BORGO CITTADELLA DI ANDRETTA

Andretta is a small fortified village at the end of the Greco-Gothic war (mid-6th century AD), in the Byzantine reorganization of a strategic-defensive and territorial control system that placed Conza as the last barrier to the advance of the Lombards towards Salerno and Puglia. However, Conza was occupied by the Lombards and became the seat of an important gastaldato in which the fortified village of Andretta was elevated to the rank of Castellum. At the end of the 11th century Conza was occupi read more

Andretta is a small fortified village at the end of the Greco-Gothic war (mid-6th century AD), in the Byzantine reorganization of a strategic-defensive and territorial control system that placed Conza as the last barrier to the advance of the Lombards towards Salerno and Puglia. However, Conza was occupied by the Lombards and became the seat of an important gastaldato in which the fortified village of Andretta was elevated to the rank of Castellum. At the end of the 11th century Conza was occupied by Robert Guiscard and in the reorganization of the Norman feudal state, Conza became the capital of a large county and villages and castles were changed into Universitates (civium et bonorum); with the benefit of civic uses and public property and the first written source that attests to its existence and name is a document from the Norman era of 1124. The fortified village, the first and original settlement structure within the walls, is still referred to as a "citadel" in notarial deeds throughout the 17th century. Inside the village you can admire the Mother Church of Santa Maria Assunta whose high altar is in polychrome marble surmounted by the wooden statue of the Virgin (19th century). There are seven chapels with tombs. The apse has a semicircular shape and has two large windows that provide light to the magnificent wooden Choir from the 18th century. In Piazza Miele the Parish of Santissima Annunziata, formerly the seat of a Confraternity of the Dead. The interior with three naves, in addition to several marble altars, can be admired: the baptismal font on the right of the entrance portal, already existing in 1658, the wooden choir dating back to the 18th century, a statue of the Madonna and some paintings believed to be from the School of Luca Giordano. read less