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Historical News and Anecdotes from San Pietro Avellana - Chapter 1


Theories on the Origin of San Pietro Avellana

Translated by Lorry Labate.

The actual territory of S. Pietro Avellana at the age of Sanniti was part of the region inhabited by the tribe Caraceni, the region which contained the actual mountain Molise and the territory of the rare eagle that hides itself in our province in the confines of our district.

The terrain of the site is interesting also in fact of the assurance of the ancient origins or S. Pietro Avellana.

The opinions of historians and tellers of local lore are diverse and discordant on the origins. Among the theories advanced by way of explanation, the most accepted is that which places the origins of S. Pietro Avellana at the remains of the city of of Volano, destroyed in the Roman year 459 by the Consul Carvilio, as told by Tito Livio in Book Ten.

Giuseppe Galanti in "Description of the Countryside of Molise" expresses the opinion that "before one said 'S. Pietro a Volana' by which this word Avellana is derived. In Sannio was the city of Volano".

Of the same opinion is the lawyer Allesandro Delfine who had to defend the community against the administration of Demonio in an important case relative certainly to the inherent public domain vs. Feudal rights in a part of his territory; with rare tenacity he made the most of legal assistance of researched historical notes on the origin of our area. In his memoirs of 1892 Delfini, in fact, referring to Galanti's opinion, argumentally observes that the derivation of the name Avellana from the little tree of that name is not reliable because, "in the severe climate and rocky soil of S. Pietro the avellano tree could not grow."

And in truth the avellano tree exists in our region but only in a dwarfed state; it only rises from the ground a scant meter, and never reaches notable proportions. For this very reason the statement contained in the Abbatiarum Italae loses credibility; that is: "locus ab enormi arbore de Avellana, quae olim iuxta constiterati S. Petrum de Avellana nuncupationem accepit."

The "enormous tree" would contrast with the natural low-growing plant that is actually found in Avellana.

Others infer that the designation "S. Pietro a Volana" results from the maps of Samnium, still to be found in the geographical map room of the Vatican.

Other historians offer other opinions.

Indeed Ziccardi places the city of Volano on the Vairono hills between Campobasso and Oratino; Perrella supposes it was closer to Sepino; and other even farther away.

On the basis of the writings of Tito Livio in Book Ten on the capture of the Sannite cities of Ercolano, Volano and Palombino and on the fact the legion of Consul Carvilio conquered these cities in a few days, one should deduct that Volano could not possibly be located on the actual territory in question, because this place was a notable distance from the other two cities, a distance that military operations of the day could not have overcome in such a short time, especially among people who were opposed to their aims and were their enemies.

There is room, however, to observe that from examination of the text of the Roman historian there is not affirmation of the military trappings that they took to the conquest of the three cities in question. Tito Livio says, in fact, "Jam Carvilius Volanum et Herculaneum et Palumbinum ex Samnitibus ceperat. Volanum intra paucos dies, Palumbinum eodem quo ad muros accessit. Ad Herculaneum etiam signis collatis ancipiti proelio et cum maiore sua quam hostium iactura dimicavit : castris deinde moemibus hostem inclusit ; oppugnatum oppidum captumque."

Now in the reported narration is given a hint of the time necessary for the conquest of each of the three cities, but it is not stated exactly how much time transpired between the siege of Volano of Palombino and of Ercolano. It is stated only that Volano was conquered in few days' time, Palombino, by stationing the army outside its walls and Ercolano, after brief siege, but it is not affirmed that all three conquests took place in few days' time . Therefore. one must conclude from the almost simultaneous conquests, the impossibility of the site of Volano in the territory of S. Pietro Avellana. On the other hand it seems that Palombino was located in the neighborhood of Boiano and if that were so, the distance between Volano and Palombino would not constitute a completely impossible march even for the ancient Roman armies for a rapid conclusion to military operations narrated by Tito Livio


  
Another consideration then for general disposition induces one to lean toward the derivation of Avellana from "a Volana", that is, that our territory is very close to the ancient and notable Aufidena itself: bordered by the territory of Capracotta, in which have been found numerous vestiges that denote the existence there of human villages of an ancient age: and finally it is not far from ancient Aguilonia (Agnone) and from that of Bovaianum (Pielrabbondante) and therefore Volano located in the territory of S. Pietro Avellana would not result in an isolated city located in an uninhabited region but would result instead in that complex of cities and various villages that populated this area at one time, and that were the exact theater on feats of daring-do of Consuls Cursore and Carvilio. The other opinion that the territory was inhabited in the long ago epochs is inarguable truth. It was demonstrated among other things the numerous and imposing reminders of cyclops were still existing along the edge of the Montemiglio. These walls of many time periods still very well preserved unfold in many degrees parallel and above the first, and wrapped all the edge of the west of the heights that from wide expanse opposite falls sheerly tens of meters on to the valley of rapids of the River Rio, so that from nature and the works of man, the heights should have constituted an inviolable asylum for its primitive inhabitants. To be sure in other districts in our territory numerous ancient tombs have keen found.

