Cassano all'Ionio

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Cassano all'Ionio
No coat of arms available.
Cassano all'Ionio (Italy)
Cassano all'Ionio
Country Italy
region Calabria
province Cosenza  (CS)
Coordinates 39 ° 47 '  N , 16 ° 19'  E Coordinates: 39 ° 47 '0 "  N , 16 ° 19' 0"  E
surface 154 km²
Residents 17,761 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 115 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 87011
prefix 0981
ISTAT number 078029
Popular name Cassanesi
Patron saint San Biagio
Website Cassano all'Ionio
Cassano all'Ionio
Cassano all'Ionio

Cassano all'Ionio is an Italian city ​​in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region with 17,761 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019). The population has been decreasing steadily since 1980.

Cassano all'Ionio is 75 km north of Cosenza . The neighboring communities are Castrovillari , Cerchiara di Calabria , Civita , Corigliano-Rossano , Francavilla Marittima , Frascineto , Spezzano Albanese and Villapiana .

Cassano is the bishopric of the diocese of Cassano all'Jonio , until an episcopal reform, Cassano was the only diocese of the two seas ( Tyrrhenian Sea and Ionian Sea ) and the two regions of Basilicata and Calabria.

history

In the area of ​​the municipality was around 720 BC. Founded the Greek city ​​of Sybaris . In Roman times the city was called Cassanum . In 576 it was conquered by the Lombards ; henceforth it belonged to the Duchy of Benevento .

Cassano was attacked by the Saracens several times (in the years 951, 969/970, 1032 and 1040) . On July 3, 1032 (according to other sources 1031) the Saracens defeated a Byzantine army under the leadership of the Katepan Pothos Argyros , who fell in the battle in a battle at the gates of Cassano .

In 1054 Cassano was conquered by the Normans . With the Norman Empire, Cassano also fell to the Hohenstaufen in 1194 . From 1282 to 1860 Cassano belonged to the Kingdom of Naples or the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies .

traffic

The place had a train station on the Lagonegro – Spezzano Albanese line .

Cityscape

Cassano is overlooked by two rocks: from the Pietra del Castello (rock of the castle), rising immediately east of the old town, and from the Pietra di Santo Marco (rock of St. Mark) a good kilometer west of the city. Both are visible from afar, thanks to the illuminated crosses on their tips, even at night. The ruins of a Norman castle can still be seen on the Pietra del Castello . After the conquest of Cassano in the course of the Napoleonic wars in 1799 during the short-lived Parthenopean Republic, it was razed by the French. There was once a monastery on the Pietra di Santo Marco , which gave the rock its name. According to legend - and only according to legend - there is an underground passage between the two rocks as an escape route.

Attractions

Clock tower in Cassano all'Ionio
Sant'Angelo cave
  • According to tradition, the Cathedral of Cassano was built on the ruins of a temple of Jupiter . Their crypt dates back to the early Christian era. A sundial is attached to the right outer wall of the nave of the cathedral.
  • The small monastery church of San Domenico is worth seeing near the Piazza Paglialunga . Next to it is the episcopal seminary.
  • On the site of a Basilian monastery north of the city, the Baroque pilgrimage church of Santa Maria della Catena was built in the first half of the 17th century . There, the faithful venerate the icon of the Madonna della Catena (from Greek "katinai": to lead), probably from the 9th century, the Madonna pointing the way , one of the oldest surviving icons in Italy (outside the Vatican collections ). Famous are those of women u. a. in the procession to the Madonna della Catena on Good Friday to archaic melodies, lamentations sung in several voices.
  • The Museo Diocesano in Piazza S. Eusebio houses an important collection of southern Italian art from the 15th to 18th centuries .
  • At the foot of the Pietra del Castello is the clock tower built in 1776 . Its location was chosen so that the time could be read from as many squares and streets in the city as possible.
  • Cassano is known for its five thermal springs , including the Fonte della Stufa (furnace spring , so named because of its warm water), which are used for the Terme Sibarite thermal baths . A testimony to the long history of the use of the springs is a public fountain from the Baroque period , the Fontana dell'Acqua Sulfurea (Fountain of Sulfur Water ).
  • Sant'Angelo cave

sons and daughters of the town

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Felix: Byzantium and the Islamic world in the early 11th century . Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1981. ISBN 3-7001-0379-4 . P. 202.
  3. ↑ Gianluigi Trombetti: La Cattedrale (detailed building history and description of the art treasures, Italian), accessed on January 5, 2014.
  4. ^ Leonardo Alario: Conventi, chiese e figli di San Domenico della Diocesi di Cassano . Editore Falco, Cosenza 2013. ISBN 978-88-6829-027-6 .
  5. ^ Rosario Elia: Religione popolare in Calabria . Pellegrini Editore, Cosenza 1995. p. 13 and p. 118.
  6. ^ L'icona della Madonna della Catena (Italian), accessed January 5, 2014.
  7. ^ Giorgio Adamo: Social Roles, Group Dynamics and Sound Structure in Multipart Vocal Performance. The Female Repertoire for Good Friday at Cassano allo Ionio (South Italy) In: Ardian Ahmedaja, Gerlinde Haid (eds.): European voices . Vol. 1: Multipart singing in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean . Böhlau, Vienna 2008. ISBN 978-3-205-78090-8 . Pp. 87-101.
  8. ↑ Thomas Raiser: Sila Greca - Sila Ionica (Calabria). A travel guide . edition semplicità. Fellbach 2002. ISBN 3-00-009260-9 . P. 224.

See also

literature

  • Fulvio Mazza: Sibari, Cassano all'Ionio . (= Le città della Calabria , vol. 19). Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2011. ISBN 978-88-498-3249-5 .
  • Vincenzo Saletta: Storia di Cassano Ionio . Casa Editrice Studi Meridionali (CESM), Rome 1966.

Web links

Commons : Cassano allo Ionio  - collection of images, videos and audio files