Gerardus De Lisa

15th Century Renaissance Man

Gerardus De Lisa was a Renaissance man and an early 15th century printer. He printed about twenty books in Treviso between 1471 and 1476.

Like all but a few printers, these men mixed printing with other forms of livelihood. Indeed, to judge by the output and expressions used in legal documents to describe their activities, printing was only a minor part of their lives. For example, Gerardus de Lisa moved south from Ghent, and by 1462 was a schoolmaster at Treviso. In 1471 he printed the first edition of a pseudo-Augustine Manuale. But in Treviso, he was working in the shadow of the much more powerful printers and booksellers of Venice, he removed in 1477—8, before moving on briefly to print in Udine and Cividale and then coming back to Treviso.

Here is his boast, written as a colophon, or an inscription placed at the end of the manuscript:

He died, precentor of the cathedral at Aquileia in 1499, having been by turn schoolmaster, bookseller, printer, choirmaster, musician and debt collector.


Sources:


An Essay on Colophons With Specimens and Translations By Alfred William Pollard, Richard Garnett, Caxton Club, De Vinne Press, Pforzheimer Bruce Rogers Collection (Library of Congress)

A FLEMING IN VENETIA: GERARDUS DE LISA, PRINTER, BOOKSELLER, SCHOOLMASTER, AND MUSICIAN, Library, 1929; s4-X: 253 - 273, Victor Scholderer Oxford Journal
F we can imagine Gerardus de Lisa still con-cerning himself with......

Excavations at Pino Cave in Sassano

The Pino Cave was discovered accidentally in 1994 during building work carried out at the bottom of the southern slopes of the Cozzo dell’Uovo in the Vallo di Diano (Sassano), and is currently being excavated by the Superintendency of Antiquities of Salerno in collaboration with the University of Naples "Federico II". The original entrance has practically been completely obliterated by a modem building; it must have consisted of a small vertical shaft opened in the limestone rock that had been fractured by the collapse of the roof of an underlying cave. At the bottom of this shaft a debris cone, some 10 m high and with a base diameter of about 20 m, fills most of the cave, except for the eastern area, which is topographically lower and further from the entrance. Here the cave extends for about 20 m, the roof is lower and the walls converge progressively until it soon becomes too narrow to move in. The Pino Cave was used as a funerary cave during the Early and Middle Bronze Age (Protoapennine B phase), between about the 24th and the 15th century B.C. Short, sporadic occupations in historical times have been dated to around the mid 7th century B.C. on the basis of a dragon fibula and two spindle whorls. Several dozen burials have been found in the central area of the cave, or in other more inaccessible areas. The majority of the skeletons are no longer in anatomical connection; together with grave goods they have systematically been shifted to make room for later depositions. On top of them, in one of the hitherto more completely explored parts of the cave, it has been possible to identify the skeleton of a roe deer laid, probably as a final ritual offering, after the final rearrangement of the burials.Only one burial of one anatomically connected individual, beside whom a kid had been sacrificed, has been found beneath a narrow fissure in the wall at the bottom of the cave. The earlier phases of the utilization of the cave are characterized by a coarse ware with a typical ‘rusticated’ surface and by more refined hemispherical bowls with rich incised decoration that may be linked to the Laterza facies common in Puglia and Calabria, for which however massive documentation now exists also along the middle Tyrrhenian Sea side. The most intense occupation dates to the initial and advanced periods of the Middle Bronze Age, defined in the southern area with the term of Protoapennine (1 7th- l5th century B.C.), while for the time being no elements of the final phase of the period (Apennine) have so far been found. It is actually possible to ascribe to the Protoapennine the majority of the pottery types discovered so far, including carinated bowls and cups with their characteristic horizontal cylinder, notched, ax, trumpet and vertical handles, as well as numerous fragments of sherds decorated with relief cordons with complex motifs. All the sherds display strong relations with the production of the Tufariello Middle Bronze Age village and with the pottery from the Cardini Cave at Praia a Mare.A bronze axe and a bronze pendant were found in two different areas of the excavation. Also belonging to the same phase are fragments of a fine well depurated pottery, in some cases decorated with geometric brown painted motifs, of Aegean Mesohelladic origin, the production of which lasted from the early Mycenaean period (Mycenaean I - II) dated to the 16th – 15th century B.C.

As orginally posted by R Fornino here

Typical Life of the Contadini in the 1800s

The following is an excerpt from the book Discovering your Italian Ancestors, by Lynn Nelson.

