What is Sessa Aurunca known for?

Built 1103-1113 with twelve antique columns, Cosmatesque ambon and Easter candelabrum, one of the major Romanesque cathedrals in Campania. First-century theater on the slope below the cathedral, one of the largest in southern Italy, restored after 2000 excavations. Terre Aurunche DOP olive groves on the volcanic slopes of Roccamonfina; the commune is part of the Città dell'Olio network.

Where is Sessa Aurunca?

Sessa Aurunca is a comune in the province of Caserta, Campania region of Italy, about 71 kilometers from Napoli.

Campania · Caserta

Sessa Aurunca

Ancient Suessa Aurunca on the south slope of an extinct volcano, with a Romanesque cathedral of Cosmatesque mosaics built in 1103.

71 km / 44 mi

Nearest hub (Napoli)

20,209

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Sessa Aurunca sitson the southwest slope of the extinct volcano Roccamonfina, between the Garigliano river and the Aurunci hills, forty kilometers west-northwest of Caserta. The Aurunci, the Italic people who held this land before Rome, gave the town its name; the Latin colony of Suessa Aurunca was founded here in 313 BC on the road between Capua and Rome. The Roman theater on the slope below the cathedral is one of the largest in southern Italy, with stage decoration found in the 2000s excavations now on display in the Castello Ducale. The Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Paolo was built in 1103 over an Augustan-era temple, with twelve antique columns in the nave, an ambon and Easter candelabrum covered in Cosmatesque marble inlay, and a Byzantine-influenced apse. The commune is Città dell'Olio for the Aurunci olive groves, Città del Tartufo for the truffles of the Roccamonfina foothills, and lies on the Via Francigena del Sud between Rome and Brindisi.

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Known for

Cattedrale dei Santi Pietro e Paolo
Romanesque cathedral consecrated in 1113 with twelve antique columns, a Cosmatesque ambon and paschal candelabrum, and a Byzantine apse.
Teatro Romano di Sessa Aurunca
First-century Roman theater on the slope below the cathedral, one of the largest in southern Italy, with sculpted stage decoration recovered after 2000.
Castello Ducale
Medieval fortress rebuilt by the Lombards, the Normans and the Aragonese, now housing the civic museum with Roman finds from the theater.
Ponte degli Aurunci
Roman aqueduct bridge below the town, 22 arches, built in the late first century BC to carry water across the Rio dei Travati valley.
Vulcano di Roccamonfina
Extinct volcano north of the town, with the Caldera trail through chestnut and oak forest used by truffle hunters in the Roccamonfina park.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through early June and September into October are the strongest months. The Roccamonfina slopes green and the trails through the chestnut woods open. The Cattedrale opens longer hours and the Roman theater is walkable in shirt sleeves. July and August can climb past thirty-three degrees on the south slope, though the cathedral and the centro stay cooler than the Garigliano floor below. November through March is the quiet season. Truffle hunting in the Roccamonfina foothills runs through autumn and into winter; the white Tuber magnatum surfaces between October and December. The olive harvest of the Terre Aurunche DOP runs from late October into November.