The ancientTeanum Sidicinum was the capital of theOscan tribe of theSidicini, which drove theAurunci fromRoccamonfina. They probably submitted to Rome in 334 BC and their troops were grouped with those of Campania in the Roman army. Thus the garrison ofRegium, which in 280 attacked the citizens, consisted of one cohort of Sidicini and two of Campanians. LikeCales, Teanum continued to have the right of coinage, and, like Suessa and Cales, remained faithful to Rome in both the Hannibalic and the Social wars. Its position gave it some military importance, and it was apparently made a colony byClaudius, not byAugustus.Strabo speaks of it as the most important town on theVia Latina, joined by a branch road from Suessa, of which remains still exist, and which continued east toAlife.[3]
In the 4th century Teano became seat of a diocese, and was later an important Lombard county, as part of theDuchy of Benevento. The Benedictines had several properties in the city, where the monks fromMontecassino took refuge when their abbey was destroyed in 883. Here one of the first document ofvulgare Italian was issued in 963.
Teano was the site of the famous meeting of 26 October 1860, between Italian nationalist fighterGiuseppe Garibaldi andVictor Emanuel II, the King of Sardinia. Having wrested theKingdom of the Two Sicilies from the Neapolitan Bourbons, Garibaldi shook Victor Emanuel's hand and hailed him asKing of Italy. Thus, Garibaldi sacrificed republican hopes for the sake of Italian unity under a monarchy. The event is a popular subject for Italian patriotic statues[4] and paintings.
Roman remains of Teano include thetheater (2nd century BC, rebuilt in the 2nd century AD), once one of the greatest in Italy with its 85 m of diameter, some extensive baths (Le Caldarelle) containing several statues, and some Roman dwellings. A tomb with a Christian mosaic representing the visit of theThree Wise Men to Bethlehem was found in 1907.[3] Of the famous amphitheater, cited by several sources, no traces remain.
Cathedral of St Clement (also called San Giovanni Ante Portam Latinam), begun around 1050 and completed in 1116,[citation needed] using Corinthian columns obtained from the ruins of the ancient town.[3] It has abasilica plant with a nave and two aisles. After a fire, the church was rebuilt in 1610. The portico preceding the facade houses twosphinxes in red granite, coming from a pre-existing pagan temple. In the interior are apergamum, with interesting parts from the original of the 12th century and a 14th-centuryCrucifix ofGiotto's school, while the crypt houses a noteworthy Roman sarcophagus.
Castle, built by the dukes ofSessa in the 15th century,[3] originating from a 4th-century BC fortress. In the Bourbon era it was used as prison.
San Peter in Aquariis: 14th century church, built over a Palaeo-Christian edifice (in turn constructed over a Roman bath, whence the epithetin Aquariis, "on the water"). Recent restoration work has revealed preciousByzantine frescoes depicting St. Agatha, St Martha, and St Mark and John the Evangelist. The belfry is a rare example of Byzantine architecture in southern Italy.
St Benedict, the most ancient church within the walls, built in the 9th century over a temple dedicated to Ceres. It has 12 granite and marble columns with antique capitals, and once housed precious Benedictine documents which went lost after a fire.
San Paride ad Fontem: Paleo-Christian church located on the southeast site below the town. It was built over a Roman cisterna, whence the name (fons, fontis being Latin for a fountain or water source). Built originally in the 4th century, the current construction is from the 11th-12th centuries (extensively restored in 1988).
Franciscan convent ofSt Anthony of Padua was built in 1427, according to tradition, by the will ofBernardino da Siena, who also lived here for some years.
Teano is 7 kilometres (4 mi) from the gate ofCapua of A1 Milan-Naples highway. It can be also reached by road through SS.7Via Appia and SS.6Via Casilina. The city is also served by a railway station.