Since it provided the light needed to work, the sun was the alarm clock. Workdays were shorter in the winter and longer in the summer. Rising from a wooden plank bed, covered with a mattress stuffed with crunchy dried cornstalk, the typical peasant would get dressed and put on wooden shoes (only the wealthy wore leather shoes).

First the animals (if there were any) had to be tended. Chicken eggs were collected to be sold. The eggs were never eaten by the peasants because they were too valuable. All animal droppings (and human as well) were collected and stored in a wooden bin, awaiting the daily arrival of the man with the wooden cart who would purchase this fertilizer to use in the fields.

The water for drinking, cooking and washing had to be carried from the village's central well or fountain. These fountains became the meeting place for the exchange of news and gossip. In some rocky regions, a water vendor, hauling urns of water up the steep hills with a mule drawn wooden cart, sold this precious commodity from door to door.

Breakfast usually consisted of a chunk of bread. Frequently breakfast wasn't eaten upon arising but at a mid-morning break from work.

The men not fortunate enough to hold regular jobs would work as day laborers. Bosses would come to the town square with a wagon looking for men to spend a day hauling stone, picking rice or grapes, or clearing land. The day laborers never knew if they would be working from one day to the next.

The women would work in the fields or in a nearby factory. The silk industry was very big, and, without modern technology, required many hands to wind, spin and weave the silk threads. The women's hands were rough, raw and pained from the constant twisting of the threads.

Even the children worked, from as young as five years old. They would help pick rice or grapes at harvest time. The little girls would begin their silk factory "careers" by manually turning the wheel for the silk spinners.

At lunchtime, most peasants would consume a boiled potato, a chunk of bread or a weak soup made from onions and water, and then go back to work.

As the sun began to set and it became too dark to see, the workday was over. The evening meal would be a just a little more substantial than the day's other repasts. Cabbage soup, a boiled potato, pasta would be the main course, rounded out with some bread. Meat was rarely eaten by peasants except on Sundays or feast days (holidays), and even then their rice or pasta soup would have a weak meat broth with a few shreds of meat floating in it. Wine would also be consumed on these special days.

The evening finally allowed time for socializing. People walked through the streets, gathered and talked. Children ran around and played. In the winter, when it was too cold and dark to spend the evening in the streets, people would gather in a barn, warmed only by the bodies of the animals and lit by a single oil lamp. Wool and coal were too valuable to be burned just for warmth and were reserved solely for cooking. In the barn, the women would knit or spin while they talked in one corner. The men, in a different corner, would tell stories or play gambling games.

When it was time to retire, the peasants would return to their homes and go to bed, often with the whole family sharing sleeping quarters. The next day, the peasant's life was repeated. The peasant had no goals or long term accomplishments to meet. They lived a day-to-day existence, punctuated by church on Sundays, when they had the day off from work, and the anticipation of the next feast day.

