A fertile island born of restless nature

By Aldo Canale

<%=ischia%> owes its enchanting landscape and "miraculous" hot springs to its volcanic nature.
Now it is up to us to preserve this gift from God.

<%=ischia%> can be described as a self-made island because of the creative volcanic force that has modelled it over the ages in such a way as to create a place of incomparable beauty, with intense, clear-cut landscapes, exuberant vegetation, a variety of microclimates, fuming depths and miraculous hot springs. We are well aware that our planet is constantly changing, not least due to the folly of man. Yet exactly how these alterations in Mother Earth have taken place so as provide its inhabitants with such a vast range of natural privileges is a mystery that those who are not familiar with disciplines regarding the lithosphere will find hard to solve.
First of all we must point out that <%=ischia%>, born of a submarine crater, has learned to coexist with and even take advantage of its underground upheavals - or to be precise, the tantrums of the rebel giant Typheus, imprisoned according to myth in the depths of the earth by Jupiter as a punishment for his arrogance. Naturally, we are referring to the island's volcanic nature and the special geomorphological features that have given rise to its luxuriant and varied vegetation, precious thermal springs and fascinating, colourful marine depths where jellyfish and dolphins still abound today, a clear sign of absolutely limpid waters.
Our ancestors often resorted to myths to explain the inexplicable. Once the story of a giant imprisoned in the bowels of the earth to explain <%=ischia%>'s lively tectonic activity took hold and became a myth it no longer required rational explanations or scientific proof. The one sure thing is that however much Typheus struggles he will never be able to free himself, since Jupiter's punishment is eternal and exemplary. As a result of his torment, Mount Epomeo rises or sinks imperceptibly at various times and the sea cuts into the cliffs more or less deeply, modelling sheer precipices, but on the whole <%=ischia%>, this unique laboratory of landscape creation and natural resources, cannot but improve and renew itself. The real danger lies elsewhere, in the omnivorous greed of property speculation.
Through no merit of ours we can benefit from a rich, fertile natural environment which <%=ischia%>'s inhabitants in the past did not have the necessary peace of mind to enjoy. The principal cause was not Typheus stirring underground, since earthquakes on <%=ischia%> have on the whole been rarer than one may think, but the far more frequent and devastating raids carried out by pirates and predators that frustrated all attempts to found stable settlements on a large scale, especially on the coast.

<%=ischia%> was a prosperous colony in the middle of the 8th century BC, when it was founded by settlers from Calcydes and Eretria in Eubea who came to seek their fortunes on this faraway island, which they named Pithecusae. They established farms that thrived on the fertile soil and busy pottery workshops whose products became a well-known local speciality. Subsequently, when many of the settlers decided to move to the mainland and found Cuma, the event marked the decline of a colony whose cultural and anthropological value was probably greater than we can ascertain. The Roman colonisation, though it involved the building of thermal baths near the hot springs to exploit their therapeutical qualities, did not have a great impact on <%=ischia%>, despite the visits and appreciative comments of the emperor Augustus.
To quote professor Amedeo Maturi: "Nothing like the majestic formal constructions, the luxurious villas, the temples, streets, pools, aqueducts and ports on the mainland opposite, at Cuma, Misero, Baia and Pozzuoli". "The first concrete sign of power is the Aragonese castle clinging to the iron rock," thus pointing out the limitations of the first real settlement marking <%=ischia%>'s passage from an obscure medieval past to a more promising period of modern history.
Alphonse of Argon considered the Castle an appendix of the Reign of Naples, to be used as a refuge (for love affairs) and a fortress (in times of danger). In the 16th century the Renaissance personalities of Costanza d'Avalos and Vittoria Colonna turned the castle into an agreeable citadel combining the need for safety with the desire to encourage the arts, a place frequented by the most brilliant minds of the time. Later its charm began to wane and the fortress became a prison until in 1809 Admiral Nelson's cannons completed the destruction of the castle and marked the beginning of the state of neglect which has only very recently been remedied. For a long time the contrast between <%=ischia%>'s luxuriant natural setting - especially its unique thermal heritage - and the marginal role of a local history limited to the bounds of the castle contributed to create the idea of a very beautiful island at the mercy of the elements and therefore totally wild, from the human and social point of view too.

George Berkeley's reflections in particular, written on the occasion of two journeys to Italy in the early 18th century and long periods spent in <%=ischia%>, seem influenced by this concept. To quote from Ilia Delizia's <%=ischia%>: l'identità negata: "In the beauty of an uncontaminated nature, immune from the evil spells cast elsewhere by an incipient industrialism, <%=ischia%> embodies Berkeley's aesthetic idea, connected to his social and philosophical utopia, the dream and project of a perfect community."
In those times the donkey, as Berkeley confirms, was the only means of transport - and God knows things have changed since then. The Irish philosopher was drawn to the contrast he perceived or wished to perceive between the reality of an exuberant, prodigal nature and the fantasy of an innocent humanity, authentically and definitively wild. He did not realise that over the ages man and nature had found a point of equilibrium thanks to man's capacity to adapt to the environment by seeking a cautious, prudent contiguity between the urban and the rural dimensions, meaning no urban exasperations and drastic separations between social areas, and no assaults on a nature that provided fertility and health but required independent, uncontaminated areas.

Today visitors to <%=ischia%> can count on all the comforts supplied by tourism. More than ever, <%=ischia%> is the island of health of mind and body where the highly organised spas and their parks reflect the image of "the universal garden of the entire earth that the great Creator of all things has ordered for the life of all living creatures and for man" mentioned by Giulio Iasolino in his fundamental work De' rimedi naturali che sono nell'isola di Pithecusa, hoggi detta <%=ischia%> ("Of natural remedies on the island of Pithecusae, now known as <%=ischia%>"). "Almost every day we explore the island's grottoes and caverns and travel along this stretch of coast so as not to miss anything. without taking into account the danger of pirates". "Natural remedies", and much more besides, still abound on <%=ischia%>. What we need is the capacity, courage and far-sightedness to preserve this gift of God. After all, it is only a question of realising that we, heirs of the industrial revolution and generators of a greedy consumer society, must not become clones of those pirates against which <%=ischia%> is periodically forced to defend itself.

Aldo Canale, journalist and publisher