In the splendid and extensive scenery of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, which includes almost the entire southern part of the province of Salerno with 86 municipalities, there are historical and natural beauties that often manage to surprise even the men and women who in these areas have been living there for decades.
We are very often used to visiting exotic places, mountainous, seaside, or big cities, but coming across abandoned places and defined ghost towns, moreover in a western context, does not happen every day and now we’re talking about Roscigno the ghost city.
If you want to take a short journey through time, taking a leap into the past of over a hundred years, you can satisfy this desire by dedicating half a day to visiting the city of Roscigno Vecchio. This town stood at the foot of a hill that went down to the plateau of Monte Pruno.
Its name seems to derive from the dialectal term “RUSSIGNUOLO”, or nightingale.
The town’s coat of arms is in fact represented by a heart, taken from the coat of arms of the town of origin, Corleto Monforte, from a nightingale, and from the Latin inscription “Luscinia cantat”.The first cluster of houses in Roscigno the ghost city originated from some families of shepherds from nearby Corleto Monforte (Salerno), who came to spend the winter in this remote corner, sunny and full of pastures, while the autonomous municipality was established only around 1500. It was born mainly as an agro-pastoral settlement which later became the victim of extensive feudal exploitation by the wealthiest and unscrupulous social classes.
Unfortunately, due to the morphology of the soil, which is mostly clayey, at the beginning of the 20th century it began to creak and move slowly, thus finding itself seriously threatened by the impending danger of landslides. Following these natural events it was nicknamed: “Roscigno, the village that walks”. Despite this alarming emergency situation, the population never found the courage to leave the country until, however, in 1902 and 1908, two special laws were enacted in favor of all landslide countries which obliged, but also facilitated, evictions from areas at risk of landslides. The inhabitants were then forced to move permanently to a nearby area in order to be able to rebuild the city which in the following years took the name of Roscigno Nuova and where the descendants of that ancient peasant civilization still live today.
One imagines that it must not have been easy for those people to have to load the wagons of all household goods and above all it must have been even more difficult to resign themselves to the idea of having to abandon their homes forever. What remains today in that old village is the memory of a place abandoned for over a century and which still holds within itself the secrets, the voices, the joys and the pains that you seem to hear in the deafening silence of this place. Decades of neglect have not managed to erase the charm and identity of a country that still retains an ancient peasant soul in its bowels.
Some houses still remain intact, but most of them are worn out and gutted by the signs of time. Inside the houses you can still see some furniture that has remained there for over a hundred years, some toilets and abandoned beds. Then there is the eighteenth-century mother church of San Nicola which is located in the “Giovanni Nicotera” square in the center of the town and around which the life of the peasants took place. Also in the center of the square is the large fountain that in ancient times women used as a wash house and which today is the symbol of the place’s antiquity. Walking through the ravines and the narrow streets you will come across old stables and small shops. There are still some doors with the initials of the families who lived there and which were probably buildings belonging to a few rich families. In the central square there is also a general store with the printed name “different genres” and which presumably sold all kinds of goods.
The typical peasant houses were usually built on two floors and made of stone, joined by lime and sand and with the roof covered with terracotta.
On the ground floor there was almost always the stable which was also used for toilets. There was also a warehouse for agricultural tools, a woodshed and also a cellar for oil, wine and wheat. The first floor connected to the upper floor via a stone or wooden staircase where there was a single bedroom and a kitchen with a fireplace. Finally, above, there was a well-ventilated attic of wooden beams, which was used for storing or drying food.
Today in Roscigno the ghost city there is a museum of peasant civilization which collects the testimonies of the life and work of the people of this place and which is located in the restored premises of the former rectory and the old town hall. Here you can admire over five hundred relics cataloged and exhibited in an extraordinary way according to the themes and work cycles of the area.
Instead, what remains of Roscigno Vecchia today is an abandoned town, often also by local institutions, which however retains houses and looks like witnesses of an ancient peasant civilization that has now disappeared but which resurfaces along the streets and silent mule tracks of the ancient village or of the local museum.
The last survivor of Roscigno Vecchia was called Teodora Lorenzo (called Dorina) who die
d in the year 2000 at the age of 85. She was among those people who kept returning to the old village even after the exodus, she was left alone in the village and stayed there by choice because she loved that land to the point of deciding to carry out her peasant existence there with the strong determination of do not abandon its roots. Remembered after death for its simplicity, its frankness, but above all for its fragility. To her, and at the behest of two grandchildren, the “Dorina Prize” was subsequently instituted, an important painting and photography competition on peasant culture and civilization.
The reconstruction of the new town cost the citizens hard sacrifices even if there was no lack of State provisions such as the construction of public housing, the Municipal House and other containment works of streets and squares.
Today also Roscigno Nuovo tends to become depopulated due to the many problems that afflict the country: lack of efficient connections and absence of job opportunities due to the exodus of the few existing companies to other countries.
The spirit of sacrifice of this people, its strong and deep-rooted attachment to its roots, the inventiveness of a population that has always had to and knew how to fight for results and in addition to a growing tourism after the establishment of the Cilento National Park and Vallo di Diano, will certainly allow the town to conquer a noteworthy place in the panorama of places of national historical interest.
Those who see Roscigno Vecchia for the first time immediately feel the sensation of being in a ghostly and gloomy landscape while at night the sound of the wind that moves the leaves of the trees is like the song of the souls who lived here and who still observe from above, they watch over and protect this place. This village represents a perfect marriage between mysticism and mystery which cannot, even if it wishes, leave even the stones indifferent.
HIGH RESOLUTION PICTURES (Tiff or Jpeg) are available for sale upon regular request at the address: https://www.frcreations.it/contacts/ using the contact form with subject “Photo request”.
