Vastogirardi

During the Lombard epoch Vastogirardi was part of  the Terra Burrellensis, the County of the Borrello’s. The large territory with head in Pietrabbondante, included part of the Abruzzo and the Molise, on the border between the duchy of Benevento and Spoleto. The town fortified structure appears with the same characteristics of other places like Roccaravindola, Scapoli, Santa Maria Oliveto, fortified villages lacking in principal fortress. The name Vastogirardi dates back to the Norman epoch, when a leader, Giusto Girardo, stayed there during the trip towards the Holy Land at the time of the first crusade. The element characterising the fortified suburb is the square, used in the past as community space and rural court. At the present time you can enter in the suburb through a door where the noble escutcheons and an inscription celebrating the Petra’s, the feud’s owners, are placed. In the 17th century they worked for the transformation of the complex. The first news about the settlement should date back to the Angevin period, in 1269,  during the domination of the Duke Raimondo Maleto, Prince of Vastogirardi until 1279. The holders of the local domination were all designated with the title of duke, the most important were: Giacomo Cantelmo (1280-1310), Corrado Acquaviva (1310-1335), Giovanni Cantelmo (1335-1384), Andrea Carafa (1384-1404), Giovanni De Trinci (1404-1411), Amecchino and Antonio Mormile (1411-1415). The D’Alessandro’s ruled from the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 19th century. At the present time, the suburb is private property and is undergoing building renovation works by the Commune of Vastogirardi.