I want to introduce you to
Montecorvino Rovella, a little town surrounded by the Picentini Mountains, near
Salerno, in Campania.
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| landscape |
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| Astronomical Observatory |
Montecorvino is known as “City of Astronomy ”, because of the presence of the AstronomicalObservatory Gian Camillo Gloriosi, located on the hills at the top of the town:
it’s a lovely place, surronded by nature, where you can take a look to the
wonders in the sky above us. If you decide to visit it during the summer, you
could assist to “Universus”, an international meeting that made our observatory
famous worldwide.
The origins of Montecorvino are due to Roman victory against Picentes: we can find ruins of the ancient Nebulano castle, built
by Romans in 4th century, and occupied over the years by Longobards, Normans,
Angevins and Aragonese. A funny legend flourished among farmers in 1800, because
the famous neapolitan writer Francesco Mastriani set his novel “The
noctambulist of Montecorvino” in Nebulano castle: a story about a misterious
treasure that can still be researched walking through Mount Nebulano, in the place
famous as “Devil’s cave”.
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| Nebulano Castle |
Speaking of Longobards, surely Saint
Ambrose’s Churh deserve a visit! It’s located in the countryside between
Montecorvino and the neighboring Giffoni Valle Piana (famous for an Internationalfilm festival, by the way) and it’s an amazing example of Longobard religious
architecture, dating from 9th-10th century.
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| Saint Ambrose's Church, external view |
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| Saint Ambrose's Church indoor |
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| Fresco inside Saint Ambrose's Church |
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| commemorative plaque inside Santa Maria della Pace |
You probably do not know that Shakespeare
may have inspired here to write the famous tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”: during
15th century, Montecorvino was devastated by the conflict among two powerful families,
D’Arminio and Damolidei. Their heirs, Davide and Maria Teresa, unexpectedly
fell in love, and their lives were saved by a franciscan friar, Padre Bernardino Denza, who led the two families to peace. To mark the event they edificated a
Church, that we can visit today, dedicated to Santa Maria della Pace.
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| picture inside Santa Maria della Pace church |
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| Santa Maria della Pace, front door |
Another legend, and another Church,
the Sanctuary Madonna dell’Eterno, dating from 1623, is about the epiphany of
the Holy Virgin to a peasant who was grazing his cows: to show the place where
she asked him to built a Church, she took snow in August! Every summer in
Montecorvino take place a commemoration of the event, with both religious and
civil celebration. You can take a look to the cave of the epiphany, surrounded
by a pinewood with a pic-nic area, where you can restore yourself while
admiring the landscape.
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| landscape |
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| the Sanctuary Madonna dell'Eterno |
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| the cave of epiphany |
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| pinewood and picnic area |
Food: Picentini mountains are the ideal place to taste lots of traditional dishes, derivated from the generosity of mediterranean nature. Because of the breeding of cows, goats, sheeps and pigs, many recipes include meat, cheeses like "caciocavallo" and "pecorino", cold cuts like "soppressata", accompanied by chestnuts, hazelnuts, truffles and mushrooms. Hazelnuts, in particular, are the ingredient that made Montecorvino's ice cream famous; they are also used to prepare a special coffee, and many kinds of biscuits and desserts, like "moretti", "croccante", and "spumone", a typical ice cream cake.
During Christmas time you can taste "pasticelle", a kind of sweet, fried ravioli filled with chestnuts and chocolate cream. Every family has its own secret recipe.
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| Pasticelle, a typical Christmas recipe |
A special mention to the most famous product of Montecorvino: the "Braciola", a delicious meat roll filled with herbs and spices, cooked in tomato sauce. It's the star of sunday lunch, used to accompany handmade pasta like fusilli and ravioli. To this fabulous recipe is dedicated "Sagra della Braciola", a summer festival organized by "Pro Loco", where you can taste it with pasta or sandwiches. If you accompany it with a glass of local wine, it will even taste better!
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| Sagra della Braciola |
You can reach Montecorvino:
- Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway, Montecorvino-Pontecagnano sud exit
- SP 164
-Follow the signals
- Rome\Naples\Salerno\Reggio Calabria route, stop in Salerno or Battipaglia
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