The Terra Murata (Walled Land) is the old centre of Procida. It belongs to the Middle Ages and was for a long time the only inhabited centre of the island for security reasons: in fact it is located on the highest promontory of Procida, about 90 meters high, with the cliffs rising steep from the sea. The name is derived from the ancient division of the island in some areas called "Terre" (Lands): there was the arable land, the grazing land, the planted land, the vines land; and finally there was the "Terra Casata" (Houses' Land), where they collected all the houses for a better common defence. In the 16th century, when the entire old centre was fortified, the adjective defining the Terra changed from Casata (Houses) to Murata (Walled), and it have kept this name till nowadays.

The old town was not fortified, in the sense that it was not provided with outside walls. But buildings were arranged in such a way as to create an efficient defensive complex: the houses had been built on blocks of tufa rocks serving as small ramparts and were leant each other, forming a single compact front of brickworks (the "Casata") running from the Terra's Gate on north (which led to the first landing point of Procida) up to the tufa quarry on south. The only interruption among the houses' front was the Porta Mezz'Omo (Half-Man's Gate), which also had a drawbridge. The outer facades of the houses had only few and small holes, while the entries and the windows were on the internal streets.

The Avalos Palace, also named the Castle, is the first landmark you see coming from Naples by ship. It rises on the edge on the steep cliff of tufa, apparently isolated but it hides on its back the whole old centre of Terra Murata. The Avalos, noble and powerful family from Spain, had the feudal domain over Procida since the early years of 16th century and ruled the island up to the Bourbons came in 1734. In 1563 the Cardinal Innico of Avalos started the construction of the Palace and of the defensive walls around the Terra Casata, in the context of a general town planning that provided also for the displacement of the gates and the roads leading to the fortress.  [ More...]