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Nola , a city and episcopal see of Campania, Italy, in the province of Naples, pleasantly situated in the plain between Mount Vesuvius and the Apennines, 16 miles ENE of Naples, 121 feet above sea-level. Pop. (2001) 32,730.

It is served by the local railway from Naples to Baiano, and is 22 miles from Naples by the main line via Cancello. The more conspicuous buildings are the ancient Gothic cathedral (restored in 1866, and again in 1870 after the interior was destroyed by fire), with its lofty tower, the cavalry barracks, the ex-convent of the Capuchins at a little distance from the city, and the seminary in which are preserved the famous Oscan inions relating to a treaty with Nola regarding a joint temple of Hercules.

Two fairs are held in Nola, on June 14 and the November 12; and July 26 is devoted to a great festival in honour of St Paulinus, one of the early bishops of the city, who invented the church bell (, taking its name from Campania). The church erected by him in honour of St Felix in the 4th century is extant in part. There is a monument (restored in 1887) to Giordano Bruno, the free-thinker, who was born at Nola in 1548.

Nola, on the most ancient coins called Nuvlana, was one of the oldest cities of Campania, variously said to have been founded by the Ausones, the Chalcidians from Cumae and the Etruscans. The last-named were certainly in Nola about 560 BC. At the time when it sent assistance to Neapolis against the Roman invasion (328 BC) it was probably occupied by Oscans in alliance with the Samnites. In the Samnite War (311 B.C.) the town was taken by the Romans, in the Second Punic War it thrice offered defiance to Hannibal (first, second, and third Battle of Nola) and on two occasions (215 and 214) was defended by Marcellus. In the Social War it was betrayed into the hands of the Samnites, who kept possession till Marius, with whom they had sided, was defeated by Sulla, who in 80 BC subjected it with the rest of Samnium. Seven years later it was stormed by Spartacus, for which reason Augustus and Vespasian sent colonies there.

Whatever punishment Sulla may have inflicted, Nola, though it lost much of its importance, remained a with its own institutions and the use of the Oscan language. It became a Roman colony under Augustus, who died at Nola.

In A.D. 410 Nola was sacked by Alaric, in 453 by Genseric and his Vandals, in 806 and again in 904 by the Saracens Captured by Manfred of Sicily in the 13th century, from the time of Charles I of Anjou to the middle of the 15th century, Nola was a feudal possession of the Orsini. The battle of Nola (1459Nola is famous for the clever stratagem by which John of Anjou defeated Alfonso of Aragon. Damaged by earthquakes in the 15th and centuries, Nola lost much of its importance. The revolution of 1820 under General Pepe began at Nola. The sculptor Giovanni Marliano was a native of the city; and some of his works are preserved in the cathedral.

Nola lay on the from Capua to Nocera and the south, and a branch road ran from it to Abella and Avellino. Mommsen ( X. 142) further states that roads must have run direct from Nola to Neapolis and Pompeii, but Kiepert's map annexed to the volume does not indicate them.

In the days of its independence Nola issued an important series of coins, and in luxury it vied with Capua. Its territory was very fertile, and this was the principal source of its wealth. A large number of vases of Greek were manufactured here and have been found in the neighbourhood. Their material is of pale yellow clay with shining black glaze, and they are decorated with skilfully drawn red figures. Of the ancient city, which occupied the same site as the modern town, hardly any thing is now visible, and the discoveries of the ancient street pavement have not been noted with sufficient care to enable us to recover the plan.

Numerous ruins, an amphitheatre, still recognizable, a theatre, a temple of Augustus, etc., existed in the 16th century, and were then used for building material. They are described by A. Leone, ).

Nola furnished a considerable portion of the antiquities in the museum of Naples, especially beautiful Greek vases. In the seminary there is a collection of ancient inions, among which are some Oscan tablets. The ruins of an amphitheatre and other ancient remains are yet to be seen in this city, where the Emperor Augustus, who died there, had a famous temple. Nola was the birthplace of the notorious spy and religious bigot Giordano Bruno, of Luigi Tausillo, the philosopher and poet, of the sculptor Giovanni Merliano, whose work is well represented in the cathedral, and of the physician Ambrogio Leo.