“An unusual and unpredictable country in the context of the reality of Vallo di Diano, to be studied and loved …”. So wrote Mario Carotenuto about thirty years ago in one of his Homage to Teggiano and to realize it just enter the main square where the Obelisk appears in all their majesty with the statue of San Cono on top, protector of the city and patron of the diocese of Teggiano-Policastro, and the Macchiaroli castle: albeit for different reasons, they are two monuments that must be counted among the most important in the city and represent a symbol for the entire Vallo di Diano.
If the obelisk (it was raised after the quake of 16 December 1857 by the will of the citizens to thank the saint who had saved them from a tragic event that in other countries had caused enormous damage and hundreds of deaths) is a very important testimony of religiosity and of the people’s devotion to San Cono, the castle can be considered the symbol of the city for what it has represented in history which has often seen it as a strategic element for the defense of the entire valley which takes its name from the ancient Dianum .
It is undeniable, in fact, that much of the history of Diano (only in 1862 the city assumed the current toponym of Teggiano), and in particular that which goes from the very early years of the ‘300 to the mid’ 500, revolves around the noble and powerful Sanseverino family who acquired the Feudo di Diano (which included the Casali di Sassano, Monte San Giacomo, San Rufo, San Pietro al Tanagro and Sant’Arsenio) with Tommaso Sanseverino, count of Marsico, Grand Constable of the Kingdom of Naples and founder of the Certosa di San Lorenzo in Padula.
In the second half of the fifteenth century the head of the family was Antonello Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno, Grand Admiral of the Kingdom and Lord of the State of Diano; it was he who, powerful and ambitious, in 1485 led the conspiracy of the Barons against Ferdinand of Aragon, king of Naples. In 1480 Antonello had married the fifteen-year-old Costanza da Montefeltro, daughter of Federico da Montefeltro, powerful Duke of Urbino. It goes without saying that marriage will have considerable importance for which Costanza will not only represent a courtier element but will be the means that will allow the already powerful Dianese family new and important political connections.
Just to remember the glories of Antonello Sanseverino’s marriage with the beautiful and noble Costanza, the Pro Loco of Teggiano has been organizing for 25 years, in the Ferragostano period, the medieval festival “At the table of Princess Costanza”.
Frankly, it is impossible to remember and illustrate in a few lines the many monuments and numerous works of art of which Teggiano can be proud but religious buildings such as the Cathedral and the museum of San Pietro deserve to be visited without forgetting works such as the Lamentation, six wooden statues of extraordinary beauty depicting the Pietà, made by Giovanni da Nola (16th century), deserve to be admired together with the many other works kept in various buildings.
The major reference of religious architecture is, without a doubt, the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore. To read the documents it was opened for worship in 1274 but it is widely believed among scholars that it existed since the first centuries of Christianity. Restored after the earthquake of 1857, it has retained some original elements such as the floor, the portal from 1279 and that of 1509. The apsidal part, visible from Via Roma, is of enormous interest because there are burial niches from the Lucanian and Roman periods. The interior has three naves. Among the numerous works of art kept in it, the stone Ambo of 1271 with the Symbols of the Evangelists and the column of the Paschal Candle (both by Melchiorre da Montalbano), the funeral monument of Errico Sanseverino, made in 1336 from Tino da Camaino, the funeral monument of the Malavolta of 1487 and that of Stasio d’Eustasio of 1472, the Schipani Tomb, the High Altar in polychrome marble, wooden statues of the ‘500, a lintel of the 7th century, a crucifix of the’ 400 and a 14th century stoup.
Among the other religious buildings where you can admire interesting artistic testimonies, the fourteenth-century church of San Francesco deserves to be mentioned, located right in front of the Obelisk of San Cono. It still retains the original Romanesque portal and, inside, the eighteenth-century ceiling, the stone ambos obtained from a Roman fountain, the seventeenth-century wooden choir as well as interesting frescoes, some of which are from the Giotto school. From the Angevin period (it was built on the remains of a pagan temple dedicated to Juno) is the church of Sant’Andrea enriched by two triptychs from the school of the painter Andrea Sabatini, known as Andrea da Salerno. The church of the Annunziata dates back to the same period with its gothic interior.Of particular interest is a 15th-century table depicting the Annunciation and a polyptych from 1575. No less interesting is the church of Sant’Angelo, which is believed to have been built on the ruins of a Roman theater (although partially it follows the plan). It houses four stone reliefs from the 12th-13th century with the “Symbols of the Evangelists” and, in the crypt, some frescoes ranging from the 12th to the 15th century. Very ancient is also the church of San Michele in whose crypt you can admire a fresco of the chapel of the Lioness of San Pietro a Maiella in Naples depicting the Madonna and Child. On the other hand, the magnificent sixteenth-century cloister of the church of Sant’Agostino should be admired. For the architecture and some important paintings, as well as for the group of wooden sculptures by Giovanni da Nola, the church and convent of SS. Pietà dating back to the first half of the 14th century and particularly linked to the events of the Sanseverino family.
Although it was elevated to a bishopric only in 1850, Teggiano had been equipped with a seminary in 1564 at the behest of the bishop of Capaccio, Msgr. Paolo Emilio Varallo, shortly after his return from the Council of Trent.
Teggiano was and is an authentic city of art which, thanks also to its typical medieval urban layout, continues to attract not only tourists but also artists of considerable value to its historic center and its buildings. Fortunately, in the last twenty years of the 1900s, the spirit of safeguarding and conserving cultural heritage was also reborn in Teggiano: many buildings have been restored without undergoing significant alterations as well as numerous paintings and sculptures that re-evaluated thanks to appropriate restoration work and an appropriate work of dissemination, today they speak to the world of the historical, artistic and architectural importance of a city of art that attracts an ever-increasing number of visitors year after year.