Cervaro has 7,744 inhabitants above the plain of Cassino, overlooked by Monte Aquilone. There are two stories about the name: one says it comes from the Acerba ara, the altar in a harsh place where the young Tertullus was buried after the Goths killed him; the other from a white stag that grazed on the mountain where the castle later rose — and it is the stag that is on the coat of arms. In 757 Rachis, king of the Lombards, withdrew here to be a Benedictine monk, and founded a small community that grew olives.
After the Saracens had laid everything waste, the monks of Montecassino came back to find the land empty, and to bring it back into cultivation they called in farmers from outside on very generous terms: from 1059, when the Apulian abbey of Càlena passed to Montecassino, settlers arrived from Puglia. In the sanctuary of the Madonna de' Piternis an apparition to a shepherd girl of Cervaro is venerated which, the sources say, may perhaps be the first in Italy. In 1944 the village found itself on the Gustav Line and became the command post of the Allied generals during the battle of Montecassino: it came out of it 98 per cent destroyed.
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📅 Every year, on 26 December, in the church now serving as the cemetery chapel
Cervaro celebrates Saint Stephen on 26 December; the other patron, Our Lady of Piternis, is celebrated on 8 September. The Church of Santo Stefano, adjoining the cemetery, is now used as its chapel.
📅 Every year, on 8 September
Cervaro celebrates Our Lady of Piternis on 8 September, in the shrine dedicated to her; the other patron, Saint Stephen, is celebrated on 26 December.
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 Cervaro, but an easy day trip away.
