Pisciotta is an Italian town and commune in the

province of Salerno The province of Salerno () is a province in the Campania region of Italy. It has 1,054,766 inhabitants as of 2025. Geography The largest towns in the province are: Salerno, the capital, which has a population of 131,950; Cava de' Tirreni, Bat ...

, region of

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

History

According to legend, Trojans escaping from the fire and the destruction of their city,

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

, founded Siris. Some of the inhabitants of the city later advanced westwards, following the vast valley of the Sinni river, up to the lake and to the Sirino mountain (from which they took the name), near present-day Lagonegro, where they founded the city of Siruci (now called Seluce). From here, they went to the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (, ; or ) , , , , is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenians, Tyrrhenian people identified with the Etruscans of Italy. Geography The sea is bounded by the islands of C ...

, on the beach of the Gulf of Policastro. Here they founded the colony of ''Pixous''. This event is shown in a rare series of ancient coins, in archaic characters, with the names of Sirinos and Pixoes inscribed, referring respectively, to the populations of the two cities of Siris and Pixous, respectively. The name "Pixous" comes from the root "PYX", which derives from the Greek word for

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost So ...

(present in the coat of arms of Pisciotta town hall). In the year 194 BC, the

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

word ''pixous'' became corrupted to the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Buxentum. In AD 915, when the town was plundered and burnt by the

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

of Agropoli, the town's name had already changed to

Policastro Policastro may refer to: Places and jurisdictions ;Places * Policastro Bussentino, an Italian town and hamlet of Santa Marina, Campania * Petilia Policastro, an Italian town and municipality in the province of Crotone, Calabria ;Dioceses * The ...

. Many of the fleeing Bussetani went beyond the promontory of

Palinuro Palinuro is an Italian small town, the most populated civil parish (''frazione'') of Centola, Province of Salerno, in the Campania region. The name of the town is derived from Palinurus, the helmsman of Aeneas, as recorded in the fifth and s ...

, where they founded a small village that they called Pixoctum, in memory of their lost town. Over the years the name had changed many times - Pixocta, then Pissocta, then Pichotta and finally Pisciotta. The name of Pisciotta is found in the ''

Catalogus Baronum The ''Catalogus Baronum'' ("Catalogue of the Barons") is a collection of registers of the military obligations owed by the barons of the Kingdom of Sicily. The collection was compiled in 1322 under the Angevin dynasty. It contains three distinct r ...

'' (1144). The year 1464 marked for the country a very important development, when the survivors of Molpa, following the destruction of their village, were sheltered in Pisciotta. Until the abolition of feudality in 1806, Pisciotta was owned by the Caracciolos (1270), the Sanseverinos (15th century), the Pappacodas (from 1590). Beginning in 1996 (or so), Pisciotta became host for a summer study-abroad program conducted through SUNY Purchase College.

Geography

Located on a hill above the coastline of

Cilento Cilento () is an Italian mountain range (part of the Lucan Apennines), which gives its name to a geographical region of Campania in the central and southern part of the province of Salerno. Is an important tourist area of southern Italy. ...

and its port and marina, Pisciotta lies on the national highway 447 between

Ascea Ascea is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of southwestern Italy. In the communal territory are the Greek ruins of Velia. It is part of the Cilento traditional area; the maritime touristic part of the municip ...

and

. The municipality borders with Ascea, Centola and San Mauro La Bruca; and counts the hamlets (''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') 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 consolidat ...

'') of Caprioli,

Marina di Pisciotta Pisciotta is an Italian town and communes of Italy, commune in the province of Salerno, region of Campania. History According to legend, Troy, Trojans escaping from the fire and the destruction of their city, Troy, founded Siris, Magna Graecia, ...

and Rodio.

Twin towns

* Hazleton,

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

References

External links

{{authority control Cities and towns in Campania Localities of Cilento

History

Geography

Twin towns

See also

References

External links