Belcastro ( la, Bellicastrum;
Calabrian: ) is a ''
comune
The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...
'' in the
province of Catanzaro
The province of Catanzaro ( it, provincia di Catanzaro; Catanzarese: ) is a province of the Calabria region of Italy. The city Catanzaro is both capital of the province and capital of the region of Calabria. The province contains a total of 8 ...
, in the
Calabria region of southern
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
.
History
The small town of Belcastro is situated on a rocky spur crowned by a
Norman-style castle that belonged to the counts of
Aquino. Some propose it as the birthplace of Saint
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...
, more commonly taken to have been born in the castle of
Roccasecca
Roccasecca is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Frosinone, in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is the birthplace of Thomas Aquinas.
History
The history of Roccasecca is tightly bound to its strategic position, a "dry '' rocca''" at ...
, not far from Aquino. Feudo for some centuries of the Lords of Aquino, in 1330 by decree of the King of Naples, Robert of Anjou, became a county and changed its name from Geneocastro to Belcastro (Bellicastrum), as a tribute to the beauty of the place and gratification to Thomas 'Aquino, first count of the city and nephew of the saint. In the 15th century it was given the title of city. The historian Lutio d'Orsi
[Lutio d'Orsi..., '' I terremoti delle due Calavrie...'', NA 1640 - New edition on line 2500 a cura di Ivan Ciacci.] (16th and 17th centuries) and jurist Giuseppe Poerio (1775-1843), patriot of the Italian Risorgimento and father of the poet Alessandro Poerio, also a patriot, were born in Belcastro.
Its population is now reduced to about 1400 (2017).
References
Cities and towns in Calabria
{{Calabria-geo-stub