Corsano (Montecalvo Irpino)

Corsano was a fortified medieval village about 5 km south-west of Montecalvo Irpino, in the province of Avellino.

Corsano is recorded as far back as Norman rule: it already appears in the 12th-century Catalogus baronum. It was held by a baron under the great county of Ariano, while church services were run by an abbot-priest under the diocese of Ariano. The village had a fortified baronial palace (the "castle") on the highest hill, described as very lavish and with large granaries, and two churches: the abbey church of San Nicola di Mira (ruined by the 1962 earthquake but rebuilt in 2000) and Santa Maria degli Angeli (known only from old documents). In the 15th century a convent of the Augustinian Hermits was added, founded by the blessed Felice da Corsano, born there. From 1445 Corsano belonged to Luigi di Capua, then passed to Caterina Pignatelli, then to the Carafa and finally to the Riccardi. With 498 inhabitants in 1593, it was the eleventh most populous of the 14 comuni in the diocese, but it was left completely deserted after the devastating plague of 1656. After that the barony was abolished, and its lands, by then visited only seasonally by casual farm labourers, were placed under the baron of Montecalvo, who appointed a governor. The diocese of Ariano, on the other hand, never officially abolished the abbey, but the title of abbot became purely nominal since nobody lived there any more.

From the twentieth century the place has been reachable by provincial road 148, which links the former state road 414 at Montecalvo Irpino to the Ufita valley.

Text: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · translated from Italian