Origins of Sassano

The origins of Sassano, as far as its first settlements go, are dated far away in time. Recently, in fact in the area between the urban center and Silla a grotto dated around the year 2000 B.C. has been discovered, as archeological reperts reveal. Of course according to experts the grotto may be dated further back in time, since the material studied is but the upper layers of it. Aside this important discovery, during the Roman Empire there were settlements in the area of what is now Sassano, thus there have been many discoveries of Roman Villa’s in the in a location of Sassano called Pantano. A further and more certain fact is of tombstone, that the people of Sassano call “La Tomba della Principessa” (the princess’s tombstone), in reality it’s a sarcophagus encaved in live-stone, on the side there are scriptures thet experts have dated around the 2nd century A.C., and according to them it was commissioned by a roman landlord for his departured brother. An influence of romans in the culture of Sassano can be found in the dialect, in it there are greek and latin terms, an example for all is the term “ERO’” this dialettical sassanese exclamation that expresess astonishiment for un unexpected or unforseen event, cames from the greek term “ieron” that meant in fact “astonishiment for un unexpected or unforssen event”, and more in the glossary of the Sassanese dialect there are also “Osci” terms, this enforces the fact that Sassano preexisted at the beginning of the Greek and Roman Empires. A further testimoniance of the origin can be found in the name of Sassano, it is infact wrong the belief that the ethimology of the term “Sassano” derives from “Sasso-Sano” (live rock), this was so because the first settlements are believed to be situated in the upper part of the town, instead the mane Sassano, is stictly related to the land possessions that Roman Lords had in this area, in fact in some documents we can read the words “PRAEDIA SOXSIANI”. The term Soxiani o Sossiano, had to be the surname of a roman landlord who owned lands in this region, supporting this theory ther are the facts that this was a widespread phenomenon in the Region of Campania. As time past the term “Praedia” disapeared and was left only Soxiani or Sozziani, that was in fact the landlord surname. Allthough this part of the history of Sassano needs further and more accurate studies, from the year 900 the history becames more documented, the existence of a roman bridge that is stil in good conditions in the mountain location called Peglio riaffirms that there was a settlements in Sassano, however the first document known that mentions sassano is dated 967 A.C., and is related to a patoral visit that a bishop of that time made in the region since the Roman Church took posession the land that is now the Vallo di diano. Some experts question the authenticity of the document, but there are no doubts about a fallowing document dated 1131 A.C. In this document is stated that the Norman King Ruggiero II gave the concession of the Grancia of Rofrano and other Grancias in the Diano Valley including the Grancia of St.Zaccaria in Sassano to the Basilian Monks, a religious order that settled in the southern part of Italy at first in the Calabria Region and only in later years moved on to reach northeran Italy. In fact the Grancias are a part of the existence of these Basilian Monks, and the Grancia of Sassano, althuoght has undergone many restylings throught out the centuries there are still the evidence of where they first settled, and the evolution of the town of Sassano is stictly related to the movements of these monks. In fact this order among administrating sacraments and monastic practicies, was turned above all toward farming and breeding animals. During the 1500’s the Basilian order which was loosing most of it’s power in the region, sold some stalls and farming land they owned to private citizien of Sassano, this is a further confirmation that the Basilians were dedicated to farming. Around the same period there is also a contract of purchase by the Certosini Monks of mountain land owned by the Basilian Monks. With the accession of the certosini in di Diano Valley the power of the Basilian order was fading, the order of the Certosini Monks were wanted by the powerfull Sanseverino Family in 1306 and dominated the economic and cultural life of the Diano Valley, althought the importance that the Basilian Monks had in the evolving urban settlemet of sassano is undisputed. The first neighborhoods settlements of the newly established Sassano were build in the lower part of the town called Fontana, This area was choosen because rich of springwater, that was an important good for the new farming based society that was settling in Sassano. However the farming land available was situated in the mountains, since the valley was afflicted with waterfloods that made impossible any farming works, in fact they were many controversaries between those who had claimed the farming land and those who had taken possession unlowfully, and this was a widespread conditions trought out the Diano Valley. The all life of Sassano without enetering in details is characterized by the fact that the town of Sassano was part with the neighboring town of Teggiano, San Giacomo, San Rufo, Sant’Arsenio e San Pietro of the state of Diano. The State of Diano for many centuries was dominated by the powerfull family of Sanseverino, who had their splendor in Teggiano with the construction of the Castle. In the 1600 the Sanseverino Family had lost most of it’s power and new landlords came out as the dominat family of the state of Diano like the Caracciolo and later the Calà thet kept the feud or State of Diano up to 1806, In fact by archive documents show that the last feudal landlord is the Count Schippani tha wed a nobble Calà. Returning to what is the history of Sassano it’s important to fallow the demographic movements of the popoluation from the first settlements at the Fontana Grande to differanciete it from the “Fontanella” sistuated at the entance of the urban center of the town as it moved upwords in the years that fallowed. The first nobles that settled in Sassano were the families Vecchio e Rossi, in later years they merged as to became the family Vecchiorossi. During the 1600’s new families like the Sabini, Ferri e De Benedictis begun to settle in Sassano, which dominated the economic and political life of Sassano for the caming centuries. Even though Sassano was part of the