Genzano di Lucania history, as we know it
Welcome to our page (38), Genzano history as we know it:
-Dear readers, this page is a long article that has been also published in Hub Pages, with a lot more photos than are here, if you want to visit it, click on the link at the top of this page.
GENZANO HYSTORY AS WE KNOW IT
This is Genzano corso, one of the main street of this town, in this photo it seems deserted, but it is one of the main street of Genzano, where people stroll up and down all dressed up, in the company of their best friends, usually on Sunday afternoon and feast days. It is like a parade.
Genzano di Lucania history, as we know it.
This hub is being
written mainly for the people that come from Genzano di Lucania most of all,
since for these people it is easy to visualise and remember what we are going
to talk about in this article, I know this because I have come from this town
myself and today I would like to say a few things about my native town and the
ways that I remember it. What I am going to write here is not an exact history
article, because I am going to write this article just the way I know and
remember it.
Anyhow, one of the
first things that come to my mind, while I am writing this article is my
teacher, because when I was at school in Genzano di Lucania, my teacher (Ettore
Lorito) who was also a writer was writing a book about Genzano di Lucania, So,
I wish I had this book with me now, so that I could find many more things to
say about Genzano, but this book is very hard to find these days, so I have to
say only those things that I remember and know.
((Now, if you happen to be an Italian or able to read Italian easily,
then I could navigate you where to find this link that Ettore Lorito has
written about this very event of how Genzano was named: First of all you need
to use this link to my blog, http://genzanoit.blogspot.com/, on the left there
is a column with various links go down the page and find Home pages, in this
group near the top you will find, Genzano in italiano (1) click on it and then
go down the page and click on Scrittori e poeti,a few names will
come up, click on Ettore Lorito, now that you are on Ettore Lorito site choose
what you want to read.))
So, let us begin
our story; how the town of Genzano came into existence, we cannot say exactly
how it happened, because there isn’t any written history about it; so, we
should start, with what most people believe today, which is a folklore story
that has been passed down from previous generations. Anyhow, most people today
believe that it was a queen of Monteserico that was the real founder of modern Genzano,
but there are other stories as well, as we are going to mention here-under. Anyhow,
we are going to talk about this queen of Monteserico later, in this long
article; now, let us just say that there are a few very ancient stories that go
around, but they may just be myths, one of these stories tells us that there
was a youth called Yens, he was an excellent flute player, he fell in love with
a princes called San who also fell in love with him; because they loved each
other one day this princess San ran away from home with the help of Yens and
she joined Yens and Yens family, who were living in Genzano territory; very
likely they lived in the caves in the chasm below the future Genzano of today.
Knowing that this
girl was a real princess, Yens and his family decided to give her a better place
to live in, so they started to build something fit for a princess on the hill
above the caves. This is how Genzano started the very first time and the name
of Genzano is the name of the two lover put together (Yens-San) I know this
might be just another folklore story, but that is how I know it. We believe
that we have mentioned this in another hub in a more detailed way and this is
the link: The heritage
chapter
Of course there are
other stories as well and some of them we will tell you as we keep writing
about the story of Genzano, the other stories that will be left behind do not
matter, because we don’t see why we need to tell them all, since the one we
have told seems most fitting for our story. Anyhow let us continue to tell more
stories or facts, where some written evidence has been found about Genzano history,
even if what we are going to say next may in a way contradict what we have
written above.
Some Genzano written history
Apart what we have
said above, let us see what other sources say about Genzano history:
Now, there is no
certainty about the following, because as we all know the origins of places and
things sometimes are very hard to know with certainty, but what follow here is
a very compact history of Genzano di Lucania. So, let us write this compact
version down:
Some historian says
that perhaps were the Romans that started Genzano town about the VI centure BC
when they had this ‘Pagus Gentianum settlement to control this part of their
territories. There are a lot of things left unsaid here, but we want to keep
this compact and jump several centuries. Next most important historic event is
the Normans in Italy, this part of Italy was under the Normans control for a while
and they ran most of their conquest from the castle of Monteserico, one of the
names of these Normans leaders was Roberto il Guiscardo; Anyhow after the
Normans this part of the country passed several other owners, as it was used in
the old system of feudality; this lasted until the year 1806 when the king of
Naples Giuseppe Banaparte, abrogated feudality; so today everything is under
modern current system. This is just a very short history of Genzano di Lucania.
Now let us start to
tell other stories in between what we have not said above. Another one of the
earliest and first written stories about Genzano, goes back to Roman times
again, or about when the Roman Empire started to crumble, see the report below
that I have found on the Internet, where it states when the Western Roman
Empire collapsed.
