SALERNO AND BRUSSELS: LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS LICEO STATALE REGINA MARGHERITA SALERNO K. A. KOEKELBERG BRUSSELS

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1 SALERNO AND BRUSSELS: LEGENDS AND TRADITIONS LICEO STATALE REGINA MARGHERITA SALERNO K. A. KOEKELBERG BRUSSELS CULTURAL EXCHANGE OCTOBER 2016

2 SALERNO Salerno, located in an Italian region called Campania in the south of Italy was in 194 b. C. a Roman colony and it was named Salernum. Salerno, during the following centuries was colonized by the Goths, the Byzantines, the Longobards and the Normans. It was with the Longobard prince Arechi II that Salerno knew its great splendour at the end of the VIII century, becoming a centre of studies thanks to the wellknown Salerno Medical School. The Longobards built, on the Bonadies mountain a castle that it is still visible today. In 1076 the Norman prince Robert the Guiscard conquered Salerno defeating the Longobards. During his reign a new castle called Castel Terracena and the Cathedral were built. The Meddle Ages was a very important period for Salerno and traces of that ancient past can be found and admired in its historical centre.

3 THE SALERNO MEDICAL SCHOOL Middle Ages was an important historical moment for Salerno. Thanks to its port, commercial exchanges increased, people coming from different areas arrived here and its fame grew. However, Salerno was also known for its famous Salerno Medical School which soon became the first European medical institution in the Middle Ages. Sick people, as well as monarchs came to Salerno to be treated while students came to Salerno to learn from the famous physicians of the School. At the beginning the physicians's knowledge was based on the theory of the humours but then it was gradually enriched by the Arabic and Jewish experience in the medical field. There was a legend connected to the foundation of the Salerno Medical School which tells that the School was founded after a Latin physician called Salernus, a Greek physician named Ponto, an Arabic physician called Adela and a Jew doctor called Helinus. They met in a cold night when Salernus, who had a wound, attracted the attention of the others with his way of healing his wound So the four doctors decided to put together their knowledge and to found a school. The legend well explains how the Salerno Medical School kept the Greek-Latin medical tradition alive and merged it with Arabic and Jewish culture. Another legend tells also that the for doctors met near the Salerno aqueduct, but this takes us to another legend

4 PIETRO BARLIARIO AND THE BUILDING OF THE DEVILS ARCHES In Salerno there is an old Medieval aqueduct build by Longobards in the X century. At that time it brought the water to a Benedictine Monastery and to other small monasteries in town The aqueduct was characterized by a series of pointed arches unusual at that time, and it was extremely high. So the citizens were really impressed by its shape as well as by its heigh, moreover, it was located in an arduous area, full of vegetation and close to the wall of the town Today, the old aqueduct is not working anylonger and it is known as the devils arches or the devils bridge due to a legend that associated its building to the astronomer, alchimist and magician Pietro Barliario who lived in the Middle Ages. People thougth that Barliario, who studied magic, had done a pact with the devils and had succeeded in building the arches in one night with their help, so from this the name of devil s arches. However Barliario s name is also tied to another legend that tells that he had two young nephews and one day while he was out, they entered his lab. They saw a big black book containing magic formula and since they were very curious they opened it. Among the pages there was also an image of the devil. As a consequence of what they had done they died and when Barliario returned, he found them dead. For this he suffered a lot, he nearly drove mad till one day, tormented by the remorse, went to the Benedictine church where there was a wooden Cross with a Christ painted on it. He kneeled in front of it for three days praying in despair. On the third day there was a miracle: Christ moved his head and opened his eyes in sign of forgiveness., In that moment Barliario s conversion started and later on he became a Benedictine monk. The Cross is today kept in the Diocesan Museum. The Devils Arches The Barliario s Cross

5 SALERNO S CATHEDRAL The building of Salerno Cathedral begun with the Norman Prince Robert Guiscard in 1076 and in 1084 the Pope Gregory VII consacrated it. It has a basiical plan formed by three longitudinal naves, a transept and a four-sided portico The portico is surrounded by 28 columns with raised Roman arches and it is enriched on all sides by a series of Roman sarcophagi. At the entrance there is a Byzantine bronze door and next to it there are two marble lions The Cathedral has also a beautiful Baroque crypt where there are the Holy reliquaries of the Apostle Matthew, patron of the city In the crypt there are also the mortal remains of the Holy Martyrs of Salerno who, due to their religion, were persecuted and killed. Salerno Cathedral The three martyrs of Salerno were Ante, Fortunato and Gaio. Once the cathedral was built, the reliquies of the martyrs moved from a small church to the crypt of the cathedral, near the altar dedicated to the patron saint. Today, near their tomb, you can admire a marble column on which the three martyrs were once beheaded. On the top of the column there is a split and it was meant to collect their blood. The legend says that if you get close to it, you can hear the blood of the martyr flowing.

6 The three martyr of Salerno Outside the church, among the sorcophagies in the portico, there is one, on the left hand side of the main entrance, that belongs to the Duke of Puglia and Calabria William II who lived at the beginning of the 11th century. He was very loved by his people and he was married to Gaitelgrima who adored him. He made his sarcophagus built in the cathedral but he didn t live long and few years after it had been completed, William II died at the age of 32. His wife was desperate so she decided to cut her long hair and to put it on her husband s body. After her, other noble women did the same to pay a tribute to William II. The legend says that every year, on the night of August 7th, the date in which William died, when the doors of the portico are closed, Gaitelgrima ghost appears and you can see it walking toward her husband s body, cutting her hair. William II s sarcophagus representing the myth of Meleagro and a boar hunt

7 Finally, the two marble lions, one of which is a lioness with its pet, which are near the bronze door at the entrance of the portico, are connected to a legend too. It is said that during a Saracen attack, the pirates had succeeded in entering the wall of the town and wanted to stole the precious objects that were in the cathedral. Saint Mathew then made a miracle and tranformed the two sculpures into two real animals that with their strength did not let the pirates enter the cathedral The two lions at the entrance represent the charity and the strength of the Church The door of the lions

8 O CURNICIELLO The little red good luck charm with the shape of a pointed horn is a popular object that you can see in the shops of Naples as well as of Salerno. It is considered a good luck object that can protect you from envying people or it can simply bring you good luck However, you have to know that it must be handmade, pointed, crooked hard and red but, above all, you shouldn t buy it yourself, somebody has to give you it as a gift. The idea that the red good luck amulet brings good luck goes back to prehistory when man associated the strength of an animal to its horns. This is why later on we find horns on the helmets of powerful warriors or kings. Common people instead, attracted by the power of such warriors, started to make amulets with the shape of a horn using simple material like wood or clay Of course there is superstition in this, but..you never know!

9 CERAMIC Ceramic has ancient origins and in the XV century it was well known in Salerno and in surrounding areas like Nocera, Cava and Vietri. Due to the position of Salerno and Vietri trade flourished. At that time a large quantity of pots, plates, jars and little pots to keep the spices were produced. Most of them were not decorated. In the following centuries the potters of Vietri became famous also for the religious objects they made especially tiles representing Christ or the Saints. In the XIX century the production focused on decorated tiles that could be used in the floors of the houses and Vietri production had distinctive colours and drawings. In 1920 s Vietri attracted many foreign artists, like Riccardo Dolker or Irene Kowaliska which enriched Vietri production with new technique without neglecting the local tradition. Today Vietri production is very famous and in the little town you can visit the workshop of local artists.