Letino
Letino: History, Geography, and Places of Interest
Hello everyone! Today I want to tell you about Letino, an Italian municipality of 642 inhabitants in the province of Caserta, Campania. Are you ready to discover everything there is to know about this small town? Let's start right away!
Physical Geography
Letino's territory spans 31 km², with an altitude ranging from 828 meters in the "cavuto" area to 1725 meters in the "Vallocchie scure" area, at the foot of Mount Miletto. The town center is located at 961 meters above sea level. But the most interesting fact concerns the Letino Lake, or Cauto Lake, an artificial basin built at the beginning of the 20th century to supply the hydroelectric plant of Prata Sannita. This lake has a surface area of 1.1 km² and a water volume of 9.2 million cubic meters.
History
Letino's municipal territory already hosted a Samnite settlement in ancient times, as shown by some archaeological findings. In the 16th century, Letino became the fiefdom of the Della Penna barons, then of the D'Aragona and later of the Carbonelli. During the regency of Ippolita D'Aragona, the "Statutes" were approved, recognizing a certain administrative autonomy to the Letinesi. In 1531, the fief of Letino was valued at a thousand ducats, with a population of seventy-two families and an income of thirty-nine ducats. The last feudatory was Marco Aurelio Carbonelli, who ruled until the abolition of feudalism in 1806.
In 1877, the social anarchist Republic was proclaimed by the Banda del Matese, composed of anarchist militants of the Italian Anarchist Federation, who raised the red-black flag in the municipality. The members of this band were arrested by the authorities of the Kingdom of Italy and tried for a previous clash with a carbineer who had been injured and then died, but in the end they were acquitted.
During World War II, on October 24, 1943, German soldiers killed four young people in Letino.
Monuments and Places of Interest
Castle
The Castle of Letino stands on a hill overlooking the town, at 1,200 meters above sea level. Founded in the 11th century, it housed a permanent garrison destined to watch over the area of the high Matese. The longest side, located on the east-west axis, is 90 meters long, while the shorter side, located on the north-south axis, is 40 meters long. Over the centuries, the Castle underwent numerous transformations. The powerful irregular-shaped curtain wall is interspersed with five circular watchtowers. Inside the curtain wall, the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Castello was built around the 17th century, which absorbed a good part of the building. Currently, there are no other buildings inside the walls, so much so that the interior space houses the Letino cemetery.
Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Castello
Inside the Castle's curtain wall, you can find this ancient place of worship, built in the seventeenth century but restored in the following centuries.
Conclusion
There you have it, now you know Letino with a bit more detail! You can admire the beauty of the Letino Lake, visit the Castle where you can also see the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Castello, and learn something about the history of this town. What do you think? Did you like it? I can't wait to hear your opinion!
