Postiglione is a municipality in Campania, a medieval village in the province of Salerno, with more than 2,300 inhabitants. 

 

It rises on the western slopes of the Alburni Mountains, in the Sele plain, to the left of the Calore, at the foot of the Nuda mountain. 

 

It is part of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano Park and is characterized by its geographical position which allows you to admire splendid landscapes. 

 

The inhabited center is gathered in concentric circles around the 11th century Norman Castle, which can be accessed through the narrow alleys of the historic center of Postiglione. 

 

The Castle looks like a fortification system articulated around a main body. 

 

The building had six towers. One of these allowed access to the prison. 

 

Another, with stairs, led to parts below where the carriages accessed.

 

To visit in Postiglione, among the numerous religious buildings, the Church of San Giorgio dating back to the 16th century. 

 

With a Latin cross plan, it preserves a precious tabernacle from 1517, an elegant eighteenth-century wooden sculpture of St. Nicholas and, on the main altar, a monumental St. George killing the dragon. 

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The origins of Postiglione date back to the tenth century when the inhabitants of ancient Paestum, forced by the incursions of the Saracens and Turkish pirates, to abandon their land, took refuge in this place considered suitable for defense. 

 

To reconstruct the history of this country it is necessary to consider that in the period of time that goes from 476 AD. to 1000 AD, southern Italy remained partly under the influence and under the protection of the Eastern Roman Empire. 

 

This protection ended when a Norman, Rainulfo Drengot, returning from a crusade, assumed the duchy of Aversa. 

 

From that moment the Normans spread throughout southern Italy, completely changing its appearance. 

 

The feud of Postiglione was part of the powerful Lombard duchy of Salerno. The first historical news tells us that this feud had been in the possession of Guaimaro IV and then of Gisulfo II, Lombard princes of Salerno. 

 

The latter appointed his brother Pandolfo as his successor. 

 

But approximately in the year 1060 AD. the star of the Lombards turned to sunset and the Norman one

took over, represented by Robert the Guiscard (the smart one), of the Altavillas, who had conquered Puglia and Calabria, had defeated Gisulfo, had married his sister, also sister of Pandolfo, in which the magnanimous Roberto had left possession of the feud. 

 

Pandolfo was succeeded in possession of the feud by his son Euferio and to him by his son Lampo. 

 

Upon Lampo's death, the feud passed to Tancredi d'Altavilla (1145) and then to Guglielmo da Postiglione

who, according to some hypotheses, married a daughter of Tancredi. 

 

William was a man of courage and righteousness, royal executioner and most loyal to the emperor and

shrewd administrator as he enlarged the boundaries of the feud with the addition of Aquara, Castelluccia, Civita, Selvanegra, Controne, Pantuliano, Serre and San Zaccaria, and with the annexation of Corleto Monforte, Sant'Angelo a Fasanella, Ottati, Roccadaspide, Albanella and half of the feud of Capaccio. 

 

Guglielmo da Postiglione had two sons: Tancredi and Guglielmo II. 

 

The feud was inherited by the eldest son Tancredi and subsequently by the husband of Alessandrina,

daughter of Tancredi, Pandolfo Fasanella, also of Norman descent and belonging to the Sanseverino family. Out of respect for his father-in-law, he did not assume the surname "da Postiglione" as was in use at that time. 

 

Pandolfo was highly esteemed by Frederick II who nevertheless tried in every way to capture him when he discovered that Pandolfo was at the head of a palace conspiracy against him. 

 

Pandolfo had no choice but to flee from Pope Innocent IV, at that time the bitter enemy of Frederick II. 

 

Federico then granted the feud to Giovanni da Procida, his personal doctor, born in Salerno and husband of Pandolfina, the only daughter of William II mentioned above. 

 

When on the death of Frederick II the throne passed to his son Manfredi, had by the Pope's protegee, Bianca Lancia, the Salernitan exiles returned to their homeland to be invested with their domains. 

 

Among them was Domenico, the second son of William II who was installed in the place of Giovanni da Procida. But some of those who had returned home and been resettled in their domains rebelled. 

