Pellezzano

This comune was born by subtraction from Salerno. In 1755 Pellezzano was still part of the city's territory, as one reads in the tax register of the time; then the hamlets — Pellezzano, Coperchia, Capriglia, San Nicola a Cologna and the others — federated among themselves into an autonomous comune, establishing that the town hall should stand at Pellezzano. It was about a quarter of Salerno's inhabitants who detached themselves from the city to give life to the new comune. Many border localities, which were an integral part of the Pellezzano area, stayed with the city instead. The oldest place is the Rocca del Casale, which seems to be named in the parchments collected by the Salerno and Cava codices in the years 944, 1006 and 1030: up there stood the little church that the Augustinian fathers of Colloreto called the church of the Holy Spirit, and which went on representing the head town of Pellezzano until the papal suppression of the order, on 6 May 1653.

The coat of arms, granted by decree of the President of the Republic of 18 February 2011, holds together the count and the trade: the stars represent the five hamlets of Pellezzano, while the sheep and the carding comb stand for the wool working that was once the base of the local economy. Then there is a bread that carries its own noise in its name: the sciusciello, so called from the puff — 'o sciùscio — that swells it inside the wood-fired oven. It is made of white and wholemeal flour, water, salt and yeast, and tradition wants it filled with lard and pepper, although today it is filled in many other ways too. In the village, in any case, they insist on making clear that one says «il sciusciello» and not «lo sciusciello».