Castro,_Apulia

Castro, Apulia

Castro, Apulia

Comune in Apulia, Italy

Castro (Salentino: Casciu) is a town and comune in the Italian province of Lecce in the Apulia region of south-eastern Italy.

Quick Facts Country, Region ...
Castro Marina.

History

Castro derives its name from Castrum Minervae (Latin for "Athena's castle"), which was an ancient town of the Sallentini, about 15 kilometres (9 mi) south of Hydruntum. Its ancient temple of Minerva was said to have been founded by Idomeneus, who formed the tribe of the Sallentini from a mixture of Cretans, Illyrians and Italian Locrians (Central Greek tribe).[3]

It is also said to have been the place where Aeneas first landed in Italy, the port of which he named Portus Veneris ("Port of Venus"). The temple had lost some of its importance in Strabo's day.[3]

References

  1. [1]
    "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. [2]
    Population data from Istat
  3. [3]
    Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Castrum Minervae" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 485.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Castro, Apulia (Italy).
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Castro,_Apulia, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.