Guardia Sanframondi
Guardia Sanframondi is a characteristic mediaeval village overlooking the entire valley of river Calore’s
low water-course (428 m a.s.l.) on the state road 77 sanr,itica Napoli-Campobasso. The village’s origin
and name have still not exactly been stated.
Some studious asserted that it had Samnitic origins (Eulfulae) or even Roman, some others gave it a
Lombard origin, others a Norman origin. The most credited theory is that the village propably rose
between the VIHth or IXth cen., at the time of the Lombards, according to a written documentation of
856 A.D., in which it is identified clearly with the name of Bicu de Fremundi, from which then the present
Sanframondi originated. The term Guardia hints at a precise function of custody and defence of the place
due to its strategical position. An other theory locates this village’s origin in the height of the Norman
period (XI cen.) making its name originate from the Sanframondo family who possesed the feud. As a
matter of fact the Sanframondo led the feud from 1088 to 1460, it then went under the domain of Carafa
di Maddaloni family until faudalism was abolished.
Destroyed by the 1456 and 1688 earthquaked and rebuilt on the same spot, it acquired great notoriety in
XVI-XVII cen. since a thriving trade activity was established connected to tanning industry, and for this
reason it was known with the name of “Guardia delle sOle”. The leather industry enriched the village
as no activity did in the district’s other centres and exactly for this reason it received a great artistical
and cultural impulse.
Today the village, with its 6.000 inhabitants, mainly devoted to agriculture, is renowned especially for
wine and oil production.
Penance rites in honor of the Assumption are held every seven years and the entire village is taken by this exstraordinary act of faith. The event takes place on the second decade of August and it ends on the 25th August with a global penance procession. During the procession the immage of the Assumption is carried on the shoulder preceded by the four village Distric’s representatives (Croce, Portella, Fontanella e Piazza)that represent living pictures of the Old and New Testament and of the Saints lives. Parts of the procession are also the choirs, the disciplinari and the battenti. The disciplinari used to beat their own shoulders with thin sheets during all the route and the throughout the procession. The same way act the beaters up who wear hoods not to be recognized, and with pinned cork sponges, beat alternating their chest right and left.
This ceremony is sacred so much for the (Iuardiensi that the concert in the square is suspended, there are no illuminations, stalls, markets and fire-works. Just one fire is shot, in the day of the general procession, when the Madonna is on the parish’s parvis.
Placed in the 1139 castle, it presents considerable collections in sacred furnishings, and its riches testify
the manificence and splendour achieved by the Confraternity of the Conciatori. Among the pieces
displayed emerge the silver bust of San Sebastiano, work of G. Starace, Neapolentan silversmith, upon
design of P. de Matteis’. The bust, because of its value, has been exposed in the ‘700 display in Naples.
Architectural assets
The Castle probably was erected in 1139 for will of the Norman Raone, Sanframondo’s founder.
This castle’s charm and importance still remains intact today due to its majesty exalted by the
enormous stone of calcareous rock, more than twenty metres high, on which it stands. The
castle is the site of an open theatre, a wine bar and a panoramic hail for meetings and conferences.
CHIESA DI AVE GRATIA PLENA 0 DELL’ANNUNZIATA
Of the XVth cen., it is the oldest church in Guardia Sanframondi and it is located in the historic centre, in
the previous central square. Is rich in polychromes marbles, baa relief and paintings dating back to the
1700 with Baroque stuccos. The church presents a vault dome, three marble altars placed symmetrically
and adjoining to the central nave, rectangular in shape and with a wooden ceiling. The plan is latin-cross
shaped with three naves presenting four side arches held by five stone colums, the triumphal and the
transept. The tatter presents three chapels, in corrispondence with each nave, dedicated respectively to
the SS. Sacrament, to the Assumption and to St.Philip.
BASILICA DI SAN SEBASTIANO
San Sebastiano Basilica is rich of works of art, marbles, stuccos, paintings and frescoes of’700 and it has
been erected on a preexisting 1515 chapel. The basilica presents a single nave with a sandstoned portal
that still preserved intact its elegance. The interior is divided into eight arches, four for each side. In four
of them there are as many altars. The high altar, made with iare and valuable marbles, is enriched with
putti and very elegant inlays. In the vault’s central panel is represented the Gloria dell’Assunta
(Assumption’s Glory), whilst in the panel below the Quattro Evangelisti (the Four Evangelicals).
SANTUARIO DELL’ASSUNTA
Dating back to the XVIth cen., it clearly shows late Romanic features besides some Baroque elements.
The parish, the Assumption sanctuary since 1956, presents three navee and is latin-cross shaped. It
contains the Assumption’s statue, in whose honor, every seven years, Penance Rites are carried out.
IMPIANTO URBANISTICO (IJRBANISTIC PLAN
The built-up area, based on a big extension of cultivated lands and vineyards, disentangles in the lanes, on
the slopes and stone stairs still preserved in their original architecture, offering to the visitor a
foreshortening mediaeval spot very hard to reproduce.
Enviroment resources
Woods
The most represented forest essences are Aleppo-pine, Turkey-oak, oak-tree, poplar, willow and
lime-tree.
PINETA LOCALITY.
Reachable by taking a confortable secondary road, the place allows a brief stop to admire the Beneventan
valley, Telesina valley and the Taburno massif.
MOUNT GUARDIA.
Reachable by a secondary road.
Flora and fauna
Locality of “Monte Cesima” 915 hectares; mixed ilex-coppice, mawia ash, little-oak, hornbeam.
Entrance from Fecicce and Quarani;
Dog-rose, hawthorn, elder, wild hazel, brooms, asparagus. Amongst the fauna we mention squirrels,
dormouse, hare, foxes, porcupines, weasel, stone-marten, hedgehogs, moles, lizard, pheasants,
quails, woodcock, blackbirds, goldfinches, finches, nightingales.
Rivers
From the slopes of mount Pietra Tellara (823 metres height), winding along the hamlet’s territory the
stream Capuano flows into the river Calore; the latter laps the far south of the (3uardiense territory and
it’s rich in fish fauna (carps, chubs, barbels).