Sunday, August 3, 2014

Genzano history as we know it

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
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Welcome to our blog, Genzano it story
and this post, Genzano history as we know it.
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One of the main streets of Genzano di Lucania; this is called the Corso, where people all dressed up stroll up and down in the company of their best friends on Sundays afternoon and also on other feast days.




This is the oldest church of Genzano called, Anunziata, it is the church that Aquilina Sancia built about 1300 AD together with the monastery attached to it.
The order of the nuns of closure run until 1905


This is the Franciscan convent, it is said that it played once the leading part in the affair of running the town of Genzano

The church of the Madonna of Genzano, Maria SS delle Grazie; The story of this Madonna is written in one of our hubs and this is the web address;  The Madonna story













Genzano history, as we know it

This article is being written above all for the people that come from Genzano di Lucania, since for them it is easy to visualise and remember what we are talking about in this article, I know this because I have come from this town myself and today I would like to say a few things about my native town.
One of the first things that come to my mind, while I am writing this article is my teacher, because when I was at school in Genzano di Lucania, my teacher (Ettore Lorito) who was also a writer was writing a book about Genzano di Lucania, So, I wish I had this book with me now, so that I could find many more things to say about Genzano, but this book is very hard to find these days, so I have to say only those things that I remember and know.
So, let us begin from the beginning; how Genzano di Lucania came into existence is not exactly known today; but, the earliest and first written stories about Genzano, goes back to Roman times, or about when the Roman Empire started to crumble, see the report below that I have found on the Internet, where it states when the Western Roman Empire collapsed.
The Western Roman Empirecollapsed in 476 as Romulus Augustus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer.
But even before the Roman Empire collapsed there is an event somewhere in the Roman history where they talk about a Genzano town, whether that Genzano is Genzano di Lucania or Genzano di Roma as we know them today is not clear, but anyhow there was a Genzano town during the Roman Empire, since I am talking about Genzano di Lucania, let us assume that it could well be Genzano di Lucania.
Apart the fact that these articles have been written the first time for our Hub Pages readers, I hope also that my countrymen Genzanesi will come across these articles about Genzano town and follow me and stories and also write a few comments, if they like.
If you want to know more about Genzano di Lucania, click on the link below.
There are many stories and legends about this town of Genzano; it is just like many other ancient towns, some of stories are written here-under. 
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Saint Anthony protector of Genzano











Saint Anthony protector of Genzano town

Now, let me tell you another very old story about Genzano: this story that I am going to tell you here may well be after the time when the Roman Empire collapsed: And this story that I am telling you here is about St. Antonio Abate who is still nowadays the patron saint of Genzano, this story goes back to the fifth century AD or there about, a sort of Genzano town already existed then and there was a war going on at that time: The town of Genzano made resistance to the enemy aggression and its demands, so it was put under siege. The enemy was furious and was going to destroy Genzano; so they set their war machines ready for tomorrow to begin the assault of Genzano and destroy it. The town of Genzano was in grave danger, but that night the weather rained, snowed and became bitterly cold, it was so cold that froze everything stiff, so cold and frozen were the war machines that they could not be used or even moved, and the weather was cold for a very long time afterward, until the enemy became tired and left; and that’s how Genzano was saved from destruction. The day that this event happened was on the 17th day of January, which is the day of St. Antonio Abate according to the Roman Catholic calendar. See what I found on the Internet about this great saint:
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great (c. 251–356), (CopticⲀⲃⲃⲁⲀⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ), also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt,Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius (Ἀββᾶς Ἀντώνιος), and Father of All Monks, was a Christiansaint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers. He is celebrated in many churches on his feast days: 30 January in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church; 17 January in the Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Catholic Church.
The biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of Alexandria helped to spread the concept of monasticism, particularly in Western Europe through Latin translations. He is often erroneously considered the first monk, but as his biography and other sources make clear, there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was, however, the first known ascetic going into the wilderness, a geographical shift that seems to have contributed to his renown.[4]
Anthony is appealed to against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases. "Saint Anthony's fire" has described different afflictions including ergotism,erysipelas and shingles. End of Internet report about Saint Anthony.
Now that I have explained who was this great Saint Anthony, let me tell you how the story goes: The folks of Genzano believe that this incredible happening of cold weather was due to divine intervention through St. Antonio Abate: And this is the reason why St. Antonio Abate was made Patron Saint and protector of Genzano; this belief about Saint Anthony has lasted to the present time, and I have to ad that even today when there is a problem in this town, let us say it has not rained for a long time so rain is needed for the fields to grow, the priest and the people soon take Sant’Antonio out in a procession through the town and into the country, in the hope that Sant’Antonio will help to make it rain. This is how the people of Genzano venerate this Saint.
Now let me go back to Genzano history, for a very long time after this happening above and during the Dark Ages; (Here I have reason to believe that the Dark Ages are called dark ages just because there is no much written history about them) there doesn’t seem to be any real history written about Genzano town also, and therefore nobody seems to know what has happened during that period of time. History seems to slowly restart at the beginning of the second millennium, see our next story. The Normans in Italy

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 Genzano it story
Genzano history as we know it
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED; 
Next time with, the Norman in Italy
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