State of Diano, slowly was gaining it’s authonomy, in a document is stated that the town was rappresentated by a town council and a Mayor, in a lowsuit for unlowfully possession of mountain land during the 1400’s before the court of the State of Diano, Sassano was rappresentated by the mayor of Teggiano, and in a same lowsuit during the 1537 and precissely on jannuary 25th , Sassano is rappresented before the same court by the mayor of Sassano and the town council assembly. However, we must remember that self determination at this time and up to the 1800’s was very limited and the absolute power was in anyway left to the Lord Of the State of Diano or the the Govenor by him appointed to be the ultimate and undisputed lowman. Life in Sassano was dedicated mostly on farming and breeding animals, in fact in the territory of Sassano, and in the location of Silla during the 1600’s is reported to take place an important animal fair, which gathered people from the nearby towns. As the town evolved in the centuries a struggle begun that sow the people of sassano against those who usurpated or unlowfully had taken possession of the small land avalable for farming. If when first settled the popolation of Sassano was of about 1500 by the early 1800’s the popolation grew up to about 6000 people, however the economic conditions were for most of the people of misery and poverty, and aside the wealthy and nobble families, the only category that didn’t suffer such problems was rappresentated by the shephards. These shepperds begun in Sassano a very productive wealthy business industry of cheese makers, an industry that still today with modern machineries rappresents for Sassano the leadership among the Diano Valley Towns for factories that convert milk into cheese. That breeding sheeps was a locrous job is supported by documents that indicate that some of the heards owned by sheppards were of about 5000 sheeps, and these shepards went as far as the region of Puglia to rent land so that their heards could have what to eat during winter, and by custum’s document show that Sassano was the largest leader buyer of salt, that was necessary so as the forage wouldn’t go bad. In the 1600’s Sassano aside misery and poverty of it’s inhabitants had to face the pestlilence that swept throught out Italy and Europe, that decimated the popolation of the entire Diano Valley. In all this happening the Church highly influenced the popoluation of the Valley and Sassano, if in the 1400’s the town main church and all documents that were kept in it were destroyed by a tremendous fire, with the shamefull lost of all archive that cuold further explain the period between the 1300’s and the 1600’s. In the 1607, the new mother church was completelly edificated as it’s written on the lintel of the main entrance, the Church is dedicated to St.John the evangelist although the Saint protector of sassano Is St. John the Baptist, and again, stories narrates that those who more heavly contributed to the rebuild if the new mother church were the shepards, in fact as the story goes that one of these shephaerd offered to rebuilt the churh with the only earnings of it’s activity of cheesemaker, of course this is only a legend. After the fire that destroyed the mother church a growing number of chapels were build in Sassano after the 1400’s these chapels are documentated during the various visits that the Bishops of the time made in Sassano. The first Chapel that we know of is the Chapel of Madonna del Loreto, bilded by the Femminella family, although not documented it’s possible that the very first chapel build is the one in honor of St. Vito on the border line between Sassano and Monte San Giacomo. Afterwords there were build the Chapels of SS.Annunziata, Madonna delle Grazie in the 1600’s, St.Michael, St. Rocco and Madonna del Carmine in the 1700’s, all of these Chapels are so called oitside the walls, because they are all situated in the outskirts of the urban center of what is Sassano. By looking at the chapel and their geographical position in respect to the town thy seem to be disposed in a sort of fortification from all sides or cardinal points, this is so as to the people beilieved that this position of the chapels would save the town and it’s inghabitants from bad luck and pestilence, in fact an old leggend narrates that the town of sassano could never be afflicted by any form wreckness and pestilence and natural catastrophies because these chapels would protect it. Other events that characterized the history of Sassano is in the 1800’s first whit brigantage and afterords with immigration. Among the characters that as brigants have captured the fantaies of the people of the time in Sassano was Salvatore Brigante, a Robin Hood type, he stood for justice and protecting those people who lived in misery and poverty and amarginated from society. Immigration started at first toward Brazil and Argentine, afterwords toward the United States of America. It’s important to establish that the reasonm why people emigrated was for the widespread misery that was widespread in the region during that time, entire families emigrated so as if we take a look at the town anagraphic archive it appears clear that surnames once popular in Sassano have now totally disapeared. Few were the political events that influenced the life of Sassano, and although this aspect of life still needs further studying by historians, is reported between the years 1859-1860 the founding of a secret society. Historians have accertained that this secret society was the first example of a syndacte or of a union labor. The goals of this society was: to upgrade the quality of life, more human working conditions and better pay, the society had a statute, and it’s members had to swear loyalty to it, it was discovered at first by the local police station who notified the Secretary of the police in Naples, and in the trial that fallowed it was defined as an eversive comunist association, and if it’s members wheren’t harsly punished was because in the Reign of Naples in the same time Giusepe Garibaldi entered in Naples to unify Italy (1861). For the later part of the 1800’s and early 1900’s there aren’t any fact worth of mentioning, the old noble families of Vecchiorossi, Sabini, De Benedictis disappeard and a new class of landlords slowly took their place. We can not, however forgett about those people of Sassano who have died in the two World Wars, few of them were recognized with silver medals for their eroic deeds.

