Corleto Monforte

Located on a ridge of the Alburni Mountains, excavated by the course of two lateral streams, Corleto Monforte has uncertain origins.
It is certain, however, that the Lucans, after having conquered the nearby Greek settlements of "Montepruno" (Rossigno) and "Phasis" (Sant?Angelo a Fasanella), built this wonderful town on the high rocky ridge to be able to overlook the whole area. Corleto Monforte was originally called "Coryletum", to indicate the places rocky nature of the place; subsequently, from the year 1000 to 1400 it was called "Corneto" which was then transformed into Corleto from the Latin "Cor Laetum", that is "happy heart". In 1842, finally, the name Corleto was added to Monforte (from the strong mountains), so its current name of Corleto Monforte means "happy heart among the strong mountains".
In medieval times it became property of numerous feudal lords that scattered the town with several towers that can still be visited
Of particular interest is the fact that, after twenty days of siege, the inhabitants of COrleto, to prove to the opponent to be well supplied with provisions and to be able to resist the siege for a long time, instead of throwing stones and other weapons against the besiegers, threw cheese : this induced the imperial commander to cancel the siege and, in this way, Corleto succeeded in limiting the damages also in thanks to its powerful fortifications.

Located on a ridge of the Alburni Mountains, excavated by the course of two lateral streams, Corleto Monforte has uncertain origins.
It is certain, however, that the Lucans, after having conquered the nearby Greek settlements of "Montepruno" (Rossigno) and "Phasis" (Sant?Angelo a Fasanella), built this wonderful town on the high rocky ridge to be able to overlook the whole area. Corleto Monforte was originally called "Coryletum", to indicate the places rocky nature of the place; subsequently, from the year 1000 to 1400 it was called "Corneto" which was then transformed into Corleto from the Latin "Cor Laetum", that is "happy heart". In 1842, finally, the name Corleto was added to Monforte (from the strong mountains), so its current name of Corleto Monforte means "happy heart among the strong mountains".
In medieval times it became property of numerous feudal lords that scattered the town with several towers that can still be visited
Of particular interest is the fact that, after twenty days of siege, the inhabitants of COrleto, to prove to the opponent to be well supplied with provisions and to be able to resist the siege for a long time, instead of throwing stones and other weapons against the besiegers, threw cheese : this induced the imperial commander to cancel the siege and, in this way, Corleto succeeded in limiting the damages also in thanks to its powerful fortifications.