Serre

The Municipality of Serre occupies a fairly large area, so as to include numerous hamlets, the most famous of which is Persano, from the name of the owner who, in Roman times, owned several large estates in the Sele valley. The inhabited center rises on a hill on the slopes of the Alburni Mountains, 200 m above sea level, and is between the waters of the Sele and those of its major tributary, the Calore. About the origins of the toponym there are two versions, both reliable: the first, according to which the term derives from the Latin "sera", that is spranga, with obvious reference to the hills that delimit the valleys and the plains; the second one, instead, derives it from the name of the instruments (the greenhouses) used by the woodsmen to clear the hill where the first houses of the inhabited center were then built. It is interesting to learn about its history, starting in October 1161, when Baron Guglielmo di Postiglione donated the lands at "Serra" to the Badia di Cava. Subsequently, in 1301, they passed to Tommaso II Sanseverino, count of Marsico and, after various vicissitudes, due also to the extinction of the lineage of the feudal lords of the Sanseverino House, the de Rossi family took over, in the beginning Counts of Caiazza and, subsequently, dukes of Serre. The feudal regime ended fifty years before the subversion of feudalism, when Serre and Persano, by means of an exchange instrument, were sold to Charles III of Bourbon who, with a regular deed dated 10 March 1758, became the owner of Serre and its wooded area, where he often went to hunt. In 1981 the WWF Oasis of Serre and Persano was established, in order to safeguard the local natural environment.

The Municipality of Serre occupies a fairly large area, so as to include numerous hamlets, the most famous of which is Persano, from the name of the owner who, in Roman times, owned several large estates in the Sele valley. The inhabited center rises on a hill on the slopes of the Alburni Mountains, 200 m above sea level, and is between the waters of the Sele and those of its major tributary, the Calore. About the origins of the toponym there are two versions, both reliable: the first, according to which the term derives from the Latin "sera", that is spranga, with obvious reference to the hills that delimit the valleys and the plains; the second one, instead, derives it from the name of the instruments (the greenhouses) used by the woodsmen to clear the hill where the first houses of the inhabited center were then built. It is interesting to learn about its history, starting in October 1161, when Baron Guglielmo di Postiglione donated the lands at "Serra" to the Badia di Cava. Subsequently, in 1301, they passed to Tommaso II Sanseverino, count of Marsico and, after various vicissitudes, due also to the extinction of the lineage of the feudal lords of the Sanseverino House, the de Rossi family took over, in the beginning Counts of Caiazza and, subsequently, dukes of Serre. The feudal regime ended fifty years before the subversion of feudalism, when Serre and Persano, by means of an exchange instrument, were sold to Charles III of Bourbon who, with a regular deed dated 10 March 1758, became the owner of Serre and its wooded area, where he often went to hunt. In 1981 the WWF Oasis of Serre and Persano was established, in order to safeguard the local natural environment.