THE TRAGEDIES OF 1857

The year 1857, an unfortunate and terrible year for our city, which was hit by many tragedies. In 1857, precisely on 11 January, Ginosa suffered the first of many unfortunate events, the flood.

Long and heavy rains caused a huge landslide in the ravine that caused the collapse of houses and caves in the Casale, including the rock church of Santa Domenica and caused various deaths and several injuries. On the evening of March 1, the Church of the former Convent of the Augustinian Fathers (today the Church of SS. Medici) caught fire or was set on fire and this, in addition to damaging the structure, damaged the parish archives and furnishings.

Finally, as if that were not enough, on December 16, Ginosa was hit by an earthquake, much more violent than the previous ones (1826 and 1836), which damaged the Casale even more, which collapsed ruinously, but miraculously there were no deaths as the gynosini they were all in the church to attend the Christmas novena and therefore were saved from a tragic end.

Today, in fact, we can see in the Casale those boulders hovering for more than a hundred years, stuck on each other.

This event forced the population to move, therefore to abandon the rupestrian village, now inhabited by the poorest families and also the Rivolta, a little further on, was abandoned and new neighborhoods were born, still existing today such as Popolicchio, Via Roma, Il Carmine, up to the current situation.

Sources: 'History of Ginosa' - Father Damiano Tuseo, 'History of Ginosa' - Paolo Bozza