Two gates, the Terra gate and the Mezz'Omo gate and also a ditch, the Largo dei Fossi, isolated and subsequently protected the zone, those days denominated Terra Casata.
In Via del Borgo it is possible to admire a typical residence that represents an example of local housebuilding, with apartments dug into the tuff and developed on three levels with the ground floor turned into shops or deposits and external staircases for the access to the upper floors.
The only sample of noble architecture is the patrician De Iorio family building, a fortified structure built before 1500 and held to be the residence of Giovanni da Procida, the first vassal of the island and the hero of the Vespri Siciliani. In 1656 the building was turned into a Conservatory for Orphans.

The conformation of the place was modified on the initiative of the Cardinal Innico d’Avalos of Aragon, a feudatory of the island, and also Abate Commendatario of the abbey of St. Michele Arcangelo (1561-1600) who, in order to protect themselves from continuous piratical raids, had a building built, the Castle of d’Avalos, on the site of the ancient Gate of Terra and then had fortified walls built around the citadel, upon which the Porta di Ferro (Iron door) was opened: Thus, Terra Casata became Terra Murata.
It was up to the Cardinal d’Avalos to authorize the Dominican monks to move their centre from Santa Margherita in Chiaiolella to the southern point of Terra Murata, which has since then been named Punta dei Monaci (Monks’ Point), where a new monastery was erected with the name of Santa Margherita Nuova and where recently two long range cannons have been placed which once where used by the French Navy to guard the bay of Corricella. The French Navy supported the Neapolitan Republic in 1799 against the Anglo-Bourbonic forces.

The history and the destiny of Procida has rotated for centuries around the Castle of d’Avalos, which is the first element of Procida that appears to whoever comes from Naples by ship. In fact, the Castle was the abode of the family of d’Avalos up to the beginning of the 18th century when, following the dissensions between Charles III of Bourbon, king of Naples, and Giovan Battista d’Avalos, the island was forfeited to the latter and became a place dedicated to the art of hunting and reserved for the Court and the king.
Therefore, the first inside changes that turned the building into the royal palace dated back to this period. In 1815, the function of the place changed. It went from being a royal palace to being a military college and then to being a penal bath. From the beginning of the 19th century it was notably enlarged to the point that it became a real prison city up until 1988. Today it is the focal point of numerous, ambitious projects among which the most accredited is the transformation of the city into a polyvalent tourist-cultural pole.

Besides the Castle, the other principal attraction of Terra Murata is the marvelous abbey of St. Michele Arcangelo, which has been the religious and cultural center of the island for more than a thousand years, and which is the fruit of the manifold stratifications and architectural transformations that happened during the centuries.There are two entrances to the abbey: The main gate, also called Porta del Carmine because of the presence of a fresco featuring the Madonna del Carmine and the other entrance constituted by a façade made during the regency of the cardinal d’Avalos. A Saracen anchor put inside the abbey reminds people of the legendary event. This is why the Procidans carry their patron saint twice a year in their processions: On the 29th of September in the village of Terra Murata with the final benediction of the whole of the island from the Mill, and on the 8th of May, when the silvery statue is carried around the various quarters of Procida.
The floor of the abbey is tiled with 17th century Neapolitan tiles and majolica, and it has numerous tomb stones that open the access to the subterranean part, once the ancient cemetery of the island.
To go down into the subterranean part of the abbey means to undertake a journey through history, culture, tradition, faith and mystery. Besides viewing a marvellous panorama of the sky and the sea, along the way, which is articulated on three levels, it is possible to admire objects and documents of immense historical value.

The climate of the undergrounds is made even more suggestive by the burial ground, an ancient place of burial characterized by the presence of an ambulatory for burial and mummification, which was accessed by trap doors still visible today. Nowadays it is possible to see partially mummified human remains. Nevertheless, you should not leave the abbey without first stopping at the "biglietti-monito" (warning-plaques) scattered here and there in the religious complex by Monsignor Fasanaro, better known as “il curato” who, in almost fifty years has succeeded in making this a resplendent complex, considered among one of the most beautiful abbeys in Italy.
The particular conformation of the ancient suburb and the imposing Palazzo d'Avalos can also be admired by sea in the body of sea immediately after Marina Grande, where you first come across a small beach and then you see the mysterious cave of the "Bue Marino" (the Sea Ox) which is supposedly inhabited by a strange sea creature according to a fishermen's legend...

A magical place, where Morante's words spring to mind once more:

"Here all the winds come to blow your hair and the whole light of the world comes to illuminate you and an endless blue comes to reconcile you… "

	What to visit · The Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo · The antique village of Terra Murata · Belvedere di Via Borgo · A typical procidan house · Castle "D'Avalos" · Piazza delle Armi · Complesso Carcerario · Port of "Mezz'Omo" and "Ferro" · Via del Mulino · Belvedere dei Due Cannoni · Convent of Santa Margherita