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Marina di Puolo, divided between
Sorrento and Massa Lubrense, is the smallest village
of both towns. Here 150 inhabitants live, about
thirty reside in Sorrento, the rest in Massa Lubrense.
Its history flows among the wrinkles of the old
fishermen, intents to mend nets and to search
the sea, the sea of the Riserva Naturale Marina
of Punta Campanella, a protected area of important
environmental merit for its biodiversity.  The
suburb, all cosy behind the great beach, is guarded
from the old sighting tower of the pirates...
the mass of a ghost, witness of histories of sea
and blood… A real portrait of the "Land
of the Mermaids", perhaps not so different
from what Publio Papinio Stazio (latin poet, 45
a.D.-96 a.D.) admired twenty centuries ago when
he wrote: "Here opens the harbour (formed
by the nature) around which risen, disposed in
a circle, necks and mountains, in that manner
where the increasing moon is seen in the sky,
and the port is surrounded by tall rocks towards
the earth. The sea runs out smoothly in this breast
leaving the damp beach to the foot of the necks"
(Silvae, II,2).
The word "Puolo" derives
from the Latin "Pollius", the name of
the Roman patrician Pollius Felix, the proprietor
of the villa extolled by Stazio in the poems:"Villa
Surrentina Pollii Felicis" and
"Hercules Surrentinus Pollii Felicis".
Before the building of the villa maybe the village
wasn't inhabited, in fact Stazio, in the poem
Hercules Surrentinus Pollii Felicis, so describes
the place before Pollio Felice rebuilt the Temple
in honour of Hercules: "...a desolate
beach where the sailors in transit repaired to...".
The villa enclosed the whole
bay (from the Cape of Sorrento to the Cape of
Massa Lubrense); surrounded by wonderful gardens
and vineyards, it was a downright jewel-case of
treasure and works of art, adorned with splendid
polychrome marbles from Mediterraneo. Many centuries
after, the french Jean-Jacques Bouchard, who was
in Sorrento in 1632, in his "Journal"
wrote: "...there is a gulf, a bay called
Polo... where it's possible see that view described
by Stazio and where there are the remains of an
ancient civilization, the remains of ancient splendour...".
In addition to what the latin
poet wrote about the place, there are not many
news in the known bibliography but, in the "History
of Massa Lubrense" of Filangieri,
the book deals with Puolo when it deals with the
invasion of the Saracens in 1558 "...the
whole Massa Lubrense, from its bay until the Polo's
bay was surrounded by triremes...".
Filangieri, besides, carries
the news concerning the so-called "Cause
of Puolo". In 1570 the inhabitants of
Sorrento brought a lawsuit to the inhabitants
of Massa Lubrense because they demanded that Puolo
belonged to Sorrento and demanded the Jus piscandi
(the right of the fishing in the bay). In a first
moment they lost the lawsuit (sentence of the
28th of November 1571 passed by The Great Court
of the Vicariate); then, a sentence of the 2nd
of May 1628, passed by The Collateral Council,
decided that Puolo had to be divided between Sorrento
and Massa Lubrense, along the natural border of
the stream brook that flows into the direction
of the Petrapoli (the central rock).
During the course of the centuries
the village always has been inhabited because
it's sure the presence of three churches.  The
Church of the Virgin Mary Addolorata builded about
in 1500 and rebuild in the eighteenth century
when the Church of Saint Erasmus, which stood
near the stream brook, collapsed. They said that
there was the column where Saint Erasmus suffered
the martyrdom and that the sand in front of the
church was miraculous.The third church is the
Chapel of Saint Eustacchio which stood on the
Cape of Massa (where there is the inlet called
'o Maciello). Nowadays it's only possible see
a little piece of the wall of that building.
In 1797, when the plague broke out in Naples,
a lot of Guards officers didn't allowed anybody
stranger the access to Puolo. They say that the
families Esposito and Di Leva came from the Village
of the Fishermen in Naples and they settled in
Puolo at the end of the eighteenth century to
escape the plague and the cholera.
Unfortunately, there isn't any
known bibliography about the building where "The
Loggia" is. They say that it was a pasta
factory and the pasta produced was desiccated
on the terrace (loggia) which soars high
above it. The building is constituted by big rooms
with arched vaults (now subdivided by partitions
and garrets), cisterns and inside wells; contorted
stairs then lead from the monazzeni (on
the beach) to the overhanging terrace and at last
it's possible see a room called "the mill"
where some years ago there was still a millstone.
As regards the recent history,
apart from the destruction caused by stone quarry,
Marina di Puolo is come out of building undamaged.
Thanks to Achille Lauro, most of the terrirtory
of the bay, bought at the beginning of the twentieth
century, is untouched nowadays. It's also important
to remind that the Marquises of Serracapriola,
in 1960, prevented and opposed a wicked scheme
to build a road along the coast from Marina Grande
di Sorrento to Massa Lubrense. 
THE STONE
QUARRY ('A Muntagna)
At the end of the eighteenth century, the
coast, untouched from the age in which Pollio
Felice built his splendid villa, was destroyed
by dynamite, in the east on the promontory of
the Calcarella and in the west in the stone quarry
Merlino. Owing to the extractive activity, million
of cubic metres of calcareous rocks and the precious
ruins of the Roman villa extolled by Publio Papinio
Stazio crashed.
The extractive activity was started
by the Fernez and the Fogliotti, who limited their
quarring of calcareous stones to produce lime
in the Calcara (the big tufaceous building
at the entrance of the stone quarry). Then, thanks
to Merlino, it became a real industry offering
a job in a territory where people were fishermen,
peasants or sailors. In addition to local people,
many immigrants, particularly from Sardinia, found
a job in the stone quarry (the Zuddas, the Murredda,
the Migliorini - one of the best loader).
