Country Italy Province / Metropolitan city Avellino (AV) Demonym(s) Montellesi | Region Campania Elevation 546 m (1,791 ft) Time zone CET (UTC+1) | |
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Montella is an Italian town and comune (municipality) in the province of Avellino, Campania, with a population of 8,013. The zone was inhabited already in the neolithic period. The town was born like Samnites' village in the 1st millennium BC, to become a municipality of the Roman empire and a town under the Longobards.
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Montella et gelidi valete fontes/ et silvae et nemore alta castanetis
Culture
Montella is known for its chestnuts, and the comune organizes the Sagra Castagna di Montella (Montella Chestnut Festival) each fall. An eco-museum dedicated to the chestnut, the Museo della Castagna Montella, opened in 2014.
Part of the comune of Montella is also encompassed by Monti Picentini Regional Park, a mountainous natural preserve in Campania which is host to many types of mushrooms as well as cave systems.
There is a Latin speaking community centred on Accademia Vivarium Novum. From 1990-2009 Latinists from around the world have congregated around Luigi Miraglia and other teachers.
Montella is a sister city to Norristown, in Pennsylvania; many inhabitants of Norristown hail from Montella.
People from Montella
Giovanni Palatucci, honoured by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in 1990 as one of the Righteous Among the Nations, who saved more than 5000 Jews during World War II, was born here.
Italian singer Aurelio Fierro was born in the town. Basketball coach Geno Auriemma, a member of both the Naismith Memorial and Women's Basketball Halls of Fame, was also born in the commune, although he emigrated with his family to the United States at age 7. The grandparents of American actress Maria Bello came from Montella. Also born in Montella was Leonarda Cianciulli, the serial killer later known as the "Soapmaker of Correggio".