Manuel de Lisa

Manuel de Lisa was Spanish born, but most of his speech and writing were in French. Nearly all of his documents which the writer has examined are in the French language. Lisa had the great advantage of a bold spirit, a shrewd, trained mind, and a preliminary experience with the Indians which equipped him better than any other man for the position of first white Nebraska promoter. He came up the Missouri River in 1807 and built the first Fort Lisa that year, in the Yellowstone River region. In 1812 he built his second Fort Lisa, about ten miles north of the present Omaha post office, where a sharp rocky point juts from the Nebraska shore into the current of the Missouri River. For thirteen years Manuel Lisa was the leading man of the Nebraska [p.183] region. He traveled over twenty-five thousand miles and spent three solid years upon the Missouri River. He was the first white farmer in Nebraska. He had a hundred men in his employment and around each of his trading posts he had a small farm with cabins for his helpers. In these posts he had hundreds of horses, cattle, hogs, and fowls. He brought to Nebraska the seed of the great squash, the lima bean, the potato, and the turnip and gave them to the Indian tribes.
Lisa had a white wife in St. Louis and married in Nebraska an Omaha Indian girl, named Mitain. This procedure was very common with the fur traders. Many had an Indian wife in each tribe where they traded. The Indian wife bore Lisa a boy and a girl. Both of these children were educated at St. Louis. The boy died in early youth. The writer met in 1908 the children of the girl, who had married a white man at St. Louis and left a numerous family. Lisa's first white wife died and he married a second white wife, August 5, 1818, Mary Hempstead Keeney. This second white wife came with Lisa to Nebraska and was probably the first white woman on Nebraska soil. Lisa rendered great service to the United States by holding the Missouri River Indians at peace with our country during the war of 1812. He died August 12, 1820, and his grave in the Catholic cemetery at St. Louis is marked by a tall monument.

Nebraska: the Land and the People: Volume 1 [p.182] VIII NEBRASKA FROM THE LEWIS & CLARK EXPEDITION, 1804 TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FORT ATKINSON, 1820.

Here is the wikipedia article on Manual Lisa.

The book Manuel Lisa: With Hitherto Unpublished Material by Walter Bond Douglas can be found here.

The Southern Question

Here is a paper I submitted for a graduate business class at NYU in 1998. I wrote a paper on the economic disparities between the Northern and Southern Italy, or "the Southern Question", as Italian politicians refer to the situation. Recently, Italy was accepted into the European Union (EU), based on stringent economic requirements. Our DeLisa ancestors from Sassano are from the mezzogiorno region of Southern Italy. Below is an excerpt from the paper.


The Mezzogiorno region of Southern Italy, is comprised of modern Italian regions of Abruzzi, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. The term Mezzogiorno, means midday in Italian, and refers to the strength of the midday sun in Southern Italy. The Appenine mountain system is a pervasive feature throughout Southern Italy, as steep slopes and poor or eroded topsoil render about half of the land un-tillable; nevertheless, agriculture employs most of the workforce and is the mainstay of the generally underdeveloped economy. The chief crops are grains, fruits, olives, grapes, and vegetables. Two of the larger industrial centers are the port cities of Bari, with chemical and petrochemical plants, and Naples, with manufactures of textiles, iron, steel, machinery, and automobiles. Illiteracy in the Mezzogiorno is significantly higher than the national average.[1]

After the emancipation of Southern Italy in 1860 by Garibaldi's forces, feudal traditions persisted as the peasants (or contadini)[2] were still tied to large estates. The Mezzogiorno remained an underdeveloped area for the next 90 years as the Italian government focused on the prosperous north. Consequently, many Italians left their homeland for the United States, and by 1927, nine millions Italians, mostly from the south, had emigrated[3]. Large-scale land reforms were not instituted until 1946, and in 1950, the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno (Fund for the South) was set up by the Italian government to stimulate social and economic development in the Mezzogiorno.


North versus South

The existence of two Italys -- one a beautiful sunny country where time does not matter and locals chat over a plate of pasta in run-down but spectacular surroundings, the other a foggy, work-driven, wealthy consumer society -- has long been a national joke and a sore point on both sides of the divide.[4]

Northern and Southern Italians have been divided since the unification of Italy in 1870. “Only by foreign conquest have they ever been united,” the Neapolitan historian Luigi Blanch wrote of the Italians in 1850. “Leave them to themselves, and they split into fragments.”[5] Many Italians would prefer the fragments as for years the north has accused the south of living a parasitical and semi-feudal existence, using the re-distributive powers of the Italian state to sponge off the profits of northern industry. The south has traditionally accused the north of exploiting its raw materials and its migrant labor force, which maintains it in a state of captive dependency.[6]

