Casamicciola Terme

Casamicciola Terme sits on the northern slope of Monte Epomeo on the island of Ischia, thirty-five kilometers from Napoli by ferry. The thermal waters of Gurgitello, Fornello and Fontana springs have been used since antiquity; from the late fifteenth century the bath complexes became the main local industry, with grand hotels lining the waterfront and inland slopes. Casamicciola's seismic history is the other half of the story.

The town has been destroyed by volcano-tectonic earthquakes in 1762, 1767, 1796, 1828, 1881 and 1883, the last killing around 2,300 people and leveling most of the upper village. The Pio Monte della Misericordia, founded in the early 1600s by Neapolitan nobles to treat the poor at the thermal springs, was rebuilt in 1895 along the seafront in art nouveau style. On 21 August 2017 a magnitude 4.

0 earthquake centered on the hill above town killed two people and damaged the upper area badly. Reconstruction is still in progress. The Sentinella belvedere above the port keeps the panoramic view that Garibaldi, Ibsen and Benedetto Croce came up here to see.