Fagnano Castello is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Fagnano Castello is located on Mount Caloria, part of the Coastal mountain range of Calabria, about an hour north of Cosenza.
The town's big annual festival is the Sagra Della Castagna (Festival of Chestnuts), celebrating the annual chestnut harvest around the last week of October with live music, free roasted chestnuts in the village square, and homemade desserts made out of chestnuts.
Etymology The origin of the name Fagnano Castello is still a source of discussion and various hypotheses have been formulated around it.
An interesting hypothesis was created by Vincenzo Padula, in his work Protogea. He hypothesized that the etymology of Fagnano could be traced back to the Hebrew language and was correlated to the mountain morphology of its territory;Vincenzo Padula, Protogea. i.e. Prehistoric Europe|Protogea, i.e. prehistoric Europe, Naples: Printing establishment of P. Androsio, 1871, p. 383. for Padula, the "agnano" of Fagnano could be traced back to the Hebrew "hanan", fog, cloud.
The most accepted hypothesis is the one made by Gerhard Rohlfs. A German glottologist, and also a great expert on southern Italy, finds the origin of the name in the Latin expression Fannianum Praedium (property of Fannius).Gerhard Rohlfs, Toponymic and onomastic dictionary of Calabria: philological-geographical handbook of Calabria, Ravenna: Longo, 1974.
Another accepted hypothesis considers the origins of the town's name to derive from the beech (Faggio in Italian), which dominates the local flora.
Girolamo Marafioti, a humanist and historian who lived from 1567 to 1626, in Le Croniche et antichità di Calabria (Chronicles and antiquities of Calabria) tells us about a small village near Cidraro (Cetraro), called Castel Fagiano.Girolamo Marafioti, Le Croniche et antiquities of Calabria, Book IV, 274
Regarding the Castello (castle) of the town (which was probably a tower), it was probably built by the Normans or the Longobards like the ones in the close towns of Malvito and San Marco Argentano. It is not known where the actual tower really is, as the memory of its location was lost in time. There are many locations where it could have been: some remains of a tower can be found in a private property in the frazione of Rinacchio, while another place where the tower might have been is in Via Vittorio Emanuele, where a part of a small medieval wall can be found. Most likely, this tower was still standing after 1861, as the name Castello was added to distinguish Fagnano from other towns of the same name in Italy after the unification of the country.
History Origins There are many theories and legends about the founding of Fagnano Castello. One says that the town was founded by some inhabitants fleeing from the close town of Malvito after killing the Prince whose tyranny they did not accept. But after some studies, conducted by the architect Gennaro Sinimarco who also wrote a book about it: Fagnano Castello History from 989 to 2009, it was found that it is true that some inhabitants of Malvito have escaped from their country, but the Fagnano community had already been present in the area for some time. To confirm the hypothesis, some coins dating back to the Second Punic War were found on which the wording "Fannius et Fili" is "printed".
Middle Ages Longobard period Under the dominion of the Longobard Kingdom, the Fagnanesi were subjects of the Gastald of Malvito.Luigi Cordasco, Fagnano Castello, 1994, pp. 23 The people of Fagnano were harassed by the Gastald to whom they owed heavy tributes, which generated some rebellion, but were violently supplanted.
Norman period In 1050, with the Norman conquest of southern Italy, Fagnano became part of the County of Apulia and Calabria under the guide of Robert Guiscard. And so a period of discreet peace arrived in Fagnano. In 1096, ten or twelve soldiers from Fagnano followed Bohemond I of Antioch, who was born in the close town of San Marco Argentano, into the first crusade, and probably succumbed during the Siege of Antioch.Luigi Cordasco, Fagnano Castello, 1994, pp. 28 In 1147, Roger II, king of Sicily, divided Calabria into two Giustizierati and Fagnano became part of the Justiciarate of Calabria Citeriore.Luigi Cordasco, Fagnano Castello, 1994, pp. 24-27
Hohenstaufen period Under the rule of Frederick II, exactly in 1214 and 1230, Fagnano Castello was hit by two earthquakes that destroyed it. In the following spring the town was also invaded by locusts.Luigi Cordasco, Fagnano Castello, 1994, pp. 32 At that time Fagnano was subjected to the authority of the bishop baron of San Marco who also exercised feudal rights over the lands of San Lauro and Ioggi and depended on Ruperto di Tarsia for civil administration. Only with the bull of 10 June 1340 of the pontiff Benedict XII from Avignon, the bishop of San Marco was deprived of feudal rights.Luigi Cordasco, Fagnano Castello, 1994, pp. 30
