The name comes from the Latin mons belli, mountain of war, but for eighty years the town could not settle on what to call itself. From 1811 to 1860 the civil registers list it one year as Montebello and the next as Fossato, alternating the two forms with no explanation. In the first census of the Kingdom of Italy it appears among the municipalities that have changed name and becomes Fossato di Calabria Ulteriore I; a royal decree of 1864 shortens this to Fossato Calabro; and only on 7 April 1890, after a resolution of the town council, does it go back to being Montebello, this time Jonico and for good.
The barony, on the other hand, was born of a duel. After the Challenge of Barletta the Spanish great captain rewarded all the combatants, and Ludovico Abenavoli del Franco was given a fief in Basilicata which turned out to belong to another baron already: as a stopgap he was granted 150 ducats a year on the wine duty of Naples, until something should fall vacant. Something did in 1507, and it was Montebello. The Abenavoli held the bench of justice here in the king's name until the Pentedattilo massacre of 1686 cost them the royal trust. Towards the Masella district stand the Rocche di Prastarà, Miocene calcarenite monoliths split by time into ridges.
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📅 Every year, on the second Sunday of June; 21 November is the liturgical feast
Montebello Jonico holds its true patronal feast on the second Sunday of June, once accompanied by the famous animal fair known as «a fera da Salina»; the liturgical feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary falls instead on 21 November.
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 Montebello Jonico, but an easy day trip away.
