Cosenza
Cosenza | |
---|---|
Città di Cosenza | |
UTC+2 (CEST) | |
Postal code | 87100 |
Dialing code | 0984 |
Patron saint | Our Lady of the Pillar |
Saint day | 12 February |
Website | Official website |
Cosenza (Italian: [koˈzɛntsa] ⓘ; local dialect: Cusenza, [kuˈsɛndza]) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants.[3] It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a population of more than 700,000. The demonym of Cosenza in English is Cosentian.
The ancient town is the seat of the
Geography
Situated at the confluence of two historical rivers, the
Almost completely surrounded by mountains, Cosenza is subject to a microclimate scarcely influenced by the effects of the Mediterranean Sea. It experiences cold winters and hot summers.
History
Origins
The ancient Consentia (
Alaric's legendary tomb
In 410 AD, Alaric I, king of the Visigoths, sacked the city of Rome, becoming the first foreign enemy to capture the city in more than 800 years. Alaric amassed a great amount of treasure during his conquest of Rome. According to the historian Jordanes,[5] after sacking Rome Alaric headed south with his troops, advancing easily until reaching the area of Cosenza, where he died. No one is certain how this happened: Some believe he contracted a disease that took his life, while others feel that his death came from an attack by enemy forces. In any case, his troops honored their king by burying him in a tomb in Cosenza. His burial place is said to have been at the confluence of the Busento and Crathis rivers. A horde of slaves were used to divert the water from the Busento, allowing them to dig a tomb large enough for Alaric, his horse, and all of the treasure amassed from his conquests in Rome. Once the tomb was completed, the river was returned to its bed and the tomb covered with water. Then, to ensure that no one would reveal this location to anyone, Alaric's troops killed all of the slaves.
In the centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, several towns in the province of Cosenza, most notably
Norman, Hohenstaufen, and Angevin period
Bitterly disputed between the
By the first half of the eleventh century, Lombard Calabria became a feudal dukedom of the
Subsequently, Cosenza fought bitterly against the
Spanish domination
In 1500, in spite of resistance, Cosenza was occupied by the Spanish army led by Captain
In 1707, the Austrians succeeded the Spanish in the Kingdom of Naples, followed by the Bourbons. After the proclamation in 1799 of the short-lived Parthenopean Republic and a vain resistance, the town was finally occupied for the Bourbons by Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo's Lazzari. Cardinal Ruffo was native of the province of Cosenza.
Modern age
From 1806 to 1815, Cosentians fought hard against French domination. Cruel suppressions characterised that period and it was a cradle of the
Government
Main sights
Church of San Domenico
Founded in 1448, the Church of San Domenico combines Medieval and Renaissance architectural elements. Its most interesting feature is the rose window defined by 16 little tuff columns. The wooden portal (1614) is inlaid with floral motifs, figures of saints, and coats of arms.
Inside the church are works by the sanfilese painter Antonio Granata, such as the canvas depicting the Madonna of the Rosary between Saints Dominic and Agnese da Montepulciano preserved in the ancient choir used today as a sacristy in the church (late eighteenth century). The high altar is made of polychrome marble (1767). In the transept, there is a Deposition and a San Vincenzo Ferreri (late eighteenth century, anonymous). The sacristy is noted for its ribbed vault, a double lancet window with a narrow arch, and a wooden choir installed in 1635.
The Cathedral
The exact origins of the Duomo (Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta) are unknown; it was probably built during the first half of the eleventh century. An earthquake destroyed the cathedral on 9 June 1184, and rebuilding was completed by 1222, when the cathedral was consecrated by Emperor Frederick II. At some point during the first half of the eighteenth century the church was covered by a baroque superstructure that obliterated the original structure and its works of art. In the first half of the nineteenth century the façade was transformed in neo-gothic style, which completely changed its character. At the end of the nineteenth century, Archbishop Camillo Sorgente entrusted restoration work to Pisanti, who recovered the original old arches and the ancient structure of the church. In the 1940s the work was finally completed.
The tomb of
Monastero delle Vergini
The "Convent of the Virgins" stands in via Gaetano Argento. The external part of the main entrance is made of decorated tuff, while the internal part is carved of wood. The convent contains a sixteenth-century painting of the Annunciation. In front of it, is the thirteenth-century Madonna del Pilerio attributed to Giovanni da Taranto, while on the walls are four other anonymous sixteenth-century paintings: the Visitation, the Circumcision, the Adoration of the Shepherds, and the Adoration of the Magi. In the apse is the altarpiece Transit of the Virgin (1570). The cymatium houses a painting portraying the Coronation of the Virgin, while at the base of the two columns are paintings of two unidentified saints that are attributed to Michele Curia, the "Master of Montecalvario". The wooden choir dates to the seventeenth century.
