Discover the place
Guide to Castelnuovo di Conza
Castelnuovo di Conza stands on a rocky projection above the Sele Valley. Hazel groves, chestnut woods, turkey oaks and beech forests cover the surrounding hills, which are home to wild boar, foxes, buzzards and other wildlife. Walking in the woods and views across the valley are among its attractions.
The town was at the epicentre of the devastating 1980 earthquake. Its history and rebuilding remain central to the experience of a visit. The wind farm on its territory is another distinctive feature of the landscape.
History
Archaeological evidence points to occupation from the Upper Palaeolithic through the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The area expanded between the fifth and third centuries BC. Its position linked the Upper Sele and Ofanto valleys, forming a route between the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic coasts. Samnite farmsteads, tombs, pottery and Roman coins have been found locally.
A Norman document known as the Catalogue of the Barons mentions Castelnuovo as a sub-fief of Conza in the twelfth century. The castle was restored in the thirteenth century under Frederick II. Local tradition also connects the settlement with people who left Torricella, a wooded site, and moved into nearby villages in the fifteenth century. Homes grew beyond the Chiecole gate around the Church of Petrara.
The feudal history includes the Arcuccia and Gesualdo families. By the sixteenth century the settlement had been abandoned and its land used mainly for farming and grazing. It later passed to Giambattista Ludovisi and, after the end of feudalism, became property of the d'Ayala-Valva marquis.
Archaeology and landscape
Finds from Cupole, Buoniventre, Torretta and San Ilarione include black-glazed ceramics and evidence of a Samnite settlement. Some materials are held by the Provincial Museum of Salerno. At San Ilarione are the remains of a Lombard castle later rebuilt in the Norman period; archaeological studies also refer to a sanctuary associated with Jupiter Vicilinus.