the origins, between legend and reality

From Spartoso to the present Casaletto Spartano

To be able to date the birth of a town or village with certainty is almost always a difficult if not impossible task since the sources available to carry out historiographical research aimed at such verification are very often nonexistent. Casaletto is no exception. Certainly there was no deduction and it is even more certain that no ecist drew the foundation furrow with a plow; much more likely the birth occurred in a “spontaneous” way, starting from an aggregation of a few dwellings that gradually grew until it reached the identity of a village. According to a local legend, the first nucleus developed near an ancient village called “Spartoso”, of which some ruins are still visible; this is where the name Spartano is said to derive from. The abandonment of the old nucleus, again according to this ancient legend, was caused by an ant invasion (ants destroying settlements are present in many legends of founding villages, not only in Cilento: it is a metaphorical image representing the invasion of a very large enemy population). More likely, the first nucleus of the town arose at the foot of Mount Valicorvo because the place was rich in water, there being in the area numerous springs and especially the river. The place name “Casaletto” derives, as can be easily guessed, from the term “casale,” meaning “small farmhouse.” The term “Spartano,” on the other hand, was added to “Casaletto” only after the Unification of Italy.
This addition became necessary because, as per a note from the Prefecture dated July 14, 1862, sent to the mayors, “the identity of name that is encountered in many municipalities of the Kingdom of Italy is well often the cause of misunderstanding and embarrassment both for private individuals and for public administrations.” To remedy this inconvenience, the Ministry of the Interior therefore urged the Municipal Councils of the centers that fell into these cases of homonymy to resolve “if not to change the present name at all, to make at least some additions to it that might be inferred from the special topographical situation according to whether the municipality is located in the mountain or in the plain, at the sea, or above a river or stream.” The town council, meeting on August 21, 1862, decided to change the name of the municipality by adding “Spartan.” Subsequently, The new King Victor Emmanuel II, by Royal Decree No. 1078 of December 14, 1862, published in the Official Gazette of the Kingdom of Italy No. 15 of January 17, 1863, ratified the act, authorizing “the municipality of Casaletto (Principato Citeriore) to assume the name of Casaletto Spartano, in accordance with the resolution passed by that municipal council at its meeting of August 21, 1862. “2 This term derives from “sparto,” a graminaceous plant typical of Mediterranean areas (scientific name: Stipa tenacissima) and which is present, it can be said, everywhere in the municipal territory,3 although, as already mentioned, the choice of the term “Spartano” in the historic town council meeting can be traced back, in a more romantic way, to the legendary “Spartoso.