Welcome to Villa Cimbrone - Ravello

(a special thanks to the owners of Villa Cimbrone for kindly providing us with the images and text)

....The tourist or visitor enchanted by Villa Cimbrone cannot ignore that Ravello with its rare and still intact beauty has inherited a most noble and rich historical tradition. The origins of Ravello go back to the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., almost coinciding with the dissolution of the Westem Roman Empire. To avoid the devastating attack of the barbarians and after various, attempts at colonization in Southern Italy, a great number of Roman noblemen and aristocrats built stable and sheltered settlements on the hills where today we admire the towns of Scala and Ravello. The Roman colonies brought a vital impetus from their original civilazation, particularly in their customs, in art, industry, in socio-political growth and initiatives in trade etc. Furthermore the rich historical events of Ravello were closely connected with the destiny, the fortune and eventually, the decline of the glorious Amalfitan Republic..
..........The historian Pansa wrote: In those times Romans, who had just escaped from Rome arrived and settled on the coast, exactly on that charming hill called "Torello". They wished to repel the domination of the Amalfitan Republic and they founded a new town in the same place and encircled it with mighty walls and ramparts; all noblemen gathered and lived here. Later they erected sumptuous palaces calling the place "Toro". This is a wonderfull site situated in the very centre of the town on the stongest and the highest point. As a matter of fact they elected their own Doge indipendent from the one in Amalfi. Consequently the placed was called "Rebello" and it was so called also by Sagonio and Ughelli. It was later renamed Ravello instead of Rebello.