Giostra Vecchia
In the fifteenth century, at Palazzo Falvo the
Hohenstaufen Castle
The Castello Svevo ("Swabian" or
All signs of the ancient Saracen structure have now disappeared. In the internal cloister, the modifications made by the
Spirito Santo
The church of Sant'Agostino, also known as the Spirito Santo, was built in 1507 by the
San Francesco di Paola
In the Arenella, are the church and monastery of
San Salvatore
The small church of San Salvatore serves the parish that professes the Byzantine-Albanian faith. Inside the nave are a wooden ceiling, some frescoes of the Apostoli, of the Salvatore, and of the Madonna, as well as a splendid iconostasis.
Open Air Museum
In the modern part of Cosenza, in an area stretching from the pedestrianized Corso Mazzini to Piazza Bilotti, lies the open-air "Museo MAB" (Museo all'aperto Bilotti). The museum hosts a wide range of modern art sculptures that stand in the street for residents and tourists. The sculptures were donated to the city by the Italian-American entrepreneur and art collector, Carlo Bilotti. They include Saint George and the Dragon by Salvador Dalí, Hector and Andromache by Giorgio de Chirico, "the Bronzes" by Sacha Sosno, The Bather by Emilio Greco, The Cardinal by Giacomo Manzù, and various marble sculptures by Pietro Consagra.
Museums and cultural institutions
- National Gallery - Palazzo Arnone
- Civic Archeological Museum
- Remembrance Museum
- Bilotti Open Air Museum
- Rendano Theatre
- Morelli Theatre
- Acquario Theatre
- Cosentian Academy
- University of Calabria
- Music Conservatoire
- State Archive Library
- Civic Library
- National Library
- District Library
- Children's Library
- Antonio Guarasci Foundation Library
- Calabria Jazz Centre Recordings Archive
- Theological Library (Seminario Cosentino)
- Cultural and Ethno-Anthropological Heritage Archive
Sports
Cosenza is home to Serie B football team Cosenza Calcio.
Events and festivals
- Fiera di S.Giuseppe - March
- Festival delle Invasioni - July
- Festa del Cioccolato (Chocolate Festival) - October
- La sagra dell'uva e del vino (Wine Festival) in Donnici - October
Notable people
- Joachim of Fiore (theologian, c.1135-1202)
- Aulo Giano Parrasio (humanist, 1470–1521)
- Bernardino Telesio (philosopher, 1509–1588)
- Pietro Negroni (painter, 1505–1565)
- Antonio Serra (economist, late 1500s)
- Sertorio Quattromani (philosopher, 1541–1607)
- Niccolò Pasquali (musician, 1717/18–1757)
- Francis Pasquali (musician, fl.1743–1795)
- Francesco Saverio Salfi (writer, 1759–1832)
- Giovanni Antonio Palazzo (writer, 17th-century)
- Nicola Misasi (writer, 1850–1923)
- Alfonso Rendano (pianist, 1853–1931)
- Alessandro Longo (composer, 1864–1945)
- Pietro Mancini (politician, 1876–1968)
- Fausto Gullo (politician, 1887–1974)
- Stefano Rodotà (politician, 1933-2017)
- Tony Parisi (wrestler) (1941-2000)
- Sandra Savaglio (astrophysicist, born 1967)
- Maria Perrotta (pianist, born 1974)
- Stefano Fiore (footballer, born 1975)
- Maria Perrusi (Miss Italia 2009)
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Cosenza is
- Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, since 1979[6]
- Lansing, Michigan, United States, since 2000[7]
- Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, since 2010[8]
Gallery
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St Francis Bridge
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Night View
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The River Crati
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Villa Rendano
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The old town
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The old town in the snow
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Surrounding Hills
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View from the riverbank
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Piazza Campanella
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Glimpse of the old town
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Altar to the Bandiera Brothers
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St. Augustine Monument
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Open Air Museum
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Interior of the BoCs Art Museum
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Open Air Museum
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Box Art in the old town
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The Rendano Theatre
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Interior of the Rendano Theatre
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Planetary
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Skyscraper
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June Fountain
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Statue in the Old Gardens
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The River Busento
References
- ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ISBN 978-88-458-1595-9
- ^ Strabo, Geography, §6.1.5
- ^ Jordanes, De origine actibusque Getarum (551), taken up by Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 31.
- ^ "Sister Cities - City of Kenosha". www.kenosha.org. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
- ^ "Living Here | Sister Cities | City of Lansing, Michigan". Lansingmi.gov. Archived from the original on 2012-10-28. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-03. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
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External links
- (in Italian) Cosenza official website
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Cosenza". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.