Patron saint festival In 167 days
Saint Francis of Paola, patron of April
📅 Every year, on 2 April
Villapiana celebrates Saint Francis of Paola on 2 April. The town's other patron, Mary Most Holy of the Plain, is celebrated on 15 August.
In the days of Magna Graecia this town was called Leutermia, and it bore that name until the ninth century: around 850 the Saracens destroyed it, in the same raid that wiped out Blanda, today's Tortora, and Cirella. The village was rebuilt around 1300 under the name Casalnuovo, and Casalnuovo it stayed until the decree of 4 January 1863, when it took the name it bears now. Traces of those raids have even survived in the hydrography: the two streams that cross the territory are called Saraceno and Satanasso, and the old core stands precisely on the left bank of the second.
On the coast rises the tower of Capo Saraceno, which takes its name from the mouth of that stream and formed part of the coastal tower system of the Kingdom of Naples: it is cylindrical, tapering towards the top, closed by a crenellated cornice with corbels and small arches in the Aragonese style. In 1551 Marco Antonio Sanseverino had the Capuchin convent built just outside the town, eleven cells and a little church dedicated to the Immaculate. And then there is Palazzo Barletta, which everyone calls the American's house: it dates from 1909, and the name says where the money had come from.
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Villapiana 2
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Patron saint festival In 302 days
Mary Most Holy of the Plain, patron of August
📅 Every year, on 15 August
Villapiana celebrates Mary Most Holy of the Plain on 15 August, in the church dedicated to her. The town's other patron, Saint Francis of Paola, is celebrated on 2 April.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Villapiana
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