San Martino
San Martino and the Roccamonfina Volcanic Landscape
September 2015
San Martino is a rural hamlet of Sessa Aurunca in the Province of Caserta, Campania. It lies within the agricultural landscape southwest of the extinct Roccamonfina volcanic complex. Roccamonfina’s documented eruptive history extended through the Middle and Late Pleistocene, from approximately 630,000 to 55,000 years ago.
The area’s volcanic history continues to influence its land use. Deep soils developed on volcanic deposits support agriculture, while the surrounding countryside includes olive groves, vineyards, orchards, chestnut groves, and deciduous woodland. Chestnut cultivation is particularly characteristic of the higher Roccamonfina landscape.
The 2015 photographs document San Martino as a small agricultural settlement of cultivated hillsides, olive trees, stone buildings, narrow roads, and scattered farm properties. The fields and built environment together record the relationship between a rural Campanian community and its volcanic terrain.
