Lacco Ameno is a town andcomune situated in the northwest of the island ofIschia, in theMetropolitan City of Naples off the west coast ofItaly. The town has a population of around 4,800 inhabitants.
It is located at the feet ofMount Epomeo, facing the sea. The name most likely derives from theGreeklakkos, meaning "stone". The nameameno was added to the official name in 1862.
On July 28, 1883, Lacco Ameno was severely damaged by an earthquake; together with the neighboring town ofCasamicciola, the earthquake claimed over 2,300 victims. 269 houses, about 69% of the entire building fabric, were completely destroyed, and only 18 buildings remained undamaged.
However, this could not stop the change from a fishing village to a health resort with thermal springs. The Italian publisherAngelo Rizzoli made Lacco Ameno a place for the internationaljet set by building several hotels five star Luxury in the 1950s and 1960s still today the pride of the island’s ospitality. In 1962 he also donated to the only hospital on Ischia, "Ospedale Anna Rizzoli".
starting from the fifties and sixties of the last century, Lacco Ameno became a destination frequented and loved by the international jet-set: among the many notable regulars the British royal Duke of Windsor, the actors Clark Gable and Liz Taylor, and the last Shah of Persia, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, stand out. The country's first and only related industry is tourism, with a particular vocation for the luxury segment. Along with the hotels, a commercial chain of boutiques and jewelery shops developed which can still be seen today in the main square dedicated to the patron saint. The first infrastructure in the country is represented by the tourist port which hosts a renowned pier dedicated to the docking of mega-yatches.
On August 21, 2017, a moderate magnitude 4 earthquake struck Lacco Ameno and Casamicciola Terme, killing two people, partially collapsing a church and destroying several houses.
Lacco Ameno is home to an 11th-century church, built over a pre-existingPalaeo-Christian edifice. The Museum ofSanta Restituta houses several prehistorical findings and Greek ceramics from the 8th-2nd centuries BC. There are many luxury hotels and boutiques frequented, especially in the summer months.