The stone quarry so became a
downright industry constituted by workers, skilled
and not (mining engineers, the head of the workers,
miners, carpenters, labourers and apprentices),
by administrative offices and a specialized workshop
(the forge) where skilled carpenters constructed
and repaired the trolleys to transport the rocks
and where the blacksmiths forged the tools necessary
to the extractive activity.
The trolleys, on which powerful
steam-cranes loaded enormous rocks, ran on the
tracks which led either to the wharf of embarkation
of the pontoons or to the dock of the bettoline
(boats to transport gravel) or to the stone-press
where the detritus were transformed in gravel
and then loaded on the paranzielli (motor-sailing-ship).
THE
PONTOONS
The works in the stone quarry were important
because the firm Merlino built ports and breakwater
with the rocks. They were transported by pontoons,
big lighters on which there were tracks to load
the enormous stones in the trolleys and where
the crews performed several duties. The pontoons,
called Campania, Asti, Savoia, were towed by tug
Pietro Micca which was bought by firm Merlino
in England at the beginning of the twentieth century
and which is nowadays a pleasure craft (the only
italian steamer). The Savoia sank in the port
of Puolo during the sixties but the Campania and
the Asti were laid up while the trolleys and the
steam-cranes were replaced by modern bulldozer
and camion.
Since 1900 to 70's, in the period
April-October, the works in the stone quarry were
characterized by: the noise of the stone-press,
the whistle of the head of the workers to start
or finish the shifts, the three blares of trumpet
warning people of the explosion of a mine, the
noise of the big compressor which pumped up pneumatic
drills working along the rocky coast, the smiths
who hammered in the forge, the whistle of the
tug Pietro Micca and the voice of the head-pontoon
who asked "'O pont' è lest'? Ammaina!"
(Is the bridge free?... strike!) so that the drawbridge
on the head of the pier struck and the trolleys
full of rocks were led to the pontoons.
THE GALLERY
Periodically, every 4-5 years, they had the
gallery exploded. After a long operation of excavation
to build a blind gallery half-way through rocky
coast, the tunnel excavated was stuffed with trinitrotoluene
and then exploded. Before explosion, the experts
of the firm Merlino made note of the smallest
damages of the local flats to avoid not well-founded
compensations for possible damages caused. The
towns Massa Lubrense and Sorrento issued the ordinances
to move out of the flats of the whole village
and to interrupt the maritime traffic in that
zone. The explosion was warned by three blares
of trumpet (each one every hour) and it quaked
the ground so that it was felt as far as Meta
di Sorrento, in the meantime million of cubic
metres of calcareous rocks crashed.
At the beginning of the extractive
activity they made use of a little trinitrotoluene
put in holes got by chisel and muriatic acid corroding
the limestone. The first time the gallery exploded
the results weren't good because the miners weren't
maybe skilled. Old people remember "the gallery
exploded like a cannon", in fact, the few
collapsed rocks were flung, like from a cannon,
to the sea.
When the extractive activities
finished, the territory of the stone quarry was
sold and the new proprietors started a big operation
of building speculation but the Association Friends
of Puolo put an end to this action thanks to a
petition signed by thousands of people, involving
all parties in Parliament and stopping then the
casting of cement which'd have spoiled the bay
definitively.
THE FISHING
The fishing has always been the main activity
of the inhabitants of Puolo. According to the
seasons, the fishermen prepared their boats with
appropriate fishing-nets and tools.
In spring and summer they usually
fished for anchovies. Besides, the long boats
were equipped with lampara (surrounding
net which, when lowered into the sea, is designed
to pen and capture, with immediate retrieval,
a bank of fish) and at dusk small boats took to
the open sea with globi astern (big paraffin-lamp);
they, proceeding slowly, attracted the fishes
and caught them in the large nets. In the morning
these fishing-nets, (in cotton, until the 60's),
were put on the beach to be dried while, the fishermen
repaired them (cunciare) of the damages
and the children cleaned the large boats and laid
the pagliolo (bottom board) so that
it dried. At 11 a.m. the fishing-nets were panniate
(handled in order that sand and pebbles dropped)
and then put on the boats cleaned and in good
order. In the afternoon ('a controra) the
beach was deserted as the fishermen had a rest
in view of the fishing at night.
In September they fished for
atlantic saury. The boats were equipped with ravestina
(another particular seine-net) and some stones
loaded by fishermen to compel the fishes to go
in the net.
In winter the crews practised
the fishing with trawl-net (sciavichiello)
drawn to the shore or to the boat and on the beach
it was possible see the spasari (some pergolas
where the fishing-nets were put to be dried).
When the weather was bad, the fishermen (and often
the women too, who already were fishwives) wove
the nets (sarcire) and equipped them (i
mestieri).
 All components of the crews (le
chiorme) were generally relatives and the
head-crew was the oldest in the family. In 60's
there were the crews: Vanniello, Catapano,
Accummauno, Rafele 'a Muschia, the Alleati
and often some peasants joined them when the country
work was scarce.
Besides these types of fishing,
some people fished with nets put on the bottom
of the sea, others with fishing-line and other
people fished for octopus by lancelluzze
(small terracotta jars linked by a halyard and
put on the bottom of the sea).
In 70's the cotton was replaced
by nylon and the floatings were in plastic. So
the work of the fishermen was facilitated thanks
to the lightness of this material and because
the nylon dries fastly. Besides the long boats
were equipped with diesel engines, some fishermen
joined the merchant navies and some poetry came
to the garret when there was
the economic boom.
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