https://sites.google.com/site/prayersofreconciliation/,https://sites.google.com/site/godintheuniverse/,
https://sites.google.com/site/menfrancoreconciliation/, www.catholic.org/,www.catholic.org.au/, www.catholic.org/bible/, www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html,
http://diybrickwork.com, http://manneedsgod.co.uk, http://frankmenchise.com
This blog can be found at this link, Genzano di Lucania history.
Welcome to our article,
Dear readers, this is a long article as it is, so, in this blog we are only writing the text, to see the original article as it was published with about 12 photos and comments, click on this link, Genzano di Lucania history
Anyhow, this article is
being written mainly for the people that come from Genzano di Lucania, since they
know what we are going to talk about. Anyhow, today I want to write a few
things about my native town of Genzano, and I am going to write it, just the
way I remember it.
When I think about Genzano,
the first things that come to my mind, is the way of life that we were living
there, then I remember my school days and teacher (Ettore Lorito), because when
I was at school in Genzano di Lucania, my teacher was writing a book about
Genzano di Lucania. I wish I had this book with me to talk about Genzano, but I
don’t. So, I am going to say only those things that I remember.
((Now, if you speak Italian, I can navigate you to the link of Ettore-Lorito
writings about Genzano: Go to my blog, http://genzanoit.blogspot.com/, on the left there
is a column with links, near the top is, Genzano in italiano (1) click on it,
go down the page and click on Scrittori e poeti, 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 don’t know, because today
there are several versions how Genzano came into existence. Anyhow, we will
start with what most people believe today, which is a folklore story that has been
passed down from previous generations. Most people today believe that it was this
queen of Monteserico that was the real founder of modern Genzano, but there are
other stories as well, we are going to talk about this queen of Monteserico
later.
Anyhow, there are other
ancient stories that go around, 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 and she joined Yens and Yens
family, who were living in Genzano territory; very likely in the caves in the chasm below
the future Genzano of today.
Knowing that this
girl was a 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 lovers put together (Yens-San), anyhow, this
is how I know this story. We believe that we have mentioned this in another article;
The heritage
chapter, of course, there are other stories as well, even if what we are going
to say next may contradict what we have written above.
Some Genzano written history.
Now, let us see
what else we can say about Genzano history; there is no certainty about the
following, because the origins of places are hard to know, but what follow here
is a compact history of Genzano di Lucania.
Some historians say
that the Romans started Genzano town about the VI century BC when they had this
‘Pagus Gentianum settlement to control this part of their territories. Now let
us talk about what a recent writer 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; in the year 258 AD, they were beheaded in Genzano
ordered from council Valeriano, which I guess was a Roman council for that part
of Italy.
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.
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, I assume that they are talking
about Genzano di Lucania. This event has been mentioned
in The heritage chapter. This seems to be the oldest written record found about Genzano
history.
So, let us go back to talk about Genzano of
today. As we want to keep this article compact, we 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 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 Bonaparte, abrogated feudality.
There is a lot more
that could be said, there are a couple of photos about Genzano the way we remember,
and it is today, but if you want to know more about Genzano, click on the link
below.
There are many
stories about Genzano; some of these stories we have written here-under.
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Saint Anthony protector of Genzano town.
As we know most towns
in the world have a protector or patron. So, let us tell you about Genzano di
Lucania protector. This story about Genzano protector; 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 today the patron saint of
Genzano, this story goes back to the fifth century AD or there about, 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. 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. 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 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.
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; so, 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 there is no
written history about Genzano, therefore, nobody knows what happened. History
seems to slowly restart at the beginning of the second millennium, see our next
story. The Normans in Italy
-----------------------------------------------
The Normans in Italy
Genzano history, Menteserico castle, and the Normans as we
understand it.
Now, let me start
with a personal story, because this story explains things that I did not know
before. Since I came to Australia, I have worked in the building industry where
I met this Frenchmen called Luis, we knew each other well. Luis came to
Australia when France left Algeria and the army of Algeria was dismantled, Luis
was a captain in the army, so, he had learned many things including army
history.
