Giungano is situated at the feet of Cantenna mount. This mountain is covered by a wood of ilexes that protects the town from landslips and rocks. Near it there Sottano Mount: at it feet there is Grado hamlet. The town develops along Solofrone stream, towards Agropoli. The landscape of Giungano is rich of Mediterranean bush that makes the territory a wonderful and uncontaminated one. Nature lovers can admire the real beauty of Elci wood, thirty hectares of Mediterranean bush or the green banks of Tremonti River, an affluent of Solofrone River that from Sottano Mount crosses Trentinara, Giungano and Capaccio territory. In the woods there are foxes, badgers and pheasants. Giugnano town centre is still of Middle Ages style. The most charming buildings are the noble palaces (Ducale, Picilli, Aulisio, Stromilli) with their wonderful portals.
The most important church is Santa Maria Assunta, the Patron, church, with a bulb dome, built around 1400, where there is an ancient simulacrum of Pestana virgin. Inside there is an interesting wood statue of the Saint, to whom the feast of assumption is dedicated.
Monuments and natural beauties...
- Ducale Palace, built in XVII century. In this palace people met to take important decisions about the town
Picilli Palace, built in XVIIIcentury, with charming stone portals
Stromilli Palace
Aulisio Palace. There is still the ancient stone oil press with its old cistern, the basin where olives were collected and a lavatory. The house has not been changed, too. There is a big collection of guns and related accessories, so the proprietors loved hunting. Near the press there is the library with books mainly from 1700. Then there is the family archive that shows the various concessions the family received by the Viceroys. All these things show that the family was very important
Santa Maria Assunta, the Patron, Church, with a bulb dome, built around 1400, there is an ancient simulacrum of Pestana virgin. Inside there is an interesting wood statue of the Saint, to whom the feast of assumption is dedicated
Chiesa di Sant’Andrea, built in 1300
Nunziatella and Carmine Chapels
History...
According to tradition, the name Giungano comes from iuncus, that is rush. Iuncana was the ancient name mentioned by authors of late Middle Ages. But the origin of the name is actually uncertain since the territory is not rich of water, so the presence of rushes would have been actually difficult. Maybe it comes from the geographic position and from the word iugum, that is gioco (game) and anus that is the rear part of a mountain pass that linked Piana di Paestum, through Madonna di Loreto territory, to Alto Cilento.
According to tradition, the first house was founded by a man called Zappulli in 1003 a.C. but in the territory of Giungano some finds of Palaeolithic age were found. Many black ceramics fragments have been collected, they come from IV century b.C. Traces of bricks with mortar and fragments of crocks were found, too and make scholars think that this territory was inhabited during Roman age. Another tradition tells that this town was founded by Pestani after the Saracen invasion.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the ancient Poseidonia lived a period of decadence characterised by a terrible malarial fever that made the inhabitants move on the surrounding hills, where Iuncana territory was.
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