As a matter or fact, in the area "Queen's Ditch" along the Sangro during some road work dug some decades ago, many ancient tombs came to light, built of terra cotta. From   some of these were taken arms and coins which were first shipped to the civil museum of Aquila then were garnered by the Museum of Palazzo Venezia. No one knows to which exact epoch the tomb belongs, but it is certain that they belong to a time much before Christ. Of ancient coins, others have been found and of considerable value. Of theses, one bears an image of Giano Bifronte, another an inscription memorializing the ruler Attila, still another coin is of the Emperor Augustus and others from various epochs. Other ancient coins were polished smooth and remade in the homage to S. M the king, who, however, ordered them restored since to add to his value, they already figured in his numismatic harvest. Unfortunately, these last coins have been destroyed.

Later at the site where the actual palace D'Alena was built, were found stone slabs and stone sculptures which were recognized by the archaeologists as belonging to the republican and imperial epochs., and even to older epochs. From the main wall of the church were chipped fragments of a stone slab which, it is said but not proven, was an object of special consideration for the interest of Momsen, here taken for his own historical research.

A burial stone was preserved intact by Baron D'Alena; this was found to be dedicated to a Maro Lucseio, a work by one of his sons in memory of the father. For these findings of stones, bombs, and coins, it is a noteworthy fact that these were verified in the extension or the territory that goes from the perifory of habitation to the shores of the Sangro, passing the borders of S. Nicola. Now for the sake of such a circumstance, the theory is not risked upon the idea that an ancient habitation actually existed in such a locality; and maybe more accurate research may give a definite and affirmative answer to this viewpoint.

Furthermore the same findings, especially of tombs and burial stones, for some gatherers of local history, have constituted an important reason to harden the theory, "Avellana" must derive from "avellum". Hypotheses hardly reliable, but which points out, as we have said, the importance of the ancient vestiges which have come to light in our territory.

The learned archpriest D. Sabatino Frazzini in his "Life of S. Amico" affirms then without further ado that S. Pietro Avellana may have been the sea of the area during ancient Roman times. In fact, so states Frazzini. "There was at S. Pietro Avellana some villas of the noble Romans, where they came in summer to enjoy that breath of peace and that cooling of fresh air that was unavailable in the capital of the world, and where they then wished to have their bones buried because they would be better preserved by the favorable changes of weather.

The writer does not tell the source from whence he would take his conclusion but it is certain his is not a spiritual intervention, and from which documentation he must have had to draw to express himself with such absolute conviction.

By how briefly it is expounded, therefore, as we have said, that the territory of S. Pietro Avellana was inhabited surely in long ago times. But they lean therefore to shades of argument that support that S. Pietro Avellana was built in 1026 in territory "never before inhabited" at the remains of the foundations of a monastery donated by Count Odorisio Borrelli, a monastery which, as we will see, had a long history rich in important events.

The village of S. Pietro Avellana, however, discordant the opinions on the historians, would have assumed double title from the saint for whom the monastery was dedicated and from the particular abundance of avellana plants in the region. In not so different a manner could other villages have been named; some from the mountains, from the rivers, they also could have been derived from the names of plants such ss Salcito from saliceto (small willow), Carpinito from carpine and so on.

Opposing these theories is, however, the inarguable reality of the ancient vestiges discovered in our area, and there stands the unalterable fact of the existing city of Volana, likely located in that part of Sannio that we today identify with our region. As a result, it appears more logical and rational to theorize that a new village was formed in 1026, that arose from the double denomination of S. Pietro Avellana from the name of the monastery built there and from recorded history that still preserve. from the remains of the city on Volano.

It is probable that, in the end, because of the abundance of the small plants of avellana in the area and for the affinity of the pronunciation of "a Volano" and "avellana", the ultimate derivation is from the homonym of the plant named "avellana".

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