In 5th-4th century BCE the territory of Giugliano was settled by the Osci. According to a tradition, the city was founded by a group of colonists from Cuma in 421 BCE, who called it Lilianum. Near "Lake Patria", there was the ancient city of Liternum. In 194 BC it became a Roman colony. The town is mainly famous as the residence of the elder Scipio Africanus, who withdrew from Rome and died there. His tomb and villa are described by Seneca the Younger. In 455, the town was pillaged and destroyed by Genseric and his Vandals. The surviving population migrated to the present historical center of Giugliano. The city remained a small center until 1207, when Cuma was destroyed by the Neapolitans; some of the citizens from that town, including the clergy and the cathedral capitular, took shelter in Giugliano. The first documents mentioning a fief in Giugliano dates from 1270. Lords of the city were, in sequence, the Vulcano, Filomarino, Pignatelli, D'Aquino, Pinelli and Colonna.
Geography
It is located in a fertile coastal plain north of Naples, thus serving as a market for agricultural products to the city. The plain on which it sits was known in ancient Roman times as the Campania Felix.
Church of the Annunziata, known from the 16th century. It is home to several canvasses by Neapolitan artists such as Massimo Stanzione and Carlo Sellitto. it has a nave with apse and transept; the pulpit is in Roccoco style, while the rest of the interior is decorated in Baroque style. Notable are also the large wooden organ, the Chapel of Madonna della Pace and early 16th Stories of the Virgin' in the left transept.
Church of Madonna delle Grazie, with a 14th-century bell tower and a 16th-century portal. The interior has a 15th-century Gothic Incoronation of the Virgin and early 16th-century frescoes.
Church of Santa Maria della Purità or of the Souls of Purgatory. It was designed by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, who also designed the internal stuccos and the covering of the dome, made as fish scales. The structure is an octagonal plant and has four altars, besides the greater one.
Ancient town of Liternum''. The excavations brought to light, between 1930 and 1936, some elements of the city center dating from the beginning of the Roman Empire. Outside the city walls, the remains of the amphitheater and the necropolis have been identified.
Lake Patria, in the frazione of the same name, it was called by ancient Roman "Literna Palus". It is part of the Natural Reserve "Foce Volurno - Costa di Licola".
