Montegiordano

The commune sits on a ridge above the Ionian in the Alto Jonio Cosentino, with the Pollino massif behind it. It has two centres, the hill town at 619 meters and the marina on the coast below, joined by the road that passes the small chapel on the plain. Records of settlement here go back to the fourth century BC.

The castle stands in the Piano delle Rose locality, built by the Pignone del Carretto as a winter residence and hunting lodge; the de Martino family later ruled the feudo from 1748 until the abolition of feudalism in 1806. The commune carries the designations Borgo Autentico, Spiga Verde and Città del Vino. What holds the two centres and the centuries together is the sense of a working village rather than a preserved one: a hill town still occupied and repainted, a castle still standing over its own courtyard, a marina still adding beach length, and a plain between them still crossed on the old route from residence to coast.