Rossano

Rossano is a town in Southern Italy, in Calabria in Cosenza province. The city is situated on an eminence two miles from far from the Gulf of Taranto. The town is known for its marble and alabaster quarries. The town is the seat for a Catholic archbishop and has a notable cathedral and castle. The highest part of the town is 975 feet above sea-level.

History

Roscianum was the original name town under the Roman empire. It was mentioned in the Itineraries, as one of the important fortresses of Calabria. Totila took it in 548. The people of the time showed great attachment to the Byzantine empire and the Saracens failed to conquer it. In 982 Otto II captured it temporarily from the Byzantines, who had made it the capital of their possessions in Southern Italy. It preserved its Greek character long after its conquest by the Normans as noted by its long retention of the Greek Rite over the Latin Rite. In the 14th century Rossano was made a principality for the great family of De Baux. Passing to the Sforza, and thus to Sigismund of Poland, it was united in 1558 to the crown of Naples by Philip II of Spain in virtue of a doubtful will by Bona of Poland in favor of Giovanni Lorenzo Pappacoda. Under Isabella of Aragon and Bona of Poland the town had been a centre of literary culture; but under the Spaniards it declined. The crown sold the lordship in 1612 to the Aldobrandini, and from them it passed to the Borghesi and the Caraffa.

Related Topics:
Itineraries - Calabria - Totila - Byzantine empire - Saracens - Otto II - Greek Rite - Latin Rite - Principality - Sforza - Philip II of Spain - Isabella of Aragon - Bona of Poland

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