On the second floor of the Museum of Brett and the Sea is located, in the northern wing of the Palace of the Throne, a section dedicated to local historical and architectural heritage, accompanied by appropriate teaching materials-exhibition, which also includes some architectural models with the main monuments the town of Cetraro in its development in the late Middle medieval and Renaissance (Palazzo del Vicario, St. Nicholas Church, the Church of St. Benedict, Convent of the Retreat).

 

fig. 64 Particolare della sala del Medioevo
After the ancient historical phases , certainly less known is the medieval history of the territory of Cetraro and the average Tirreno Cosentino , of which we have the first material data as well as the documentation in written sources since 1086, when, at the death of her husband Robert of Altavilla , known as Guiscard , Duke of Apulia and Calabria, the wife Sikelgaita donates part of her dowry , including the territory of Cetraro and its port , the abbey of Montecassino. Previously nothing is found for the phases Roman , early medieval , Byzantine and Arabic , except for place names in some way attributable to the presence of ecclesiastical predii (loc. The Masseti ) , asceticism and Basilian time , even long hypothetical paths Isthmian inwards (think of the Gap of the Countess and the presence of place names between Bonifati and Cetraro which Serra dei Monaci, Timpone Monks , Plan of Monaco , Cozzo del Monaco , the Monks, the Water of Monaco ) . In the Swabian – Angevin period the monastic lords impose a veritable feudal system , no different than secular . During the reign of King Ferrante of Aragon and under Cetraro remains the center of strategic importance for the defense of the Kingdom. The community takes a hit with a fierce Turkish raid in 1534 , but continues to live and thrive in the ‘600 and ‘700, when you equip the main architectural monuments such as churches and palaces , while some monumental archaeological remains from rural areas of the territory , in relation to the churches (as Treselle ,

 

Treselle. Chiesa. Veduta frontale
Treselle. Chiesa. Veduta frontale

 

S. Ianni and S. Iannello or S. And St. Michael the Archangel Joseph S. Angelo, ancient and important settlement of the territory), testify to the important late medieval phase of the town, clearly in connection with the transition to the monks of Montecassino and the creation of a real gross settlement system, organized around rural churches.

 

fig. 66 Pianta della terra del Cetraro e feudo di Fella seconda metà XVIII.