Anyhow, 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 like the castle that I had seen
thousands of times from my farm in southern Italy. So, next time when I met Luis,
I told about this castle; and I had a surprise, because no sooner I mentioned
the castle of Monteserico that Luis 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 dominated 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.
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 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, therefore, the Normans used this castle
to dominate their conquests in southern Italy. To see more click on links
below;
Normans - Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia
Here we can add
this link, 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)
Arch. Pietrapertosa - Storia e
dintorni - Genzano di Lucania,
----------------------------------
Now let us talk
about the modern Genzano. They started to rebuild the modern Genzano about the
twelfth or the thirteen centuries. The folklore story says that in this castle
of Monteserico that the Norman had used, this castle is about fifteen
kilometres East-Southeast of Genzano. This is an old castle built or modified
from the Norman’s after the fall of the Roman Empire when they
overrun Italy. They say that a long time ago there was a small town around the
castle, but today there is no evidence of it and no real history when it ceased
to exist. All we know, is that today near this castle there is a small chapel.
Anyhow when the Norman domination came to an end, it was owned from other
important people and one day there was this Spanish Princes called Aquilina
Sancia, that one day would become the new founder of Genzano town, the people
of Genzano feel grateful towards her, and most people that don’t know the
entire history think that Aquilina Sancia is the founder of Genzano.
--------------------------------------------
Aquilina Sancia queen of Monteserico
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. Anyhow, this princess in the early 14 century helped Genzano town restart. Aquilina Sancia some people say is a Spanish Princess, but she had to do something with the Sforza family and she was a queen. But, anyhow this castle of Monteserico at that time was owned by this rich and powerful family and queen named ‘Aquilina Sancia’ who lived in this castle, which is a solid coarse fortress built on a treeless roundish hill with extensive views of the countryside.
Anyhow, this
Aquilina Sancia Queen of Monteserico, while she was living in this castle, she
liked to travel in her stagecoach or on horseback between Monteserico castle
and the 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, because
no one could understand how she could manage to travel without being seen,
because, while she was thought to be in Monte-Serico 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 folklore fantasy. But perhaps there was a small tunnel in Monte-serico
castle and 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 was possible
that she could drive her stagecoach in one of the caves in the chasm bellow the
monastery, and from there through a small tunnel find the way into the
monastery above. Therefore, there may be some truth about the tunnel story.
-----------------------------
How the modern Genzano came into being.
Even today the people
believe that this queen of Monteserico, built a monastery where an old building
was, this old building could have been the house of 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 can imagine that the people of those times loved this
Queen, because of the good turn she gave the folks of the new Genzano; since we
can say that she was the founder of the new Genzano, because she built the
first church in Genzano called ‘L’Annunziata’ together with a rich monastery,
the order of ‘The Sacred Nuns’ which has lasted up to 1905 the early part of
the twentieth century. In those times, the building of the church and the
monastery brought a change of life to those people that were living in the
caves of the chasm and in the fields, because after building the church, they
started to build more houses near their church and monastery, and slowly
Genzano became a real town.
The reason why people
left the caves and came to live into town is not clear, the reasons that they
left the houses in the fields was there was malaria associated with this sort
of living.
But in moving to town,
they set a new way of life that would split the community in two, because the
man folks had to stay put in the fields to look after their flocks, and
whatever else they had to do 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.
After the caves became partly empty, the inhabitant of the caves new that those caves were ideal to make wine, since they have a constant cool temperature throughout the year,
therefore, the wine 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, 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 make their wines. Because the
chasm and its caves becomes alive in its own archaic ways, see our article, Wine making the old
ways I think we have said enough in this article, so, I say see you in our
next article, The town I came from. See you soon.
Anyhow, this is a shortened article, to see more click on this link, Genzano di Lucania history.
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