Living Casarano

From a historical point of view the most reliable theory on the origin of Casarano, says that about the 1st century B.C. a Caesar centurion was awarded for his military merits with this land, which now bears his name. So the word Casarano may derive from Caesaranum which literally means ‘Caesar’s...’. The recent discovery of two epigraphs dating back to a period between the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D near the present Church of Casaranello confirm the idea that Casarano has Roman origins, since they seem to be remains of a Roman farmhouse. A further proof is of course the planned route of the Via Appia Traiana (98-113 A.D.), which grazed the area of Casaranello, where the oldest findings of the town have been discovered.

From the 5th to the 11th century Caesaranum was invaded by the Byzantines, thus being greatly influenced by the East Christian civilization; in fact both Greek and Roman customs lived together here until the 16th century. Even the most significant modifications of the Church of Santa Maria della Croce, one of the most important churches of the town and of the entire area of Puglia, may be attributed to the Byzantine Age.
The Saracen conquest in 842 A.D. was then of great violence. It compelled the inhabitants of Caesaranum to move to the current areas of Terra, Lacco and Sant’Elia. As a consequence of this invasion the early town of Caesaranum went to ruin and a new built-up area rose, called, Caesaranum magnum, corresponding to the present town and younger than Caesaranum parvum, which was the current area of Casaranello.

In the 13th century, when Carlo D’Angiò defeated Manfredi in Benevento (1266), the fief of Casarano was given to Pietro di Bertinacio and from him on, respectively to the Tomacellis, the Filomarinos, the Concas and the D’Aquinos. Heir of the Tomacellis was of course Pietro, who from 1389 to 1404 was elected Pope with the name of Bonifacio IX, as we can read on an epigraph dating back to the year 1717, kept with great care in the Church of Santa Maria della Croce. This theory of a Papa Casaranese ‘pope from Casarano’ is however still in doubt.

From the end of the 16th century to the 19th century Casarano met a period of great prosperity and was enriched with new churches and new palaces belonging to several rich families living in the town; it was also birthplace of many important men of national calibre, such as Francesco Antonio Astore, born in Casarano in 1742, great follower of the Enlightenment and put to death together with the other promoters of the Parthenopean Repubblic in 1799. From the 18th to the 19th century a large group of liberal minds used to be in Casarano, such as the D’Elias, who gave an important contribution to the Risorgimento.