Cenadi

Cenadi lies in the Serre of Catanzaro, and tradition has it that the first settlement was founded in the twelfth century at the wish of Roger of Hauteville, who had picked this area for his hunting: thick woods and game in plenty. About the name, on the other hand, a legend runs that it comes from cena, dinner, because Saint John the Evangelist, on his way to Rome, is said to have stopped here to eat. In the Greek of Calabria the village is called Genadioi.

The documented history is that of a hamlet passed from hand to hand. It belonged to the barony of San Vito and to the Gironda, then from 1414 to 1619 it was taken into the principality of Squillace, which in those years belonged to the Borgia; then came the Fosselli, the Ravaschieri of Girifalco and finally the Caracciolo, who held it until feudal tenure was abolished. Cenadi has been a comune in its own right since 1811, after passing through the French reorganisations that had placed it first in the canton of Satriano and then in the government of Monteleone.