Further examples of this division are evident through out Italy's relative short history. At the turn of the century, United States Immigration Officers were instructed to fill out alien shipping manifests by classifying Northern and Southern Italians as different races of people.[7] During World War II, the Italian army put northerners and southerners in separate units. Sicilians resented the polentoni, polenta-eaters of Milan, who despised anyone born south of Florence.[8] In the 1950s government studies described almost half of Sicily's 4.5 million people as destitute or semi-destitute.[9] Since the late 1950s, however, there has been a concerted effort to bring the backward south to a par with the richer north, Southerners' lives have improved beyond recognition as the mezzogiorno is no longer plagued by malaria, malnutrition and illiteracy.[10]

Even during the last five years, there was a profound secessionist movement led by Umberto Bossi's Northern League. Bossi wanted to make Northen Italy into a separate country--Padania, named for the Po river valley.[11] Although the movement eventually failed, it did underscore the some of the major disparities between the Northern and Southern Italy economies.

Now, many say, the divide between north and south - the curse of Italian unity since the nation was formed in 1870 - has never been greater.[12] The economic gaps in productivity and employment between the rich industrialized north and the poor, more agrarian south has widened in recent years.


In fact, there exists a parallel with the dual Italian economies of today with the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. Both had strong manufacturing centers in the north, and both had agricultural centers in the South. Italy's contadini work the land of the landowner much as the American slave had years earlier.

Failed Efforts in Southern Italy

After World War II, in an attempt to develop the Mezzogiorno, the Italian government sent trillions of lire southward for ambitious public works projects.[13] Known as the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, the Italian government attempted to stimulate social and economic development in the Mezzogiorno. Benefits included a 10 year exemption from corporate income tax; a 10 year exemption from local income tax; preferential treatment on VAT; financing concessions; capital contributions; relief from the employer portion of social security taxes; and a reduction in selected tariffs.[14] But instead of spurring development, the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, funds succeeded best at spawning more corruption and mismanagement.[15]

Calabria, Campania and Sicily became building sites for industrial and infrastructural follies, or "cathedrals in the desert", the only purpose of which was to line the pockets of pseudo-entrepreneurs and common-or-garden mafiosi. Roads appeared linking nothing with nothing; the 182km Palermo-Messina motorway took more than 20 years to come near to completion and then was terminated with less than 50 kilometres to go, its final viaduct half-finished. An enormous chemical plant was built at Porto Empedocle near Agrigento and was never used. An athletics stadium was built in Caltanisetta on ground so vulnerable to waterlogging that it became unusable. A hospital in Catania costing 40 billion lire was never opened. A one billion lire open-air Olympic swimming pool in Sardinia's Nuoro, built high up a steep hill and practically inaccessible, proved to be at the constant mercy of winds so strong that it was soon closed.[16] The huge Gioia Tauro harbor on Calabria' s west coast remains half completed. State-bred white elephants, such as the Bagnoli steel monster that ruined an enchanting gulf on the north side of Naples, have been gigantic flops[17].

Entry into the European Union

The Maastricht Treaty of 1993 established requirements for the European Union. A primary objective of the treaty is to achieve economic and social cohesion amongst the Member States.[18]. In order to achieve social and economic cohesion, the European Union as a whole must show solidarity towards its poorest countries, regions and population groups with a view mainly to ensure a fair distribution of the expected benefits of European unification. The EU desires to speed up economic and social development in the less-prosperous countries so that they can play a full part in economic and monetary union and accept the discipline involved.[19] The EU has continued to provide funds to the mezzogiorno region with mixed results.

Cultural Issues: Extortion and the influence of the Mafia:


The Mafia (along with similar criminal organizations, such as the Camorra in Naples) remains a huge problem for the south. Even in areas where the influence of organised crime has been greatly reduced, the image of Mafia violence continues to worry outsiders.[20]

There were nearly 2,000 official complaints of extortion south of Rome in 1997. Those who went to the police were merely a brave but tiny minority. Almost 1,000 shops and businesses were torched as a result of their owners failing to meet Mafia obligations and pay il bizzo, as the Mafia cut is locally known[21]. The number of anti-racket organizations across the south rose to a record 42, indicating the extent of the problem rather than the imminence of a solution.[22]

A recent study found that 90 per cent of northern Italian entrepreneurs stayed away from the south because of fears of criminality, corruption and extortion. The mayor of Manfredonia found that out when he went to lobby in Treviso. "We all know the score," one businessman said, to tumultuous applause. "When big money arrives in a town like yours, the bandits are soon round looking for their cut."[23]


