An agricultural centre at the foot of Mount Somma, it has long been a sought-after holiday resort.

It was dominated from above thanks to the Castle which in 1085 hosted  Pope Gregory VII  and in 1304 was destroyed by  Charles of Anjou  and then rebuilt from 1567 by Bernadetto de' Medici.

The town preserves several churches of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries including the imposing sanctuary of St. Michael Archangel.