Early modern period Spanish domination On 6 October 1492, Ferdinand I of Naples granted Fagnano and Ioggi as a fief to Bernardino Sanseverino, Prince of Bisignano. Prince Bernardino I had proceeded with the construction of the feudal palace in Fagnano, currently located in the Piazza Splendore, when Fagnano, full of huts, built with clay and branches, with few modest brick houses began to arise.Gennaro Sinimarco, Pasqualino Magno, Fagnano Castello History from 989 to 2009, 2009, pp. 21 His heir Pietrantonio Sanseverino, married to Erina Kastriota of Albanian origins, maintained order and defense in his fiefdoms. He also participated, distinguishing himself, in the wars that Spain moved under the emperor Charles V. On 4 March 1525 he sold the fiefdom, for 3000 ducats, with right of withdrawal to Nicolantonio Falangola, Patrician of Sorrento; with Royal Assent of 22 August 1527, the sale became definitive, and with the title of Baron.Gennaro Sinimarco, Pasqualino Magno, Fagnano Castello History from 989 to 2009, 2009, pp. 22
Here we find the title of Baron of Fagnano for the first time. In 1543 he was succeeded by his first-born son, Filippantonio Falangola, Baron of Fagnano, and in 1600, Filippantonio's second-born son, Giovan Battista Falangola, inherited the fiefdom. On 19 October 1609—with the approval of the then mayor of Fagnano, Dante Formoso, and the governors Francesco di Donato and Marsilio Giuliano—Giovan Battista raised the rank of Fagnano from casale (what we today consider a frazione) to (what we would consider a town).Gennaro Sinimarco, Pasqualino Magno, Fagnano Castello History from 989 to 2009, 2009, pp. 39 In 1622, the Falangolas were deprived of the fiefdom as they had sided with the French during the descent of Charles VIII in Italy and with Royal Assent, on 27 November 1622, in order not to lose everything, they were forced to sell it to Cesare Firrao, Prince of Luzzi. The Firrao held Fagnano until the abolition of feudalism in southern Italy by Joseph Bonaparte (1806).
Late modern period Napoleonic domination Included in the canton of Acri, at the time of the Neapolitan Republic, with the new administrative structure given by the French to the Kingdom of Naples, at the beginning of the 19th century, was included first as a Universitas, in the so-called government of Mottafollone and then among the municipalities of the district of San Marco Argentano.
Bourbon rule During the Springtime of Nations, Fagnano and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were the site of riots and unrest. A strong libertarian yearning was born among the few cultured bourgeois of the town. The place where spirits were ignited and hopes were cultivated was the Maiarota café, on the corner between the middle street and the small square of San Pietro.Luigi Cordasco, Fagnano Castello, 1994, pp. 93 Many Fagnanese scholars adhered to the ideas of Mazzini, to the federalism of Cattaneo, to the United States of Europe of Victor Hugo.
Italian Unification In 1860, the continental provinces of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, already subjected to the Garibaldi's dictatorship, were called to vote on the merger with the constituting Kingdom of Italy. Fagnano voters numbered 827 out of 3,604 inhabitants.Luigi Cordasco, Fagnano Castello, 1994, pp. 94 Of these, 808 voted YES, with 5 absent and 14 who went to the military camp.Luigi Cordasco, Fagnano Castello, 1994, pp.95
The phenomenon of Post-Unification Italian Brigandage was rampant in northern Calabria. A gang led by Amatuzzo (known as Malerba, literally bad weed) Avolio from Fagnano, allied with the gang of La Valle Francesco from Mongrassano and Iuele Gennaro from Cavallerizzo,Gennaro Sinimarco, Pasqualino Magno, Fagnano Castello History from 989 to 2009, 2009, pp. 103 terrorized the local population. This gang of 97 affiliates was also associated with the so-called "Saracinari", of Saracena, and with the gang of the infamous Antonio Franco.Gennaro Sinimarco, Pasqualino Magno, Fagnano Castello History from 989 to 2009, 2009, pp 103 Precisely for this reason, Camillo Benso Count of Cavour, at the suggestion of Costantino Nigra, commissioned Pietro Fumel to counter brigandage in Calabria. Pietro Fumel, having carte blanche, became the protagonist of many nefarious criminal actions, including the massacre of around one hundred defenseless farmers in Fagnano, carried out by the troops of the Royal Italian Army.Giuseppe Rizzo, Antonio La Rocca, La banda di Antonio Franco, Il coscile, 2002. Some had their heads cut off, stuck on poles and exhibited in the main square of the municipality as a warning to anyone who wanted to follow their example.Gennaro Sinimarco, Pasqualino Magno, Fagnano Castello La Storia dal 989 al 2009, 2009, pp. 105 The post-unification history merges with that of the rest of the peninsula. At the end of the 1920s, Malvito and Santa Caterina Albanese were annexed to it, which became autonomous again in 1934.
In the 1980s, the provincial road 270 (SP270) was built, more commonly known among the citizens of Fagnano as "La Variante". In 2009 the Fagnano cemetery was hit by a hydrogeological disaster. Among the historical-architectural testimonies include the churches of the Immaculate and of San Pietro, rebuilt in the Baroque age, on previous buildings of worship.
Main sights Religious architecture In Fagnano Castello there are 4 churches, including one located in the frazione of San Lauro.
Church of the Immaculate Conception