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In 1776 Nicola Barra owned the land of Basciano, in Abruzzo Ultra I, of which a Placido was the last holder. With DM 4 January this family was authorized to assume the title of Noble with pred. of Basciano (mf.) to Giovanni, of Gennaro, of Placido, Vincenzo and Carolina, with transmissibility for males and females. The family participated in the history of Naples and its events during the past, contributing not a little to the nobility and institutional offices of the same city, made by the kings who reigned in the Duchy of Naples. Many kingdoms have passed over this Byzantine province, ruled by a dux. In 638 Naples was dependent on the governor of Sicily and later ruled directly by the emperor. Duke-Bishop Stefano II was the first of the elective dukes to succeed each other for about a century, followed by the hereditary dukes. In addition to Naples, the duchy included Pozzuoli, Cuma, Sorrento and the Terra del Lavoro. The golden age was the tenth century, under the reigns of Gregory III, Sergius II, Athanasius II, Gregory IV and John II; in this period the dukes implemented an effective defense of their independence and a strong action to remove Muslims from the lower Tyrrhenian Sea, ennobling numerous families, including the same. Towards the eleventh century, the decline of the duchy began, after a series of defeats inflicted by the Byzantines and the Lombards of the principality of Capua, for which Sergio IV was forced to seek help from the Normans as soon as they appeared in the South; as a reward for such help, their leader, Rainolfo Drengot, had to be rewarded with the concession of Aversa. In 1077, the progressive Norman expansion forced the various dukes to a painful defensive action, which culminated in the siege of