Altavilla Silentina is a town and ''

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 ...

'' located in the province of Salerno,

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

, some 100 km south of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

, Italy.

Geography

Altavilla Silentina is spread on two ridges of a hill. It is shielded on the northeastern side by the Alburni Mountains and on the West looks at the plain of the

Sele River The Sele is a river in southwestern Italy. Originating from the Monti Picentini in Caposele,Meaning "top of the Sele" it flows through the region of Campania, in the provinces of Salerno and Avellino. Its mouth is in the Gulf of Salerno, on the ...

and the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian pe ...

. The panorama includes the island of

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has be ...

, the mountains of the

Amalfi Coast The Amalfi Coast ( it, Costiera amalfitana) is a stretch of coastline in southern Italy overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Gulf of Salerno. It is located south of the Sorrentine Peninsula and north of the Cilentan Coast. Celebrated worldw ...

and the

Gulf of Salerno The Gulf of Salerno (Italian: ''Golfo di Salerno'') is a gulf of the Tyrrhenian Sea in the coast of the province of Salerno in south-western Italy. The northern part of this coast is the Costiera Amalfitana, which ends at Punta di Campanella and ...

in its northern part. The river Calore Salernitano touches much of its western boundaries.

History

The territory of Altavilla was populated since the 7th century BCE as demonstrated by archaeological finds on the territory, in the locality of San Lorenzo. In the nearby rural territory of Altavilla Silentina, by the

, it is thought to have taken place the final battle where

Spartacus Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprisin ...

and 60,000 fellow slaves who rebelled against the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

were definitely defeated by the Roman general

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

in 71 BCE. A district of a nearby town is today called Pompeo. The history of the modern Altavilla began around the year 1080 when the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

with

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calab ...

erected the Norman Castle that dominates the town and the Church of

St. Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly leg ...

. The town was built on triangular shape fortified with walls and three main gates: St. Blaise's Gate, Susa's Gate, Carina's Gate. The current name, Altavilla, derives from that of Guiscard's family, the Hauteville. In 1246, having sided with the town of

Capaccio Capaccio Paestum (formerly only Capaccio) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. The ruins of the ancient Greek city of Paestum lie within borders of the ''comune''. History Geograp ...

and other local barons against the emperor Frederick II, Altavilla was completely razed to the ground. The breach was opened in a section of the old town that still today bears the nickname of ''muro rutto'' ("broken wall"). The city was newly built because of its strategic position dominating the plain of

and was designed in a quadrangular shape, with the addition of a New Gate called "Portanova" (New Door). During the 15th century the

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

arrived in Altavilla and built a two-storey

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Angl ...

with a center

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...

, and around it they built a

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, a

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the Lat ...

, a

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

and a

parlor A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necess ...

. The Franciscan remained in Altavilla until 1860, when with the

Unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

, many religious convent were confiscated. On September 9, 1862, with a resolution of the town hall, Altavilla took the second name of 'Silentina' because located between the rivers Sele and Alento, in order to be recognized among the 5 other towns that in Italy bear the first name of Altavilla. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, it was the seat of clashes between the German occupation forces and Allied troops.

Main sights

The oldest church is the Church of

Saint Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...

, founded by the Normans. It is situated on the high part of the

middle ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

section of the town. After the Irpinia earthquake of November 23, 1980, the church has not been used for religious celebrations. The Church of St. Blaise is located on the lower part of the medieval quarter of town, and gives the name to the Gate of St. Blaise, that was the entrance of the medieval village. The main parish of Altavilla is located in the center of the old town, facing the ''Piazza Antico Sedile'' ("Ancient Seat square"), that was probably the "town hall" of the medieval Altavilla. The church was built in 1796 as written on the main inscription above St. Antoninus niche. Other churches include: *Convent of St. Francis *Congrega of Our Lady of Mount Carmel *Our Lady of Mount Virgin (cemetery chapel) *Our Lady Assunta in St. Blaise (Cerrelli) *Our Lady of Snow (Carillia) *Newly built Church in Cerrocupo

References

External links

Web portal of Altavilla Silentina
{{authority control Cities and towns in Campania Localities of Cilento