The Western Roman
Empirecollapsed in 476 as Romulus Augustus was forced to
abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer.
But even before the
Roman Empire collapsed there is an event somewhere in the Roman history where
they talk about a Genzano town, whether that Genzano is Genzano di Lucania or
Genzano di Roma as we know them today is not clear, but anyhow there was a
Genzano town during the Roman Empire, since I am talking about Genzano di
Lucania, let us assume that it could well be Genzano di Lucania.
There is also
another comment that I have written already somewhere about two martyrs that
were definitely in Genzano the Lucania, and this is what I said: let us talk
for a moment about more recent history that a recent write has discovered in
the archive of Potenza; one of the first times that Genzano is mentioned in the
archives is that of two brothers Secondo and Donato who were Christian martyr
in the year 258 AD, as they were beheaded in Genzano ordered from council
Valeriano, which I guess was a Roman council for that part of Italy, this event
has also been mentioned in our hub called, The heritage chapter the link is
within these article. This seems to be the oldest written record found about
Genzano history and not much else; now, let us go back to talk about Genzano of
today.
Apart the fact that
these hubs are being written for Hub Pages readers, we hope also that our
countrymen Genzanesi will come across these hubs about Genzano town and follow
us and our articles and also write a few comments if they feel like writing
anything.
There is a lot more
that could be said, for a start beside here there are a couple of photos about
Genzano the way we remember and it is today, but there is more that could be
said, therefore we invite you to continue reading and if you would like to know
more about Genzano di Lucania, click on the link below.
Here we need to say
that there are many stories and legends about this town of Genzano; it is just
like many other ancient towns, some of these stories we have written
here-under.
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Saint Anthony protector of Genzano town
As we all know most
if not all places in the world have a protector or patron, it is our human way
of doing these things, of course there is a story about this protector and most
likely it explains the reason why this person or Saint is the protector of the
place.
Now that we have
explained that, let us tell you about Genzano di Lucania protector; this is a
very old story about Genzano; and it may well be after the time when the Roman
Empire collapsed: And this story that we are telling you here is about St.
Antonio Abate who is still nowadays the patron saint of Genzano, this story
goes back to the fifth century AD or there about, a sort of Genzano town
already existed then, as we have proof in the archive of Potenza that two
martyrs were executed in Genzano in the year 258 AD.
Anyhow, there was a
war going on at that time when this happened: The town of Genzano made
resistance to the enemy aggression and its demands, so it was put under siege.
The enemy was furious and was going to destroy Genzano; so they set their war
machines ready for tomorrow to begin the assault of Genzano and destroy it. The
town of Genzano was in grave danger, but that night the weather rained, snowed
and became bitterly cold, it was so cold that froze everything stiff, so cold
and frozen were the war machines that they could not be used or even moved, and
the weather was cold for a very long time afterward, until the enemy became
tired and left; and that’s how Genzano was saved from destruction. The day that
this event happened was on the 17th day of January, which is the day
of St. Antonio Abate according to the Roman Catholic calendar. See what I found
on the Internet about this great saint:
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great (c. 251–356), (CopticⲀⲃⲃⲁⲀⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ), also known as Saint
Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt,Anthony of
the Desert,Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius (Ἀββᾶς
Ἀντώνιος), andFather of All Monks, was a Christiansaint from Egypt, a prominent
leader among the Desert Fathers. He is celebrated
in many churches on his feast days: 30 January in the
Eastern Orthodox
Church and the Coptic Orthodox
Church; 17 January in the Roman Catholic
Church and the Coptic Catholic
Church.
The biography of
Anthony's life by Athanasius of
Alexandria helped to spread the concept of monasticism, particularly in
Western Europe through Latin translations. He
is often erroneously considered the first monk, but as his biography and other sources
make clear, there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was, however, the
first known ascetic going into the wilderness, a geographical shift that seems
to have contributed to his renown.[4]
Anthony is appealed
to against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases. "Saint
Anthony's fire" has described different afflictions including ergotism,erysipelas and shingles.
End of Internet
report about Saint Anthony.
Now that we have
explained who was this great Saint Anthony, let us tell you how the story goes:
The folks of Genzano believe that this incredible happening of cold weather was
due to divine intervention through St. Antonio Abate: And this is the reason
why St. Antonio Abate was made Patron Saint and protector of Genzano; this belief
about Saint Anthony has lasted to the present time, and here we have to add
that even today when there is a problem in this town, let us say it has not
rained for a long time, so rain is needed for the fields to grow, the priest
and the people soon take Sant’Antonio out in a procession through the town and
into the country, in the hope that Sant’Antonio will help to make it rain. This
is how the people of Genzano venerate this great Saint Anthony.
