Castle and Church
Updated February 2, 2011.
January 28, 2011. History of Savignano.
January 28, 2011. St. Nicola Church
February 2, 2011. Cemetery
July 13, 2013. Emigration
View from Castle
Commune Piazza
At 2PM on September 16, 1987 we arrived in this Piazza from Naples. Our immediate problem was finding somebody who spoke English. Shortly thereafter a Policeman drove up and I asked him if he spoke English. He said “follow me”. He took us to a hairdresser who had lived in England. She immediately closed her shop that day and the next day. She then took us to the Church where we talked to the Priest and obtained Luigi's baptismal record. We met the Mayor. Obtained Luigi's birth and death certificate. We visited the cemetery. We also saw the house where Luigi died. She let us stay that night in her mothers house.The walkway outside her house is where I took the last picture of the Piazza. When we visited at Easter in 2008 we found out we were cousins. Small world.
The picture of the Piazza marked entrance is also the exit. The road behind me where the Commune Office is located is one way and empties into the Piazza. The exit is to the right and is a narrow road. Almost a one lane road. Driver beware. There is a ramp that goes up to the left and through the arch into the Church area.
On the site that is now the Commune office there was a small hospital. In 1724 Cardinal Francis Maria Orsini, Archbishop of Benevento, restored the hospital. (5 rooms). And as Pope Benedict XIII he built a new one in 1727. It was called the Palazzo Orsini. This later became a school house where the Montalbino children got their education. At least some of it.
I don't know when Purgatory was built. However this was the
Church where the person's spirit resided until the determination
was made between Heaven and Hell. Sort of a halfway House.
Apparently the length of time in Purgatory depended upon how fast
and how much the family contributed to the priest.
Fontana Angelica was built in 1912. It is across the street from
the entrance to the the road that passes Purgatory and the Commune
Office and ends at the Plaza. The Church built in the 500's is
opposite the fountain.