Results:

Decades of experiment in the mezzogiorno suggest that as Europe becomes a single large economy, convergence between rich and poor regions will neither happen automatically nor be easily brought about by government policy.[24] Despite all of the incentive packages and the economic aid for the Mezzogiorno, the gap between Italy's rich north and deprived south continues to widen, according to statistics published by Svimez.[25]

The industrial projects have been especially damaging. The south is dotted with great petrochemical works, a half-finished harbour, bits of unfinished highways with cloverleaf interchanges that go nowhere, hospitals that never opened, factories that never started hiring and other ``cathedrals in the desert''. Many investments were in capital-intensive industries quite unsuited to a labor-rich agricultural economy.

The Mezzogiorno region still remains undeniably beautiful. Climate, landscape and food are all delectable, many of the people charming. Crime in the south, not to mention the Mafia, still flourishes. Traffic in Naples and Palermo varies between chaotic and lunatic. Many hospitals are third-world. Public transport is still primarily primitive. The train from Sardinia's capital, Cagliari, to its second town, Sassari, takes six hours to cover the 220km (137 miles).[26]

Unfortunately, there are also modern ruins in the South of Italy. In Palermo, the Teatro Massimo, built in 1895 and one of the country's finest theaters, has been closed for renovations and bureaucratic bungling for more than two decades. "I have a son who's 23 and for him the Teatro Massimo is nothing but a mirage," complains editor Elvira Sellerio. The theater has come to symbolize the tragedy of Sicily and the rest of southern Italy, with such remarkable beauty and potential completely going to waste.[27]

1 “Mezzogiono” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition. Columbia University Press, 1993
2 Contadini is a term used in Southern Italy for a farmer.
3 Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[4] Sullivan, Ruth, “Bleak tale of the two Italys.”, The European, 01-09-1997, pp 19(1).
[5] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[6] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[7] D’Elisa Family Papers, List of Manifest of Alien Passengers for the Immigration Officer at the Port of Arrival, S.S. Main sailing from Bremen Germany to the Port of New York, 1903
[8] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[9] Ibid.
[10] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[11] Glass, C., “If Italy splits, only the Pope loses.” Vol. 125, New Statesman (1996), 06-14-1996, pp 31(2)
[12] Bohlen, Celestine “Southern province still a world apart from much of Italy.”, The Dallas Morning
News, 11-16-1996, pp 43A.
[13] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[14] The Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C. http://www.italyemb.org/index.html
[15] Bohlen, Celestine “Southern province still a world apart from much of Italy.”, The Dallas Morning
News, 11-16-1996, pp 43A
[16] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[17] Author not available, “Costa del Mezzogiorno: Italy.” Vol. 340, The Economist, 07-20-1996, pp 46(1).
[18] Member States include:
[19] EU Website, Grants and Loans from the Euorpean Union, Ecomonic and social cohesion of the European Union, http://europa.eu.int/comm/sg/aides/en/p1intros1.htm#fn5
[20] Author not available, Not as bad as it was, but plenty left to do: Southern promise. Vol. 345, The Economist, 11-08-1997.
[21] Coman, J.; Endean, C., “Mezzogiorno loses its way in Euroland.” The European, 07-20-1998, pp 8(5).
[22] Ibid
[23] Ibid
[24] Author not available, Italy's economy: Dual market. Vol. 343, The Economist, 05-31-1997.
[25] Sullivan, Ruth, “Bleak tale of the two Italys.”, The European, 01-09-1997, pp 19(1)
[26] Author not available, “Costa del Mezzogiorno: Italy.” Vol. 340, The Economist, 07-20-1996, pp 46(1).
[27] Burke, G., Italy/Special Report: Crime And Punishment The Mafia's Reign Of Terror Combinedwith Decades Of Debilitating Political Patronage Have Left The Sicilian Economy In A Hole. , Time
International, 04-21-1997, pp 28+.

