centro storico, montano, di mezzacosta, spontaneo, Spezzano della Sila, Spezzano Grande (denominazione storica), Spacianum Magnum (denominazione originaria)

On the slopes of the Sila massif, the old centre of Spezzano della Sila follows the contours of the hillside, a spontaneous mountain borgo whose medieval layout still shapes the modern town. It is divided into distinct quarters, each with its own history. San Biagio (or Pedalina) was the first inhabited area, clustered around a spring called “Frisulu”; local tradition holds that an image of the saint was found there, prompting the building of a church. Santa Maria takes its name from the church of Santa Maria dell’Ulmo, while San Marco has lost its own church but kept the name. San Pietro grew around its namesake church, the second to be built. Later expansions include Piantarella, an agricultural zone settled from the late eighteenth century, and the isolated convent of San Francesco di Paola, founded in the saint’s own lifetime. Like many of the hundred or so borghi once counted in the Cosenza hinterland, Spezzano began as a casale, a settlement thought by historians to have emerged during the Saracen incursions of the tenth century.

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