Termoli (Tèrmëlë in Molise dialect) is an Italian town of 33 408 inhabitants in the province of Campobasso in Molise. Termoli is located along the Adriatic coast. The only port in Molise, it is a fishing, tourist and industrial center. Keep the medieval village closed within the walls that separate it from the modern city.
The city overlooks the Adriatic Sea at an altitude
ranging from 0 to 178 m a.s.l. Located in the altimetric zone of the
coastal hill, it is classified as having low seismic risk.
Geographically, a large part of the territory lies between the
Biferno river (to the south) and the Sinarca torrent (to the north)
both of a torrential nature, hence the hypothesis of the ancient
name Interamnia Frentanorum which literally means "land between two
rivers".
The oldest part of the city, where the first
settlements were formed, is the promontory where the Borgo Antico
stands today, characterized by narrow streets with views of the
Adriatic Sea. The city develops towards the north coast (Spiaggia
Sant'Antonio) and towards the south (Rio Vivo) where the various
bathing establishments are located; towards the interior of the
territory the city branches out into various residential areas as
well as the city center formed by two main streets (Corso Nazionale
and Corso Fratelli Brigida) which were the cornerstones for
developing the city dictated by the Bourbons in the early 1800s.
Much of the suburbs now develop on the adjacent hills (Difesa
Grande and Colle Macchiuzzo) from which the cultivated countryside
opens; the southern area of Termoli, on the other hand, has the
only plain on the coast (Pantano basso) which extends from Rio vivo
into the interior until it joins the Piane di Larino (lowlands of
Molise) where we meet the industrial area of the city from which
it has a view over the entire hinterland of Termoli. The vegetation
is typically Mediterranean; in the countryside the cultivation of
the olive tree is relevant, so much so as to make Termoli a member
of the National Association of Oil Cities. Another important feature
is the presence of the port, the only one on the Molise coast which,
in addition to fishing activities, allows regular connections with
the Tremiti Islands, which are part of the province of Foggia.
In the city of Termoli the 42nd parallel north and the 15th
meridian east cross; the latter is the central meridian of the time
zone (UTC + 1 or Central European Time) of Berlin, Paris and Rome
(central-western Europe) which in fact determines the solar time of
the same zone (called the Termoli time ). The meridian is called
Termoli-Etna. The intersection between the two imaginary lines takes
place on the beach of Rio Vivo or more precisely at the marina of
San Pietro, a few steps from the place where until recently a
disused trebuchet (Trabucco di Bricche) was located. The older
calculations, on the other hand, placed the crossing point in
correspondence with an ancient semi-destroyed turret which is always
on the road to Rio Vivo.
The climate of the city
of Termoli, as demonstrated by the climate report of ISPRA for the
thirty years 1981-2010, falls within the Mediterranean type (CSa)
with hot but well-ventilated summers and generally mild winters with
limited daily temperature range (about 6 ° C) thanks to the
mitigating action of the sea. Precipitation is concentrated between
the autumn and winter seasons with a peak between the months of
October, November and December. They prove to be rather scarce, just
over 350 mm, so as to make the Termolese micro-climate transition
from Mediterranean to semi-arid (BSk) according to the Köppen
climate classification.
Termoli, however, appears to be a
humid city due to its morphology that extends it towards the sea,
with a rather constant annual average rate of 77.7%, which in summer
does not always favor climate mitigation; in fact, especially in
recent years, due to the incursion of the African subtropical
anticyclone, temperatures easily exceeded 30/35 ° C, obviously
exacerbated by the high rates (remember the summer 2017 in which the
real 30 ° C of the city , 46 ° C were perceived). Generally, in the
presence of an anticyclone coming from the Atlantic area
(anticyclone of the Azores) the temperature of the city stands at an
average of 25 ° C, typical of the Mediterranean hot season, with a
daily maximum of 28/30 ° C. Characteristic hot and summer winds come
from the southern quadrants of the wind rose even if there is also
the Mistral that dampens the air especially in the months of July
and August, which nights can be defined as tropical due to a minimum
that hardly drops below 23 / 24 ° C. Summer rainfall becomes rather
sparse as early as May and continues until after mid-August, but the
dry season can be interrupted by short thunderstorms called summer.
Winters are characterized by breezes coming from the NW / N / NE quadrants that make the temperatures of the city fluctuate from a minimum of 6 ° C to a maximum of 12 ° C, even if there are days where temperatures reach 15 ° C. A snowy regime, albeit not very frequent and of very short duration, is possible only in the case in which there is a descent of cold air coming from Siberia which generally affects the entire central-southern Adriatic area (remember the cold wave of February 2012 where temperatures dropped below 0 ° C). The winter temperatures are easily lowered due to a lack of protection from the north of a mountain range, which leaves the city exposed to cold currents in the same way as all the places that overlook the Adriatic.
There are
several hypotheses:
The first sailors who landed on the coasts of
Termoli and the Tremiti islands were sailors from Lycia. In fact
according to Herodotus (Ι, 173) the Lycians transmigrated from Crete
with the name of Termili.
According to the archdeacon Tommaso da
Termoli, the name Termoli derives from Tres Moles both for the
presence of ancient thermal baths that have never been found and for
the presence of three towers in the city;
Another hypothesis is
that Termoli would have it as a corruption of Interamnia, between
the rivers (Biferno and Sinarca);
Lorenzo Pignorio takes up the
hypothesis of Tommaso da Termoli and derives the name Termoli from
Termulae because of the small spas that should have been found near
the city;
Monsignor Tommaso Giannelli, bishop of Termoli from
1753 to 1768, on the other hand, considers it legitimate to
hypothesize that Termon is also one of the many cities founded by
the epic hero Diomede who, according to some writings, after having
landed on the Tremiti islands and having conquered the Gargano,
would have founded many cities, including , according to the bishop,
today's Termoli could also figure;
According to Monsignor Gennaro
De Rubertis, during the ancient dominion of the city by the
monastery of Cassino, the city took the name of Termolantes, a word
that denotes lands belonging to the church, free and immune from the
secular podestà;
Another hypothesis still has the origin of the
word Termoli the same as that of Tremiti or that according to which
the frequency of earthquakes would have given the name to the city;
According to other Termoli it has Greek origins and therefore the
three final letters "oils" can be traced back to polis as in the
names of Naples or Gallipoli and the root instead derives from
Terma, limit or border and therefore border city;
The hypothesis
credited by A. M. Rocchia in his 800 manuscript "Cronistoria di
Guglionesi and the translations of Saint Adam" is that Termoli in
the past was Interamnia Frentanorum, a strategically very important
port center where intense maritime-commercial traffic took place.
Another thesis claims that the name derives from Ter Molitus,
destroyed three times.
In any case there are no certain
attestations.
Furthermore, an ancient geographical map dating
back to 1745 depicting the entire Molise coast, found in an American
archive, reports the toponyms Termole or Termine for the city.