Now let us go back
to Genzano history, for a very long time after this happening above and during
the Dark Ages; (Here we have reason to believe that the Dark Ages are called
dark ages just because there is no much written history about them) there
doesn’t seem to be any real history written about Genzano town also, and
therefore nobody seems to know what has happened during that period of time.
History seems to slowly restart at the beginning of the second millennium, see
our next story. The Normans in Italy
-----------------------------------------------
The Normans in Italy
This is some history of Genzano Menteserico castle and the Normans as we
understand it.
Let us explain
first that what we are writing here is also a personal story, this story
somehow bridges history itself and explains things that most of us did not know
before, and so, let me tell you my personal story first:
Since I came to
Australia I have worked in the building industry where I met this Frenchmen
called Luis, we worked with the same firm for a few years and most times I and
Luis worked together, so we knew each other well. Luis came to Australia when
France left Algeria and the army of Algeria was dismantled so to speak, Luis
was a captain in the army, so he had learned about many army things including
army history. Anyhow let me come to the point of why Luis knowledge is
important here.
One day I was
looking on the TV at the Tour of France, this stage was run in Normandy, so
while I was looking at the country side I saw this castle in the background,
which I could have sworn that it was exactly the same as the castle that I had
been seeing thousands of times from my farm in southern Italy. So next time
when I met Luis I asked him about it and surprise, surprise no sooner I
mentioned the castle of Monteserico that he knew all about it, so he explained
to me.
The Normans have
only built two castles one in France and another in southern Italy, and from
this castle of Monteserico they would dominate all their conquests of southern
Italy. So here is the proof that Luis gave me, which is that the castle of
Monteserico has been built from the Normans; but I was wandering whether it
could be true.
Now we have to say
that even with this Frenchman called Luis explanation about the castle of
Monteserico, we are not sure if he was right to assume that the Normans built
this castle, Luis story only shows us that this castle of Monteserico has been
used from the Normans, because there are other stories about its origin; in
fact there is even a story that this castle could have been built from a Roman
family to run the surrounding countryside, or it might have been built as a
monastery in the beginning of the Christian Era, and then went through several
changes and owners that used it in different ways. It was built above caves
where indigenous people used to live a very long time ago.
Anyhow the fact
remains that the Norman really had possessed the castle of Monteserico, because
history shows us that in the X or XI century there indeed was a great battle
around this castle won by the Norman, and therefore the Normans used this
castle to dominate their conquests in southern Italy.
To see more click
on links below;
Here we could also
add this link, in this link there is a lot more said about this castle of
Monteserico and about Genzano history, it is a site created years ago from this
Architect of Genzano, C. Pietrapertosa, (it is written in Italian)
----------------------------------
Now let us go back
to talk about the modern Genzano; or should we say the Era when they started to
build, or perhaps rebuilt the modern Genzano as it exists today, we guess that
it could have been the twelfth or the thirteen century, and this is what was happening
then in the new would be Genzano: You see in this castle of Monteserico that
the Norman had used as we have written above, which is about fifteen kilometres
away from Genzano and situated East-South-East of Genzano. This is an old
castle built or perhaps modified from the Norman’s or somebody else during or
after the fall of the Roman Empire when they overrun Italy, as we have already
said; it is said that a long time ago there was a small town around the castle,
but today there is no real evidence of it and no real history when it cessed to
exist. All we know is that today no other building has been built near this
castle except a small chapel. Anyhow when the Norman domination came to an end,
after many battles and other things; it happens that sometime later on, it was
owned from other important people and one day there was this Spanish Princes
called Aquilina Sancia, who later on would become the new founder of Genzano
town, and even today the people of Genzano feel grateful towards her, and indeed
most modern people that don’t know the entire history think that Aquilina
Sancia is the founder of Genzano.
--------------------------------------------
Aquilina Sancia queen of Monteserico
This is how the
modern Genzano came into being;
The story and folklore
of Genzano says that it was Aquilina Sancia, who happened to own the castle of
Monteserico at the time when Genzano needed help to restart again, we say
restart again because there wasn’t a real Genzano town when this happened; so,
this princess in the very early 14 century she helped the town restart.
Aquilina Sancia some people say is a Spanish Princess, other people say that
this Aquilina Sancia was indeed a Spanish princess, but she had to do something
with the Sforza family and she was a queen. But, anyhow this castle of
Monteserico that we have been talking about above, at that time happened to be
owned by this rich and powerful family and queen named ‘Aquilina Sancia’ who
most likely used this castle as a resort only; because today this castle is
only a small square building, it is a solid coarse fortress built on a treeless
roundish hill with extensive views of the countryside,
Which at that time
of Aquilina Sancia were mostly grazing lands, with sheep shepherds and some
other livestock, and perhaps some wheat farming in a small way? So it would
have been ideal for a queen to get away from it all, and still feel safe in
that small fortress. (Nowadays that grazing land which is several thousands of
Hectares is top arable land, used mainly to grow durum wheat, and is one of the
best lands for this purpose.)
Anyhow, this
Aquilina Sancia Queen of Monteserico, while she was living in this castle, she
liked very much to travel in her stagecoach or on horseback between Monteserico
castle and then would be new Genzano of those times, Genzano was then only a
small town but she liked it, so she helped it to become it a real town. The
folklore story goes that she used a secret tunnel, or a secret way between
these two places, as no one could understand how she could manage to travel
without being seen, because, while she was thought to be in Monteserico castle,
suddenly she would appear in Genzano without seeing her coming or going. She
must have been very rich because it is said that, she hid a treasure that to
these days has not been found, and the most valuable items consist of a ‘Gold
Mother Hen with Chicks’ which has been hidden somewhere in Monte-Serico castle
or in the secret tunnels or there about.
To me all those
hidden riches and the large secret tunnel that she could run in with her
stagecoach is all folklore fantasy. But perhaps there was a small tunnel in
Monteserico castle and also one in Genzano small castle that she turned into a
monastery, this could allow her to come and go without being seen. In theory it
could have been possible that she could drive her stagecoach in one of the
caves in the chasm bellow the monastery, and from there through a supposed
small tunnel find the way into the monastery above. Therefore, there may be
some truth about the tunnel story, even if the rest is all folklore fantasy
that has been told from generation to generation.
-----------------------------
How the modern Genzano came into being
Even today people
still believe that, because this queen of Monteserico liked Genzano, she built
a monastery where the old first building was, perhaps this old building was
what was left still standing of the house that housed Yens and Princess San;
anyhow because of this monastery the people in the country started moving back
in the new town of Genzano, this is how the modern town of Genzano was found
and she was loved from building this monastery. It is said that in her old age
she moved in this monastery and died there. She wrote her will in the year 1327
before she passed away.
But let us tell the
story as we see it; we could only imagine that the people of those times had an
exaggerated benevolent fantasy for this Queen, because of the good turn she
gave to the folks of the new Genzano of those days; since one can say that she
was the real founder of the new Genzano, because she financially built the
first monastery and a church in Genzano called ‘L’Annunziata’ together with a
rich monastery for the order of ‘The Sacred Nuns’ which has lasted up to 1905
the early part of the twentieth century. (Nowadays the church and the monastery
have been restored for heritage values) But as it happened in those times, the
building of the church and the monastery brought a change of life to those
people that were still living in the caves of the chasm and in the fields,
because; after that church building they really started to build more houses
nearby their church and monastery, and slowly Genzano became a real town.
The reason why most
of them left the caves and came to live into town is not clear, the reasons
that they left the houses in the fields it was because there was malaria
associated with this sort of living. Of course there are other reasons to leave
the caves, and it could have been for reasons of safety, or perhaps they had
become too many and so had overgrown the caves.
But in moving to
town they set a new way of life that would split the community in two, because
some of the man folks had to stay put in the chasms and in the fields to look
after their flocks, and whatever else they had to do in order to earn a living,
either in the caves or in the working fields; while the rest of the community
would live in town. So from that time onward there were town’s people and
country people belonging to the same town, which is a typical way of life of
the rural towns of Southern Italy. Of this typical way of life, I intend to
talk about in more details, as it has affected my own way of life adversely
during my younger days.
But now let me go
back to the main story: After most of the cave people moved to live into town,
the caves became partly empty. But by now the inhabitant of the caves new that
those caves, which in the beginning had been excavated for survival could still
be put to good use, because they would be ideal to make wine in them, since
they have a constant cool temperature throughout the year, therefore the wine
would keep well for a long time, and since then they have made their wines in
those caves. Looking at the caves when I was young, the front of the caves has
been closed in with a masonry wall, which has a door opening in the centre with
a segmental arch above. The doors openings are fitted with a double hung oaken
timber doors, which are very solid, even though they have air vent panels built
in them, in order to have some ventilation in the cave as there is no other
opening in the cave.
Now as I was saying
before, that you would be amazed to see when they make their wines, and indeed
it is an interesting thing to see, if you happen to be there at the time when
they harvest their grapes and they make their wines, as the whole place, which
is only a chasm with so many caves, but at that time the chasm becomes alive in
its own archaic ways, see our article, Wine making the old
ways I think we have said enough in this hub, so I say see you in our next
article. See you soon.
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