 

Manfredi's reaction was ruthless. Almost all of them were imprisoned and executed, among them Domenico da Postiglione who was taken to Foggia and hanged. The feud returned to the possession of

Giovanni da Procida.

 

When southern Italy passed to the D'Angiò dynasty, Charles, brother of Louis IX, king of France, was appointed king of Naples, the exiles who had rebelled against Manfredi returned to their possessions and the feud was ceded by Giovanni da Procida to Pandolfo Fasanella reported above. 

 

Obviously due to the changes the feud of Postiglione was greatly impoverished. 

 

Giovanni da Procida had taken great care of the restructuring of the castle but the fief had only 150 fires (ie families) including those of Selvanegra. 

 

Fortunately, Pandolfo Fasanella was resettled, highly esteemed by Charles I of Anjou who appointed him "justiciary of Bari" in 1266, captain general of the principality, royal vicar in Rome, chamberlain of the king and viceroy of the land of work and of Bari, the fiefdom he benefited greatly from the position of his feudal lord and his general conditions improved. 

 

When Pandolfo Fasanella died without heirs, King Charles II of Anjou assigned the fiefdom to Tommaso II of the Sanseverinos, whose family had risked being annihilated for having led the conspiracy against Frederick II.

 

Miraculously, little Thomas, aged nine, was saved because a faithful servant of the family had taken him first to a maternal uncle and then to the court of Pope Innocent IV, who had welcomed him with every care and gave him one of his nieces in marriage. . 

 

Thomas II, count, had the Certosa di Padula built and headed the defense of the kingdom of Naples during the War of the Vespers.

 

He died in 1321. From his death to 1523 the feud remained assigned to the Sanseverinos without any note of consideration. 

 

The only significant event took place in 1472. The D'Aragonas had taken over from the D'Angiòs.

 

Following the umpteenth conspiracy, King Ferdinand I declared Girolamo Sanseverino a rebel. The feud was then forfeited to the crown. 

 

In 1496 King Ferdinando decided to pardon the Sanseverinos and reinstated them in the possessions thus, Bernardino Sanseverino, son of the forgiven Girolamo, got back the feud which was inherited by his son Pietrantonio. 

 

The feud was owned by the Riccio barons of Naples from 1507 to 1510, Patricians of the Sedile di Nido. 

 

In 1523 the feud passed to Petraccone Caracciolo. From these to Agostino Grimaldi, who ceded it to the

Duchess of Eboli, Laura Beltramo, who was challenged by the Universality of Postiglione (this was one of the few rights of subjects). 

 

The duchess, who resided in the summer months in the locality that still bears her name, was condemned to return what she had purchased and therefore the feud passed to the duchess's son, Ottavio Franco. 

 

On his death he was succeeded by his son Giovan Battista who loved his fiefdom very much, always showing himself good and generous with everyone, so much so that, on the occasion of a famine, a wheat mountain was created for the needy, who could borrow grain by paying almost zero price.

 

In 1627 Postiglione was elevated to the rank of marquisate. On the death of Giovan Battista Franco, which took place in 1648, the feud passed to his son Jacopo Milano who, contrary to his father, harassed the universality in various ways, and among other things, boasting a non-existent credit, occupied the pastures of the defense "Lagorosso ". 

 

Finally, he had the title of marquisate transferred from Postiglione to his possession of Polistena, in Calabria, to resell this town after a few months. The buyer Giuseppe Spinelli, repentant, tried to get the money back.

 

 A dispute arose which ended only with the purchase of the fiefdom by Ippolita Pelagnao di Cellamare who passed it to duke Marcantonio Garofalo in 1659. 

 

The Garofalo family held the fiefdom of Postiglione until 1760 when they ceded it to King Charles II of Bourbon who had bought it, together with the fiefdom of Controne, to expand his hunting estate in Persano. 

 

Feudalism ended with the law in 1806. From 1811 to 1860 it was the capital of the homonymous district belonging to the Campagna district of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies.