Alfano

Alfano is located on the right bank of river Faraone, on a pleasant hill at the foot of Mount Antilia; it extends over an area of 4.61 square kilometers, which makes it one of the smallest municipalities within the Province of Salerno. The first news about Alfano is reported in the Angioni Registries: it is a payment order of 22 tari and a half addressed to the administrators of the time for having hidden two foci (families) tax. In 1496 Alfano was donated by Ferrante II to Giovanni Carafa, Count of Policastro, with the title of “Contado”, together with San Giovanni a Piro, Bosco and Torre Orsario. According to Giustiniani, the origins of Alfano are even more remote as its territory was part of the possessions of the Sanseverinos, a powerful feudal family, who after having lost possession because of the crime of "felony", regained it under the king Frederick II . It is known that in 1566 Alfano was disputed between Giovanni Battista Carafa, Count of Policastro, and Nunzio del Verme for the exercise of criminal jurisdiction over the said territory. It turns out that in 1588 Alfano was bought by Paolo Brancaccio. In 1619 the vice-king Duca di Ossuna gave is consent to the sale of the town to G. Andrea Vernallo di Campagna for 9,500 ducats who, in 1624, sold the fief to Diego Vitale di Cava for 10,500 ducats. In 1669 Alfano was in the possession of Giovanni Andrea Bernalla, a family that still owned it in the 700s. It is important to underline, however, that although Alfano was a bargaining chip from a feudal lord to another, he lived the political, social, cultural and economic history of the Cilento, land of belonging, of the Bourbon period, revolutionary and Risorgimento, contributing with the blood of its children to improve the social, cultural, economic and moral conditions of Southern Italy.

Alfano is located on the right bank of river Faraone, on a pleasant hill at the foot of Mount Antilia; it extends over an area of 4.61 square kilometers, which makes it one of the smallest municipalities within the Province of Salerno. The first news about Alfano is reported in the Angioni Registries: it is a payment order of 22 tari and a half addressed to the administrators of the time for having hidden two foci (families) tax. In 1496 Alfano was donated by Ferrante II to Giovanni Carafa, Count of Policastro, with the title of “Contado”, together with San Giovanni a Piro, Bosco and Torre Orsario. According to Giustiniani, the origins of Alfano are even more remote as its territory was part of the possessions of the Sanseverinos, a powerful feudal family, who after having lost possession because of the crime of "felony", regained it under the king Frederick II . It is known that in 1566 Alfano was disputed between Giovanni Battista Carafa, Count of Policastro, and Nunzio del Verme for the exercise of criminal jurisdiction over the said territory. It turns out that in 1588 Alfano was bought by Paolo Brancaccio. In 1619 the vice-king Duca di Ossuna gave is consent to the sale of the town to G. Andrea Vernallo di Campagna for 9,500 ducats who, in 1624, sold the fief to Diego Vitale di Cava for 10,500 ducats. In 1669 Alfano was in the possession of Giovanni Andrea Bernalla, a family that still owned it in the 700s. It is important to underline, however, that although Alfano was a bargaining chip from a feudal lord to another, he lived the political, social, cultural and economic history of the Cilento, land of belonging, of the Bourbon period, revolutionary and Risorgimento, contributing with the blood of its children to improve the social, cultural, economic and moral conditions of Southern Italy.