Botrugno

The name is Greek and speaks of grapes: from botruomai, to bear bunches. The village grew around the fortress of the Maramonte, who in 1654 sold it to the Castriota, the Albanian family descended from the Branai: with them the fortress became a palace, its rooms decorated by painters brought in on purpose. The last marquis left in 1817.

Then Botrugno lost its municipality too: it was joined to Nociglia together with San Cassiano, and all through the nineteenth century it tried to win back its autonomy without success. It managed only on 13 March 1958, by an act of parliament. In the Paduli park, which begins south of the village, a few centuries-old oaks survive among the olive groves: what is left of the old wood of Belvedere.