History
Legends surrounding Casabona, or what would later become Casabona, date to antiquity. According to Strabo, the mythical king Philoctetes established several cities in Italy, including Petilia, Old Crimissa and a settlement called Chone. [3] This Chone, part of Magna Graecia, is thought to have been ancient Casabona. [4]
An early reference to the town dates to 1198, when Pope Innocent III penned a letter to a certain Nicodemus in order to confirm the existence of certain assets in the "territory of Casabona". By 1300, Casabona was the last town in the fiefs of the Abenante family; in 1472, it was passed to Diego di Cavaniglia, count of Montella. After the Kingdom of Naples was invaded by Charles VIII of France, the town was sold to the House of Barcelona.
Casabona was destroyed at least once by a major earthquake, though it's not certain when this occurred. According to some, the town was destroyed by an earthquake in 1638, according to others, by a quake in 1783. In any event, the earthquake destroyed nearly everything in the town, save for the Convent of San Bernardino, around which some of the population gathered to rebuild.
Zinga
According to a memoir left by the archpriests and curates who administered Casabona's church from 1908 to 1913, it was believed Frederick II, Duke of Swabia had founded Zinga, originally called Cinga, with the parish being established in 1343. However, there are no records from this era that mention Cinga, a 1276 cedula mentions Cerenzia, Caccuri, and Casabona, but not Cinga. It is more likely that Cinga's foundation dates to the War of the Sicilian Vespers, around the time the Almogavars laid siege to Umbriatico and the surrounding lands of Santa Marina, San Nicola dell'Alto and Maratea.
Cinga first appears in the historical record on a 1325 document referring to the payment of tithes from "Dopnus Ioh.es de Cinga" to the Holy See, in the diocese of Umbriatico. A second document, also from the beginning of the fourteenth century, reported in the manuscripts of Camillus de Lellis, concerns a dispute over the borders of Cerenzia, and names the lord of the "Motta di Cinga", Giovanni Rocca. Cinga is not mentioned again until the mid-fifteenth century, during the time of Alfonso V of Aragon's descent into Calabria to tame the rebellion of the Marquis of Crotone, Antonio Centelles. On 11 December 1444, while sieging the city of Crotone, the king granted immunity to Uriello Malatacca de Casabuono, baron of the castrum of Cinga, for 25 years due to the poverty of the land. Uriello's predecessor, Elisabetta Malatacca, had been the feudal lord of Cinga.
In 1506, Ferdinand II of Aragon granted rights to the city of Crotone, leading to the rise of three concurrent barons of Zinga, Giovanni Antonio Pipino, Nardo Lucifero, and Bartolomeo Tibaldo. Having sided with the Kingdom of France during the War of the League of Cognac, Pipino was accused of treason and stripped of his fief. However, after only 8 years, the Pipinos reclaimed their estate in 1536. In 1558, Propsero Lucifero, first born of Marcantonio Lucifero, married Faustina Prospero, thus transferring the fief to him. In the second half of the sixteenth century, the fiefdom, despite an increase in the population, was almost depopulated. Despite retaining the title of castrum, Zinga became little more than a small village. As the local church had no income, the priesthood of Casabona cared for the citizenry, leading to even more leaving Zinga. Not even priests would live in the town. In 1618, the baron Oratio Lucifero sold Zinga to Giacomo d'Aquino for 20,600 ducats. In the same year, Iacobo Malfitano assumed baronship over the frazione. A series of earthquakes in 1638 complicated matters further. Having belonged to the Diocese of Umbriatico since the town's formation, archbishop Antonio Ricciulli laid the responsibility of overseeing the town on Iacobo's successor Francesco, as the barony had refused to assign dowry. At this point in time, Zinga is said to have no more than 70 inhabitants. Francesco's son Giacomo succeeded him and eventually sold Zinga again in 1647, this time to Epaminonda Ferrari. The Malfitano's leadership did not prove auspicious for Zinga, as the population continued to decline, to the point that only a single bishop resided in the church. An incredibly destructive earthquake struck Calabria in 1659 which destroyed Zinga. The town was rebuilt on a nearby hill and repopulated, as evidenced by a bishop's document in May 1662 which says as much. The new town had less than 200 inhabitants, and despite still belonging to the parish had not yet erected a church. In 1688, Epaminonda's grandson Giovan Battista Rota assumed the baronry, however he died childless a year later and the fiefdom was forfeited per law, that is until Giovan's aunt, wife to the baron of Cereznia contested the forfeiture and had the claim returned to the Rota family. In reality, the barons of Cerenzia held true power over the locale. By 1700, Zinga had a population of 300. The town remained under the Rota family for most of the eighteenth century until they produced a baroness which married into the Savelli nobility, thus transferring the baronry to their name. The third Savelli baron, Tommaso Giannuzzi Savelli, sold Zinga to Nicola Barberio for 72000 ducats in 1802. Separate churches began to spring up in Zinga, some better maintained than others.
