centro storico, di crinale, montano, San Giorgio Morgeto, Morgetia (denominazione originaria)

On a rock spur, following the contours of the land, San Giorgio Morgeto is a Byzantine-era borgo built over the ruins of far older Morgezia, a settlement of a pre-Hellenic Italic tribe. The original medieval layout survives only in the castle that dominates the town, rebuilt in the fifteenth century over the Byzantine core. The historic centre is divided into distinct rioni: Pasqua, Felice, Pace, Lutrà, Carmine, Rovere, Muratore, Carbonaro, Cacciatore, Tedesco, Torronaro, names that speak of trades, families, and perhaps a touch of local character.

A devastating earthquake in 1783 destroyed most of the buildings and killed over half the population. The Dominican convent, founded in 1393, suffered partial collapse. The Basilian monks had earlier built their own church and convent nearby, possibly on the same spot. What remains is a place where medieval, Byzantine, and even older layers sit uneasily together, held in place by the rock and the long memory of disaster.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.