The historic center has a Norman layout, perched and probably originally walled. The churches of Santa Maria degli Angeli and San Giovanni Evangelista (or of the S.S. Bambino), together with the castle, have formed the nodes around which, over time, the dense and minute network of pedestrian paths has been structured, which open between the low and dense houses of the oldest urban center. The historic center is today characterized by the presence of significant architectural emergencies of notab read more
The historic center has a Norman layout, perched and probably originally walled. The churches of Santa Maria degli Angeli and San Giovanni Evangelista (or of the S.S. Bambino), together with the castle, have formed the nodes around which, over time, the dense and minute network of pedestrian paths has been structured, which open between the low and dense houses of the oldest urban center. The historic center is today characterized by the presence of significant architectural emergencies of notable artistic and historical value, including: the church of S. Maria degli Angeli, built perhaps, although the exact date is unknown, in the 12th century; the seventeenth-century church of Carmine; the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista, also known as the SS. Child placed near one of the ancient gates of the historic center, the church of S. Vito built around the year 1607. The artistic and architectural heritage concerns not only monumental episodes but also and above all that minor building "which participates with its construction and decorative elements (the stone portal, the reversed groove windowsills, the squared stone corners, the wooden window frames, the "romanelle" as crowning elements of the buildings, and more). Of notable historical - architectural value is the entire medieval structure of the Citadel, the oldest center of Contursi: the castle (now Casa Mirra), or rather its ancient structure that still lives today in the mighty walls that surrounded it, from Via S. Barbara to Via Arco di Brescione (the narrow windows with bars of the ancient prisons are still visible along their perimeter); the mother church S. Maria degli Angeli (the ravelin and the turret); the countless arches (some demolished after the earthquake of 1980); the gates and the watchtowers (these now almost completely incorporated into subsequent building developments). Among the arches worthy of greater attention: Arco della Posta; Arco di S. Sebastiano; Arco di Brescione; Arco del “Bambino” (S. Giovanni Evangelista also known as alla Porta); Arco di S. Antonio al borgo. To the south of Borgo S. Antonio and S. Leo, is the last wall of the town: from the gate (arch) of S. Antonio, along the walls of S. Sofia up to the now disappeared gate of S. Leo. Other buildings of particular artistic and architectural interest, an integral part of the ancient systems and sometimes generators of future developments are: Palazzo Marolda, built near the Church of S. Vito at the end of the 18th century; Villa Pagnani on Via Municipio, a courtyard building, built in 1600; Palazzo Arnone; Palazzo Rosapepe (today erroneously called the castle), an imposing manor house that dominates the town’s central square, built on the old prisons at the end of the 17th century. The old square, today “Piazza Beato Don Mariano Arciero” (formerly “Principe Amedeo”), was simply called “piazza” until the early 1800s and was the vital centre of the town, which was then enclosed within its walls. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the urban development of the town in an easterly direction, a new and larger square was created: the Portella, today Piazza Garibaldi, and the small square was called “vecchia” read less