In 1811, Zinga officially became a frazione of Casabona.
Calabria is a region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. It has almost 2 million residents across a total area of approximately 15,222 km2 (5,877 sq mi). Catanzaro is the region's capital.
Reggio di Calabria, commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria. It has an estimated population of nearly 200,000 and is the twenty-first most populous city in Italy, after Modena, and the 100th most populated city in Europe. Reggio Calabria is located in the exact center of the Mediterranean and is known for its climate, ethnic and cultural diversity. It is the third economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. About 560,000 people live in the metropolitan area, recognised in 2015 by Italy as a metropolitan city.
Magna Graecia was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily; these regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers. These settlers, who began arriving in the 8th century BC, brought with them their Hellenic civilization, which left a lasting imprint on Italy. They also influenced the native peoples, such as the Sicels and the Oenotrians, who became hellenized after they adopted the Greek culture as their own. The Greek colonists of Magna Graecia elaborated a civilization of the highest level, which had peculiar characteristics, due to the distance from the motherland and the influence of the indigenous peoples of southern Italy. The type of government was in the form of city-states (poleis) administered by the aristocracy. The Second Punic War put the end to the independence of the cities of Magna Graecia, which were annexed to the Roman Republic in 205 BC.
Ferdinand I, also known as Ferrante, was king of Naples from 1458 to 1494.
Ston is a settlement and a municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located at the south of isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula.
Martone is a town and comune in the province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, in southern Italy. Its origins date back to between the 7th and 8th centuries.
Lamezia Terme, commonly called Lamezia, is an Italian city and comune of 70,452 inhabitants (2013), in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region.
The House of Savelli were a rich and influential Roman aristocratic family who rose to prominence in the 13th century, and which included several popes, senators and condottieri.
Altino is a comune and town in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of southern Italy. It is located on a rock spur commanding the valley of the Aventino river. The valley is richly cultivated with orchards, fruit, grapes and olives.
Campo di Giove is a town and comune in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Its territory is included in the Majella National Park. Located at the foot of the southwestern slope of the Majella, it is a holiday resort in summer and winter, thanks to the presence of a ski station. In English, its name means 'Campus Jovis'.
Cerenzia is a town, comune (municipality), former bishopric and Latin titular see with a population of 1000 people in the province of Crotone, in Calabria region, southernmost peninsular Italy.
Strongoli is a comune and town with a population of over 6000 people in the province of Crotone, in Calabria, southernmost Italy.
Pallagorio is a comune and town in the province of Crotone, in Calabria, Italy.
Acri is a town of 19.949 inhabitants in the northern part of Calabria region in southern Italy. Since 17 September 2001 Acri has had the "status" of city.
Grimaldi is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Grimaldi is referred to as Grimaldo in historic documents. In the local Calabrian dialect, the town is called Grimàudu or Grimàuru, and the residents Grimaudisi, although the Italian versions are today prevalent.
The Archdiocese of Crotone-Santa Severina is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Calabria in southern Italy, created in 1986 when it was combined with the Diocese of Santa Severina. It is now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace. In 2013 there was one priest for every 1,841 Catholics.
The Italian Catholic diocese of Cariati, in Calabria, existed until 1979. In that year it was united into the archdiocese of Rossano-Cariati. The diocese was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Santa Severina, and then of the archdiocese of Reggio Calabria. In 2001, it became a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cosenza-Bisignano.
The Italian Catholic Diocese of Lamezia Terme is in Calabria. In 1818 the ancient see of Martirano, the former Mamertum, was united to the diocese of Nicastro. The diocese was then a suffragan of the archdiocese of Reggio in Calabria. In 1986, the historic Diocese of Nicastro had its name changed. It is currently called the Diocese of Lamezia Terme, and it is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace. The name change reflects the incorporation of the comune of Nicastro into Lamezia Terme, an administrative change of 1968 on the part of the State of Italy.
A series of four mainshocks struck Calabria on March 27–28 and June 9, 1638. The first three earthquakes had moment magnitudes estimated to be 6.6–7.1. On June 9, another mainshock estimated at Mw 6.7 struck the same region, causing further damage and casualties. The four earthquakes resulted in as many as 30,000 fatalities.
The church of San Bernardino da Siena is a Catholic place of worship in the Italian municipality of Amantea, in the province of Cosenza in Calabria. It is situated 34 meters above sea level on the street of the same name in the Tyrrhenian town.
