Pietracupa

The name of the village of Pietracupa derives from stone, since built on a huge limestone formation, the “Morgia,” and the adjective cupa, which in Latin means “barrel”, in reference to the numerous rock settlements still visible therein. Is the area of the summer and hiking.

The center was erected in the period high-medieval (the Latin name of the attesterebbe), probably as a monastic settlement and was a feudal domain of many families, among which the most important were those of De Molisio, De Queen, of Eboli of Castropignano, and of the Franconian which they kept Pietracupa from 1676 to 1810, the year in which ended the feudal ratio. The Franconian had obtained in 1704 the title of Princes of Pietracupa which passed to their heirs Caracciolo of Torchiarolo,. In the agro pietracupese arose subsequently two abbeys, the first dedicated to San Pietro in Formoso, probably destroyed by the earthquake of 9 September 1349, and the second of Sant’Alessandro, no longer active after the earthquake of December 1456. In 1360 was built in the gothic style church of San Gregorio, then rebuilt in 1560 after the earthquake.

In the heart of Morgia there is an ancient rock church reported to worship in the last century, inside which is stored a crucifix dating back to the sixteenth century, a stationary cross in stone and an altar formed by grinding wheel of an old mill.