Licosa is a southern

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

village and hamlet (''

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a '' comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate terri ...

'') of

Castellabate Castellabate ( Cilentan: ''Castiellabbate'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. History The area was inhabited since Upper Palaeolithic times. In early medieval times, the current ...

, a municipality in the province of Salerno,

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

. As of 2009 its population was of 82.

History

The toponym derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word Λευκωσία (Leukosia, Lefkosía in

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

), meaning "white". A legend says that Leucosia was one of the three mythological sirens met by Ulysses in the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Iliad'', ...

''. The toponym is therefore related to

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaori ...

( gr, Lefkosía, tr, Lefkoşa), capital of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, and to

, a town in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. The area, inhabited since the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

, was settled by

Oenotrians The Oenotrians (Οἴνωτρες, meaning "tribe led by Oenotrus" or "people from the land of vines - Οἰνωτρία") were an ancient Italic people who inhabited a territory in Southern Italy from Paestum to southern Calabria. By the sixth ...

, Lucani (''Leukànoi''),

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...

and

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

; as witnessed by the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Leucosia, or Leukothèa. In 846 it was the site of a naval battle between the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia ...

s and the

Duchy of Naples The Duchy of Naples ( la, Ducatus Neapolitanus, it, Ducato di Napoli) began as a Byzantine province that was constituted in the seventh century, in the reduced coastal lands that the Lombards had not conquered during their invasion of Italy in ...

with allies. The medieval fief of Licosa, established by the abbot

Constabilis Constabilis ( it, San Constabile, San Costabile) ( 1070 – 1124) was an Italian abbot and saint. He was abbot of La Trinità della Cava, located at Cava de' Tirreni, from 1122 to 1124. Biography He was born around 1070 at Tresino, in Lucania ( ...

in 1123, was part of the

baronage {{English Feudalism In England, the ''baronage'' was the collectively inclusive term denoting all members of the feudal nobility, as observed by the constitutional authority Edward Coke. It was replaced eventually by the term ''peerage''. Origi ...

of '' Castello dell'Abate'', and was administered by the abbots of

La Trinità della Cava La Trinità della Cava ( la, Abbatia Territorialis Sanctissimae Trinitatis Cavensis), commonly known as Badia di Cava, is a Benedictine territorial abbey located near Cava de' Tirreni, in the province of Salerno, southern Italy. It stands in a go ...

Geography

Licosa is located in northern

Cilento Cilento is an Italian geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the Province of Salerno and an important tourist area of southern Italy. Cilento is known as one of the centers of Mediterranean diet. Geography The ...

, by the Tyrrhenian Coast, in a rural area and forest topped by Mount Licosa (326 m). The village, composed of 3 sections named Licosa I, Licosa II and Licosa III, lies nearby a cape named Punta Licosa. In front of the cape, that counts a little harbor, is located the ''Isola Licosa'' (Licosa Island), an islet that hosts a lighthouse. The village, located between

San Marco San Marco is one of the six sestieri of Venice, lying in the heart of the city as the main place of Venice. San Marco also includes the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Although the district includes Saint Mark's Square, that was never admin ...

(3 km north) and Ogliastro Marina (4 km south), is 6 km far from Santa Maria, 7 from

, 8 from

Case del Conte Case del Conte, sometimes also spelled ''Casa del Conte'', is a southern Italian village and hamlet ('' frazione'') of Montecorice, a municipality in the province of Salerno, Campania. As of 2009 its population was of 235. History The toponym mea ...

, 19 from

Agropoli Agropoli is a town and ''comune'' located in the Cilento area of the province of Salerno, Campania, Italy. It is situated at the start of the Cilentan Coast, on the Tyrrhenian Sea. History Pre-medieval period The promontory on which Agropoli ...

and 73 from

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

Natural environment

Licosa's territory belongs to the National Park of Cilento and its coastline, characterized the

flysch Flysch () is a sequence of sedimentary rock layers that progress from deep-water and turbidity flow deposits to shallow-water shales and sandstones. It is deposited when a deep basin forms rapidly on the continental side of a mountain building epi ...

rocks, is part of the

marine protected area Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a con ...

Santa Maria di Castellabate Santa Maria di Castellabate ( Cilentan: ''A Marina'') is a southern Italian town and hamlet (''frazione'') of Castellabate, a municipality in the province of Salerno, Campania. It is the most populated ''frazione'' of its ''comune'' and the seat ...

.Marine Protected Area of Santa Maria di Castellabate
(parks.it) The territory, far from urban settlements, is surrounded by

maquis shrubland 220px, Low maquis in Corsica 220px, High ''macchia'' in Sardinia ( , , ) or ( , ; often in Italian; hr, makija; ; ) is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs. Maquis is c ...

(''macchia'') and forest.

Gallery

File:Pallazzo granito.JPG, Palace Granito, nearby the island File:Vedettamtlicosa.JPG, View of Mount Licosa trail to the coastal tower ''Semaforo'' File:Flysch del Cilento a Licosa (Castellabate).jpg, The flysch by the coast

References

External links