Salerno (redirected from Salerno, Italy)

Salerno (sälār`nō), city (1991 pop. 148,932), capital of Salerno prov., Campania, S Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno, an inlet of the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is an agricultural, commercial, and industrial center. Manufactures include machinery, textiles, construction materials, and processed food. Originally a Greek settlement and later a Roman colony (founded 197 B.C.), Salerno became (6th cent.) a part of the duchy of Benevento and in the 9th cent. the seat of an independent principality, which fell to Robert Guiscard in 1076. In Sept., 1943, there was fierce fighting on the beaches near Salerno between the Allied landing forces and the Germans, who were pressed to retreat toward Naples. Of note in Salerno is the Sicilian-Norman cathedral (11th cent; redone in the 18th cent.), with the tomb of Pope Gregory VII and an impressive 12th-century pulpit. The famous medical school of Salerno (founded in the 9th cent., closed in the early 19th cent.) is believed to have been the first of its kind and reached its height in the 12th cent.

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Salerno

City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 144,078), southern Italy. Located on the Gulf of Salerno, it was founded by the Romans in 197 BC on the site of an earlier town. Part of a Lombard duchy from AD 646, it was the capital of an independent Lombard principality from 839 to c. 1076. It was then conquered by the Norman Robert Guiscard and became his capital. It was later incorporated into the Kingdom of Naples. During World War II, Salerno's coast was the scene of a major battle (September 1943) between Allied landing forces and German troops. It is an active seaport in an industrial area; its landmarks include a medical school (the earliest in Europe, probably founded in the 9th century) and the cathedral (845, rebuilt 1076–85) that contains the tombs of St. Matthew and Pope Gregory VII.

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Salerno

a port in SW Italy, in Campania on the Gulf of Salerno: first medical school of medieval Europe. Pop.: 138 188 (2001)