The Patron
San Tommaso d'Aquino
Kept here on 7 March, not on the saint's more usual January date. San Giacomo was the town's earlier protector, and still appears in its older paintings.
— Castellesi
CASTELLESI COMUNE
Avellino,
Campania
A tollhouse on the road to Puglia, and a diocese that changed in 1998.
Grottaminarda stands at the mouth of the middle Ufita valley, in the centre-north of Irpinia , on the road that carried the flocks and the trade of the south toward Puglia .
It was a circondario seat under the Kingdom and a mandamento seat after unification, both within the district of Ariano Irpino . And its diocese changed in 1998, which means the modern label points at the wrong archive for almost the whole of its history.
The Road
Dogana Aragonese
Built in 1467 to collect the dues of transhumance on what became the national road to Puglia, raised in 1774 as a posting station, and declared a national monument in 1930.
The Landmark
Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore
Built in 1478, with an organ of 1799 and a ceiling fresco of 1768 by Matteo Vigilante, a painter from Solofra.
Did you know?
THE DIOCESE MOVED WITHIN LIVING MEMORY
Ariano Irpino today. Avellino for everything older.
Grottaminarda belongs to the diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia — but only since 25 January 1998, when the decree Quo uberius transferred it there from the diocese of Avellino. Every parish record older than that was made under Avellino. The modern label points at the wrong archive for almost the whole of the town's history.
LA PARLATA
How they speak
Italian is standard, and local speech is the Irpinian variety of Campanian. The town calls itself Rótta and its people ruttìsë; in Italian they are grottesi.
Crypta, Criptaminarda, Grottamainarda
The name is a compound: grotta and the medieval Germanic personal name Maynardus . Scipione Ammirato has the town appearing as Grottaminarda from August 1229 , and the d'Aquino family held it — it was Landolfo d'Aquino who, in 1211 , added Minarda to the plain Crypta . Between 1229 and the fifteenth century the records give Cripta, Criptaminarda, Criptamainarda and Grottamainarda; only in the sixteenth century does the modern form settle.
What made the town was the road. In 1467 Ladislao d'Aquino built the Dogana Aragonese here to collect the dues of transhumance — the seasonal movement of flocks down to the Tavoliere — on what became the national road to Puglia. It was raised in 1774 to serve as a posting station and declared a national monument in 1930 . The Fontana del Re of 1606 stands on the same royal road.
The 1732 earthquake, with its epicentre very close by, did heavy damage. In 1860 many of the town's people took part in the Garibaldian rising, beginning by seizing two consignments of arms meant for the Bourbon army.
Under the Kingdom the comune was head of a circondario within the distretto di Ariano ; after unification, head of a mandamento in the circondario di Ariano di Puglia .
Wear Grottaminarda
Carry your heritage with pride. Timeless designs inspired by the heart of Avellino.
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Where this
belongs
belongs
PROVINCIA DI AVELLINO
Discover the beauty, culture and traditions of Avellino and its remarkable comuni.
EXPLORE AVELLINO →REGIONE CAMPANIA
From the mountains to the sea, Campania is a region of history, flavor and soul.
EXPLORE CAMPANIA →From the passenger index
At least 1,095 people who gave Grottaminarda as their home are recorded by name among Italian arrivals in the United States — each with the ship they sailed on and the day they landed.
A floor, not a total. The index covers arrivals through 1912, holds nothing between May 1907 and December 1911, and many passengers were written down with no home town at all. Where a name is there, it is there with its record.
Have Orso look for your family →Ready to visit
The Dogana, and the road east
Getting there
The nearest major airport is Naples International Airport (Capodichino).
Grottaminarda is a road town, and the road is the thing to look at.
The Dogana Aragonese of 1467 and the Fontana del Re of 1606 both stand on the old royal road to Puglia, and between them they explain the place: a customs post and a watering stop on the route the flocks and the carts took east.
In the centre, the chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore of 1478 and its Vanvitelli bell tower are the landmarks, with San Michele Arcangelo — built over a grotto, its bell tower tenth-century — and San Tommaso d'Aquino of 1636 close by.
Ariano Irpino , the district seat that orders the records, is about twenty minutes north.
What to see
La Dogana Aragonese — the 1467 transhumance tollhouse, a national monument since 1930.
La chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore — built in 1478, with its Vanvitelli bell tower.
La Fontana del Re — built in 1606 on the royal road to Puglia.
La chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo — raised over a grotto, its bell tower tenth-century.
Il Palazzo Portoghesi — Paolo Portoghesi's civic building of the late twentieth century.
Ariano Irpino — the district seat that orders the records.
A day here
Morning
Begin at the Dogana Aragonese. Built in 1467 to tax the flocks moving toward Puglia, raised in 1774 as a posting station, a national monument since 1930 — the single building that explains why this town is where it is.
Midday
Walk to the chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore of 1478 and stand under the bell tower: thirty-six metres, built to a Vanvitelli design by a mason from Mercogliano. Inside are the 1799 organ and Matteo Vigilante's ceiling fresco of 1768.
Afternoon
See the Fontana del Re of 1606 on the old royal road, and the civic fountain of 1875 at largo Mercato, then the church of San Michele Arcangelo with its tenth-century bell tower over the grotto.
Late afternoon
Drive north to Ariano Irpino, twenty minutes away — the district seat whose series holds Grottaminarda's civil registers, and the diocese the town joined in 1998.
Before you leave
Stand on the old road east and watch the traffic. For five hundred years everything and everyone going from here to Puglia came past this point, and that is what your family lived off.
Family history
Where the records are
Archives and registers
The district is Ariano. The diocese was Avellino until 25 January 1998. The spelling settled only in the sixteenth century.
Related places
Keep exploring
The journey does not end at the boundary of one comune. The province, the region and the neighbouring towns often hold the rest of the picture.