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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.
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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Some
useful links
Some hub links
