Cassano allo Ionio, Province of Cosenza, Calabria
Info
- Altitude: 250 m a.s.l
- Population: about 18,000 inhabitants in 2017
- Zip/postal code: 87011
- Dialing Area Code: +39 0981
- Demonym: cassanesi
- Patron Saint: Santissimo Crocifisso, celebrated on the first Friday in March; St. Biagio, celebrated on 3rd February
- Frazioni & Località: Doria, Lauropoli, Sibari.
Italian Regions

History - the Neolythic
History - Antiquity: the Greeks
For magnificence and luxury the Sybarites were proverbial throughout Greece. Tension between the democrats and oligarchs led to the expulsion of the latter, who took refuge in Kroton and led a war to Sybaris, which was razed to the ground; the Krotonians turned the course of the Crathis to flow over its ruins in 510 BC.
In 444-443 BC there was the Panhellenic foundation of Thurii, from the name of a nearby spring. Later Thurii was occupied by the Lucans and gradually lost importance.
History - Antiquity: the Romans
History - the Middle Ages
In 576, under the Lombards, Cassano became a "gastaldato" of the Duchy of Benevento. In 951 it was sieged by Sultan Al Hassan, who spared it looting and destruction. In the second half of the 9th century AD Byzantine armies conquered the valley of the Crati river defeating the Lombards, and established a diocese.
In 1054 Cassano was occupied by the Normans and later by the Swabians. At Cassano there was a battle between Manfred of Sicily and Pietro Ruffo, vicar of Calabria, which ended with the victory of Manfred. In 1284, under the Anjous, Cassano became a fiefdom of one Icerio de Mignac, then was entrusted to several other feudal lords, including the Sanseverino (14th century) and the Prince of Bisignano, who gave it to the Genoese Francesco Serra in 1622. The Serra family enjoyed great nobility in Genoa, Spain, Sardinia and in the Kingdom of Naples.
History - Modern Times
Explorations undertaken by the Italian government in 1879 and 1887 discovered an extensive necropolis, some 8 miles to the west of the confluence of the two rivers, of the end of the first Iron age, known as that of Torre Mordillo, the contents of which are now preserved at Potenza, and another necropolis (probably of Thurii) of about 400 BC, consisting of tombs covered by "tumuli", in some of which gold plates with inscriptions in Greek characters were found.