Aversa () is a city and comune in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the Agro Aversano, producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical buffalo mozzarella). Aversa is also the main seat of the faculties of Architecture and Engineering of the Seconda università degli studi di Napoli (Second University of Naples). With a population of 52,974 (2017), it is the second city of the province after Caserta. Geography Aversa is located near the city of Naples; it is separated by only 24 kilometres from Naples and by 26 kilometres from Caserta, the administrative centre of the province of the same name. The municipality borders Carinaro, Casaluce, Cesa, Frignano, Giugliano in Campania, Gricignano di Aversa, Lusciano, San Marcellino, Sant'Antimo, Teverola and Trentola Ducenta. It is located in a fertile coastal plain north of Naples, thus serving as a market for agricultural products to the city. The plain on which it sits was known in ancient Roman times as the Campania Felix. History Prehistory Archaeological sites excavated near Aversa have revealed human presence in the area since the Neolithic period. Some say that the founding of the ancient city took place with the Etruscans. In any case, because of endemic malaria that ravaged the region, the primitive city was abandoned. Lower middle ages Only a small military fortification, a castellum, still stands in the area, which is linked to a chapel in memory of the current alleged passage through Aversa by the Apostle Paul in the year 61. A.D., via the Roman road that ran towards Rome. Aversa County See also List of Counts of Aversa. The present-day Aversa, which replaced the nearby city of Atella that had been laid waste during the Gothic Wars, was the first of the Norman territories in the Mediterranean. In 1030, the site was ceded to Rainulf Drengot, a cadet of the lords of Quarrel near Alençon in Normandy; he was invested as count by Duke Sergius IV of Naples and confirmed by Emperor Conrad II. By offering a generous principle of asylum for the persecuted, Rainulf enlarged the power and importance of his little borgo, which became the base from which the Normans forged a state in Sicily and Italy. The diplomacy of Robert Guiscard, who built the fortifications, led to the investiture of a bishop responsible to