The village was called Castelfranco, after the Franks who camped here in the ninth century to fight the Saracens of Amantea. After the unification of Italy, since there were too many Castelfranco about, the government asked for a change: Castelvenere was considered, but that too was taken, and they ended up with Castrolibero. The reason entered in the minutes by the Decurionato is worth reading: for the free horizon one enjoys from the hill, and for the free institutions of the honest King. The decree is of 1863.
Freedom, though, they had already taken for themselves. The fief had been bought by Valerio Telesio, brother of the philosopher Bernardino; his vassals did not put up with his ways for long, and on the tenth of August 1579, in circumstances never cleared up, a popular revolt ended with the baron killed inside the church of San Giovanni. Between the two wars the village had meanwhile taken up another trade: shoemaking, which earned its people the name of scarpari.
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📅 Every year, on 24 October
On 24 October Castrolibero celebrates its patron Saint Raphael the Archangel; the town also hosts the Parco Collodi, dedicated to the author of Pinocchio.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Castrolibero, but an easy day trip away.