A Short History of the Comune di Sassano

The human prescence in Sassano begins far back in time. At Pino Cave, an area half way between Silla and the town center, archaeologists from the University of Naples, Frederick II, have dated human habitation to at least 2000 BC. This date will be extended further into antiquity as the lower levels are excavated. Circumstantial evidence of the settlement of Sassano in pre-Roman times can be found in the local dialect. There are terms which derive from the language of the Italic tribe known as the Oscans. The expression "ERO" in the dialect of Sassano is from the Greek term "ieron", which is an expression of surprise at" an unexpected or unforeseen event." The name Sassano was originally thought to derive from the words Sassa, stone in Italian, and Sano, which means healthy. More recent research shows that the name Sassano comes from the name of the Roman era landholder of the area. The name" Praedia Soxsiani " is found in Roman era documents .This name eventually changed to "Sossiano" and then to Sassano in the local dialect.
Physical evidence of Roman era occupation can be found in the section of town known as Pantano, where the remains of villas have been found. "The tomb of the Princess", is a sarcophagus dated from an inscription to the 2nd century AD. It was actually commissioned by a Roman landlord for his brother. The Peglio bridge ,still in good condition, can be seen in the mountains close to Sassano.
Sassano is first mentioned in a questionable document dating to 937 AD. It tells of a pastoral visit by a bishop from Rome after the Church took possession of land in the Vallo Di Diano, where Sassano is located. The first undisputed reference to Sassano is contained in a document dating to 1131 AD in which King Roger II gives possession of lands at Rofrano and St Zacharia to the Basilian Monks, a Greek Rite order. The Basilian monks were an order dedicated to farming and herding in addition to administering the sacraments and maintaining monasteries. They were very influential in the founding of Sassano where the first settlements were located in the lower section of town known as "Fontana" because of the many springs found there. Layer settlements were further up in elevation. Most farming took place in the mountains because of flooding in the valley. The Basilians were superceded by the Certosini monks. The powerful Sanseverino family were patrons of the Certosini. By the 1500's the Basilians had sold off most of their lands in the area to Sassanese and the Certosini monks.
Sassano is located in an area known as the Vallo Di Diano. This area at one time was part of a state known by the same name. This state consisted of the neighboring towns of San Rufo, San Giacomo, Sant'Arsenio, San Pietro, and Teggiano where the Sanseverino family built their castle. The Caracciola and Cala' families followed the Sanseverino in power up until the ending of feudal right in 1806.Documents show that the last feudal landlord was a Count Schippani who married a member of the Cala' family. The families Sabini, Ferri, DeBenedictus were also very influential after the 1600's. Sassano slowly gained some autonomy over the years but remained under the control of the State of Diano. In a lawsuit pertaining to disputed possession of farmland in the mountain area of Sassano, the town was mentioned to have a mayor and a town council. In this case the mayor of Teggiano represented Sassano. On January 25,1537, Sassano was represented by its own mayor in a similar lawsuit.
Although most of the contadini of Sassano made a very modest living off the land ,those involve in shepherding and cheese making fared much better. Attesting to this is the fact that an important animal fair was held in the area of Silla, in the 1600's,gathering many from the surrounding towns. There were herds of up to 5000 , which were taken as far as Puglia for winter pasturage. A customs document shows that Sassano was a leading user of salt for the preservation of forage. The cheese makers of Sassano were another successful group. After the main church burned down in the 1400's, destroying all the town records back to the 1300's, the families involved in this industry offered to rebuild it.
The patron Saint of Sassano is Saint John the Baptist, however the church rebuilt after the fire, was dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist in 1607.After the fire of the 1400's many chapels were built. The first ,though not documented , was dedicated to Saint Vito, and was built on the border with San Giacomo. The Chapel of the Madonna del Loreto, built by the Femminella family was the first to be recorded. In addition chapels were built in honor of Saint Annunziata, the Madonna delle Grazie, Saint Michael, Saint Rocco, and the Madonna del Carmine. These chapels were built on the heights surrounding Sassano forming a sort of spiritual fortress believed by many to have protected the inhabitants from bad luck and pestilence.
The 1800's brought political turbulence to Sassano as well as the rest of Southern Italy. Wealthy families continued to dominate the poor folk who worked the land. Salvatore Brigante, a brigand, captured the imagination of the Sassanese and was regarded as a protector of the downtrodden and supporter of justice, similar to Robin Hood.
A secret society is reported to have been formed in the year 1859,with the purpose of labor organizing .An oath had to be taken to join the society pledging loyalty in the goals of bettering the living conditions of the workers of Sassano. The police became aware of this organization, which they considered subversive and communist. The annexation by Northern Italy of the Kingdom of Naples and the South prevented the members of this secret societies from being jailed and persecuted.
Emigration took its toll on Sassano. At first people left for Brazil and Argentina, only later going to America. .Poverty was such that entire families left, as can be attested to by the fact that whole surnames disappeared from the town rolls.

Prof. Pasquale Petrizzo and Adapted by John A Stavola as found here and here