No church in comune?

[DeFilippis78]

I cant seem to find a church in Stella Cilento in Salerno? Either Im looking in the wrong places or there really isnt one. If thats so, where would people have been married in baptized near there?

[Tessa78]

When searching the Italian phone book for a church in Stella Cilento, it returns the Parish of S. Antonio in Omignano, an adjacent town.

http://www.paginebianche.it/execute.cgi ... lento&ind=

Yet, on the official site for the comune, if you click on Sightseeing (Gite Turistiche) you will find many churches listed... probably in the surrounding comuni, since Stella Cilento has only 354 families.


T.

[DeFilippis78]

This is what i dont understand...354 families? How busy can they be yet they repeatedly ignore my requests for records and Ive been trying for a year. I thought I would go through the churches

[JohnArmellino]

La chiesa di San Nicola is located in Stella Cilento. There are also two chapels located there: Cappella S. Antonio and Cappella S. Rocco. Go to http://web.tiscali.it/stellacilento/Storia/storia.html to view photos and info.

[liviomoreno]

There are two Parishes in Stella Cilento
1 Ss. Pietro e Giovanni

2 S. Nicola di Bari

see http://www.parrocchie.it/gear/qlist.htm ... d_cognome=

[Italysearcher]

Have you tried emailing the URP of Stella Cilento and asking what civil records they have? LDS don't appear to have any and the town was known by the name of Porcili before 1870.

[DeFilippis78]

Have you tried emailing the URP of Stella Cilento and asking what civil records they have? LDS don't appear to have any and the town was known by the name of Porcili before 1870.

Really? Thats very interesting that it had a different name! Im looking for records from around 1875. Ive emailed and wrote letters with no luck. Its such a small town though. Im wondering if they hold their own records or another town keeps their archives.

As far as the churches listed above, I was hoping to contact them for records.Is there any way to find out how old these churches are so I know if they were around when my family was there?

[DeFilippis78]

La chiesa di San Nicola is located in Stella Cilento. There are also two chapels located there: Cappella S. Antonio and Cappella S. Rocco. Go to http://web.tiscali.it/stellacilento/Storia/storia.html to view photos and info.

Thats a nice link. My family is supposedly from Amalafede. They said only 30 people live there today and they are all old. There is an old pic too.

[JohnArmellino]

Is there any way to find out how old these churches are so I know if they were around when my family was there?

There is a painting in the Museo Diocesano di Vallo della Lucania by Andrea Sabatini of Porcilli, which is dated to 1520. This painting was originally located in la chiesa di San Nicola. So it would seem that the church dates back at least that far. In addition, Porcili apparently dates back to the 10th or 11th century; chances are that la chiesa di San Nicola (who is the patron saint of the comune) is very old.

[DeFilippis78]

Thank you John , thats wonderful information. So now Im wondering, why did it change its name from Porcili to Stella Cilento? Is it common for comuni to change names over time?

[JohnArmellino]

So now Im wondering, why did it change its name from Porcili to Stella Cilento? Is it common for comuni to change names over time?

Many comuni changed their names at the time of unification. It seems that many comuni were using the same name throughout the newly unified peninsular. Thus, names were changed (Porcili to Stella Cilento, perhaps) or altered (Martina to Martina Franca) to prevent confusion.

Of course, there were other reasons such as when towns were merged. In the case of Ripalimosani, the original comune of Ripa changed its name to Ripalimosani to honor the inhabitants of the comune of Limosano, who had sheltered them when Ripa was attacked by the Romans. A nice story.

So why did Porcili change its name? Well, there are three frazioni that have the same or similar name as Porcili: Porcele in the comune of Ruoti, Porcele in the comune of Valbrevenna, and Porcili in the comune of Cetraro. Then again, perhaps they just wanted to change its name from "pigsties".

[DeFilippis78]

LOL! That name is based on piggies!!??

[JohnArmellino]

Era chiamata fino alla fine del XIX secolo "Porcili", per l'elevata presenza di allevamenti di suini; siccome tale nome dava un'immagine poco gradevole del luogo, l'amministrazione lo modificò in Stella Cilento, con riferimento al vicino monte: il Monte Stella. La specifica Cilento identifica la zona.

Yes, it was called Porcili [literal translation: pigsties] because of the presence of many pig farms, but was later changed because of the negative impression that the name made. The name Stella Cilento was chosen because of the proximity to Mount Stella and its location in the Cilento zone or area. It appears to be a very beautiful area.

[DeFilippis78]

You are very informative John. This is great stuff your teaching me! So, is it safe to assume then at some point, in that part of my family, there were pig farmers? And my family was in the frazioni amalafede supposedly. Does that word mean anything?

[JohnArmellino]

The frazione of Amalafede was originally called Bonafede. I don't know the meaning of each name, but...

ama means loves
la fede means faith
bona means good

bona/fede = good faith?
ama/la/fede = love the faith?

Just guessing...I have no idea.