Zungoli

Appears for the first time in 1164, on the occasion of the consecration of the church of San Cataldo. Uncertain is the origin of the name: it attaches to a Norman, Leander Juncolo or Curalo, which used the strategic location to build a castle called “Castrum Caroli”. Other variants associate the toponym of the greek Tsungos, last name that was also taken root in Lucania. Located to the right of the stream Vallone, is laid on top of a small hill of tufaceous structure and faces Monte Molara. This is a typical village irpino, whose historic center is crossed by narrow cobbled streets, which often climb along the ridge of the hill in the form of stairs of stone.

The most important economic activities are related to agriculture and handicraft linked to the scope of dairy products and wood. In addition to some finds dating back to the Eneolithic Age, were unearthed in the territory artifacts of Roman origin, among which the coins and funerary cippi and military. In the area of today’s Zungoli, in fact, the via Herculea, renovated by Marco Aurelio, put in communication the via Traiana and the via Appia. Zungoli is mentioned in the Thirteenth Century in relation to the construction of the fortress.

Originally, the castle was provided with four cylindrical towers placed at the corners, but only three remain because one was destroyed by a strong earthquake in 1456. The facade of the building is the mighty, 30 meters long and high 14; in time the construction has been subject to changes with the aim of transforming it into civilian habitation, and today it is inhabited by the marchesi Susanna of Sant’Eligio. The Convent of San Francesco of the Reformed Friars Minor stands on the place where originally there was the Church of San Cataldo.

Today focuses on two levels: the lower plane, where are located the laboratories in which you work the wool, the refectory, the kitchen and the cellars; and the upper one that hosts the cells of the friars. The previous construction you retain different parts: the entrance with a fresco representing the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the frescoes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the premises of the north west. Churches and palaces are scattered in the center of the town.