Pisciotta. A Walk through the middle ages

The village of Pisciotta is considered the best preserved of the Cilento. It’s perched on top of a hill standing out its noble houses and the mother church defended by all the other stone buildings. The alleys, sometimes really narrow, are like a labyrinth, and it’s not always easy to know where they lead to.

Visiting Pisciotta, the best starting point should be the big piazza Raffaele Pinto, which is still the cultural and social center of the village. Climbing up the flight of stairs, you arrive at the first panoramic viewpoint, the "Piazzetta del Cannone" (the square of the cannon). You can watch across the roofs and hills lining the small river "Fiore". Going on you arrive at the marquis Palace of the 18th century belonging then to the Pappacoda Family feudatory of this village till the end of this system. The portal and the impressive flight of stairs in sandstone as well as the arcades and the front of this building are of great architectonic interest. The Palace holds the town library and appears directly above the wide stretch of ancient olive trees descending to the sea like an avalanche and to the small tourist harbour of Marina di Pisciotta.

Walking slowly along via Roma you nearly don’t see the small chapel of S. Michael. Inside it there is a precious statue of the archangel killing the malignant. Moreover there is an ancient pipe organ. Proceeding on the same street, we see flags in front of a magnificent palace, called Palazzo Mandina, and it is the venue of the town hall. There are arcades and a splendid flight of stairs leads up to the offices. Now we arrive at another noble mansion, Palazzo Francia, in front of a small piazza, very dear to the people of Pisciotta. It’s named after a doctor, Michelangelo Pagano, a true benefactor. In this piazza you will find as well the mother church built in the 16th century. It’s called S. Peter’s and S. Paul’s church.

It has a single nave with a slender barrel ceiling and closes with a small apse. There a three wooden statues: in the middle is the statue of the Virgin of Grace and on each side is the statue of a Saint. The statues date back to the 18th century. Above the various altars bordering the nave hang some paintings. One of them is very precious and shows the Holy Franciscus. This is a painting of the 16th century and was saved just in time when this convent of the Franciscan Friars Minor was destroyed. Today some ruins can still be seen and were embellished by the frescoes of the Salerno painter Pennino (1949). In the crypt you will find a precious Neapolitan crib of the 18th century. Descending via Pendino, left hand there are the remains of an ancient Romanesque church of the 13th century and right hand the tiny chapel of the Mercede, dear to the fishermen after coming back from fishing they thanked the Virgin. Near the chapel is the Episcopal Palace of the Lancellotti Family and a little further, there is Palazzo Ciaccio well visible from the seaside with its wide arcades. Going up via Nello Infante we have the view of other ancient buildings, just like Palazzo Vetere, the chapel of Santa Maria della Stella and further the Old Oil Mill.

Pisciotta has been moving slowly but constantly towards a full appreciation of all its rich historic and artistic resources. Now

Text by Nello Tambasco, citizen of Pisciotta

Following the conquest of southern Italy by the Normans, the name Pissocta is mentioned for the first time in the catalog of the Barons, the list of all the vassals and their possessions, drawn up around the twelfth century AD. The earliest documentary evidence are of year 1200, when Pisciotta entertained business relations with the Republic of Venice. From Pisciotta to the Serenissima were exported vegetal ropes. These were produced by weaving the leaves of Spartan grass, widespread in the territory, known in the local dialect as “agre” (sour). The production of ropes was maintained until the entire first half of 1900. In the first half of 1700 Pisciotta was among the most populated centers south of Salerno. After three centuries the number of inhabitants has remained more or less the same. The economic activity of Pisciotta has always had two driving components: fishing and agriculture and, in particular, fishing for anchovies with the special net “menaide”, and cultivation of olives and vines. Already in 1600 there are sources that document the existence of the seaside village of Pisciotta. The settlement stretched on the beach, where there were the stores for the fishing boats, the equipment and where also were stored the salted anchovies. By the time the houses, at first only with ground floor, had the first floor, then the second and so until the fourth. Even today the village preserves this feature along the beach, on the whole waterfront, from the area south-east in location Passariello, up to the area north-west, location Gozzipuodi. The storehouses reach an average depth of 15 meters, have a barrel vault and they are all with wide arches. At the end all have a tank with fresh spring water, carved into the rock. These features are still present today.

The work of the inhabitants of Pisciotta had a cycle regulated by the seasons. In spring and summer men fished. Those same men were also farmers, and in the fall, were busy in the grape harvest. Soon after, until the end of winter, they dedicated themselves to the olive harvest: So the main products that supported the local economy were three: the fish, especially anchovies fished with the menaide net, wine and oil. Until 1950 Pisciotta armed twenty boats used for fishing of anchovies with the menaide nets. In those same years were in operation, on average, more than 30 mills for the pressing of the olives. In particular, at the end of 1700 were set up about 10 water mills, of which there are still evident traces, like the wheels and the ruins. So the arms of our town allows you to quickly identify the particularities of Pisciotta. There is a shield divided into two basic elements of the territory and the life of the town, the land and the sea, trees and boats...oil and anchovies. And not only. From the bottom of the weapon there are forking two branches, one olive and the other holm: once Pisciotta was also famous for the production of coal and wood crafts.