Nola, called Nuvlana on the most ancient coins, was one of the oldest cities of Campania, variously said to have been founded by the Ausones, the Chalcidians from Cumae and the Etruscans. The last named were certainly in Nola about 560 BC. At the time when it sent assistance to Neapolis against the Roman invasion (328 BC) it was probably occupied by Oscans in alliance with the Samnites. In the Samnite War (311 BC) the town was taken by the Romans, in the Second Punic War it thrice offered defiance to Hannibal (first, second, and third Battle of Nola) and on two occasions (215 and 214) was defended by Marcellus. In the Social War it was betrayed into the hands of the Samnites, who kept possession till Marius, with whom they had sided, was defeated by Sulla, who in 80 BC subjected it with the rest of Samnium. Seven years later it was stormed by Spartacus, for which reason Augustus and Vespasian sent colonies there.

Nola, though losing much of its importance, remained a municipium with its own institutions and the use of the Oscan language. It became a Roman colony under Augustus, who died here in 14 AD.

Nola lay on the Via Popilia from Capua to Nocera and the south, and a branch road ran from it to Abella and Avellino. Mommsen (Corp. inscr. Lat. X. 142) further states that roads must have run direct from Nola to Neapolis and Pompeii.