Montano Antilia
The town is situated at the slopes of Antilia Mount, at 1316 m above the sea-level, the territory slopes down towards the hills and Lambro and Mingardo valleys.
The position is very good, this town is really “kissed” by sun during the day, in fact Montano Antilia means “in front of the sun”. Thanks to this position, agriculture and sheep-rearing have always been very well developed.
There are many monuments, charming squares, narrow streets that create a special atmosphere.
San Nicola di Mira church is very interesting, of Byzantine origin. It is made by only a nave with a great arcade supported by wood columns. There are beautiful altars decorated with stuccoes, of Baroque style.
“Pariglia” festival is very nice: pariglia is a typical dish, made of fried peppers with lard and onions, pork, game and peas, served hot with rice.
Monuments and natural beauties...
- San Nicola di Mira church is very interesting, of Byzantine origin. It is made by only a nave with a great arcade supported by wood columns. There are beautiful altars decorated with stuccoes, of Baroque style. On the right there are small chapels, one is dedicated to Madonna Addolorata, with a marble altar and fine decorations; the other is dedicated to San Pasquale, inside there is a wood statue ruined by the earthquake of 1980. In the sacristy there are ancient pieces of furniture and on the entrance door there is a niche containing a statue portraying Our Lady with the Child
San Rocco Chapel. Inside there is an altar (in front of San Rocco statue) decorated with the painting of a baldachin supported by twisted columns. Ceiling is painted, in the middle there is an image of the Saint who takes care of the plague-stricken people. The chapel was decorated in 1902 by the painter Giuseppe Chiarelli who came from Calabria
Ruins of Santa Cecilia di Castinatelli Church. It was called “the Abbey”, the coenobium was founded in 1022; local feudatories chose the abbot that ruled on the surrounding territory and on San Nicola di Centola coenobium
Santa Maria Lauretana Church
SS Annunziata and Sant’Antonio da Padova Chapels. In these chapels there are paintings, wood statues, brass chalices and an ostensory decorated with a wood cross
Santa Maria ad Nivis Chapel, it has the typical style of a country church. It was built in 1450, as an inscription on the architrave of the door testifies. On the marble altar there is a niche with a wood statue portraying Our Lady with the Child
Fontana Montemauro, Centopelli (the name is linked to a legend that told about the death in that place of one hundred sheep) and Caprarizzi, fountains
A fountain with three taps
Grotta del Mulinello, a cave
Sorgente del Malandrino, a spring whose water has therapeutic properties
SS. Annunziata Church. There are the relics of San Montano. The shape is of a Latin cross. There is big nave, a presbytery, a chorus (at the back of the main altar) and a small nave (on the right). It was built in 1466. There are also three frescoes at the bottom of the church: one portrays the Annunciation and it is sided by two smaller paintings portraying San Vincenzo Ferrer and Saint John the Baptist baptising Jesus Christ in Giordano River. Other paintings portray the four evangelists. In the sacristy there is a painting portraying a friar with a lily, maybe it is San Bernardino da Siena
Tower with the clock. The clock was installed in XVIII century in this three-floor tower. On the tower there is a date, 1826, made in Vietri ceramics. Maybe this date indicates a modernization of the tower. The tower is like a bell tower. It has always been the symbol of the town. On the frontispiece there is a stone dedicated to all the soldiers dead during First World War
Scala Santa. It is a small chapel, it is one of the three chapels of this kind in the world: one is in Rome, the other is in Zara, in former Jugoslavia. Maybe the chapel was built by a marquis, Antonio Cammarano, who obtained the authorization to build a “Scala Santa” to keep a vow
San Sebastiano Chapel; the bell tower is very interesting
Sant’Anna Chapel
Sant’Antonio Chapel
“Museo del giocattolo povero”. This museum dedicated to “poor toys” was made by three teachers that wanted to show to children the ancient toys. Children with the help of parents and grandparents learnt which were the games and the toys of the past and they tried to recreate them, too. In the museum there are many toys, games, musical instruments and it represents a link between children and the past generations. Each object is catalogued, and it is perfectly described (material used to build it, ways to use it, etc.)
History...
The name comes from San Montano, Antilia means “in front of the sun” and in fact the mount where the town is, is one of the highest of Cilento.
The first inhabitants arrived around year 1000 a.C., they founded Montano and Abatemarco and Massicelle hamlets on the ruins of an ancient Greek-Byzantine community. They became three rural villages whose main activity was agriculture.
In the past Montano was made of poor houses made of straw, wood and mud.
It became an autonomous municipality in 1806, after Murat law.
The town was situated along the road that linked Policastro – Roccagloriosa to Cuccaro Vetere.
On the mountains there were many brigands: Michelangelo Luongo, Pasquale Rosa, Gaetano d’Elia, Nicola di Benedetto and Pompeo Trivelli were the most famous. They were defeated in 1813 with the last repressions made by general Fouchon.
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