De Ruggiero (16 February 1481 – 1482) * Andrea Dei Pazzi (16 February 1482 – 1498) * Agostino Tuttavilla (1498–1501) * Giorgio Maccafani de' Pireto (1501–1516), previously Bishop of Civita Castellana e Orte (Italy) (24 September 1498 – 1501)

Main sights

Sarno has the ruins of a medieval castle, which belonged to Count Francesco Coppola, who took an important part in the conspiracy of the barons against

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...

in 1485. Walter III of Brienne is buried in the ancient church of ''Santa Maria della Foce'', rebuilt in 1701. Sarno Cathedral is near the town centre.

References

Sources and external links

*
GCatholic, with incumbent bio links
* {{Authority control Cities and towns in Campania