contact: Jeff Matthews

The "twin towns" of Eboli and Campagna (not to be confused with Campania, the name of the Italian region of which Naples is the capital) are wrapped within the many folds of the Picintine mountains, the Picintine Regional Park really, 25 hectares (c. 62 acres) of protected greenery with a WWF Oasis on top. (The park is the green area in the image on the right). The park is in the mountains about 25 km due east of the city of Salerno. The Picentines are part of the Campanian Apennines and are close to other Apennine sections such as the Lattari mountains (near Vesuvius) and the Partenio mountains (near Avellino). The area is, of course, has a great deal of natural beauty to offer, but also a vast array of cultural and historical points of interest. For example, this:

The sanctuary of the Madonna of Avigliano, on the trail up to the WWW Oasis of Mt. Polveracchio. Polveracchio is a mountain peak at 1,790 meters (c. 5400 feet) between Campagna and Acerno. And this:

The courtyard of the church
both photos by Eugenio Mucio

The Sanctuary of the Madonna of Avigliano is a religious structure in the town of Campagna. (Avigliano is named for the original Avigliano in Basilicata). It is on province road 31/b Campagna-S.Maria di Avigliano.
The origins of the building are unknown, but the legends are as good as they get! The original town of Avigliano is in the province of Potenza in the Basilicata region. The cult of the Madonna of Avigliano, according to the tradition, took hold in Avigliano because of the devotion of veterans returning from the crusades. A shrine is said to have existed in the XII century in Avigliano. Merchants from Campagna (near Eboli) visited the Avigliano shrine in 1249 and prayed at the statue of the Madonna. When they got back up to Campagna, they found that very same statue in an elderberry tree! They returned it, of course, but the statue found its way miraculously back to Campagna, at which point they local folks decided to keep it and build a chapel on the spot. The current complex that one see today goes back to 1377. It was built at the behest of countess Isabella del Balzo d'Apia incorporating a preexisting church. It then became a Franciscan monastery and was expanded around 1440. Some works within the church are dated to 1570s and the frescoes to the 1575. The entire complex today includes church, monastery and garden of about 4 hectares (10 acres).

The Madonna in the elderberry tree is but one of a rich repertoire of legends in these hills. A few others:

  Perhaps the most famous is about the "Villa of the Baronessa." It's not that old, as legends go. It takes place in the early years of the 1900s. It's about a strange noblewoman always dressed in black and given to magic and the esoteric arts. The woman had a son born misshapen and retarded, and she walled him up away in one wing of the villa. She had the complicity of her husband, a cold and distant man who was always away on business. The poor child, little more than 12 years of age, died alone, an agonizing death. More than one local person is said to have heard his cries for many days before he died. The baroness went mad and threw herself to her death. A short time later, the husband, too, died in unexplained circumstances. This unnerving tale has had an effect on many who have visited the villa, still there today in the center of Eboli. Some witnesses claim to have seen objects fly across the room, lights that turn on and off, even apparitions of the woman herself, distraught at her misdeeds. No one lives there today. No one wants to.
A legendary reconstruction of the history of Eboli claims that city was founded by the mythical king Oebalus, king of Sparta. In classical literature he is the son of Cynortas.
In the town of Campagna they still have a peculiar tradition called "The Flood". In August, the open the dikes of the Tenza river such that water comes rushing through the streets of town. Once upon a time it was a good way to give the town a good cleaning. Today, it serves to amuse people from the local area and even tourists from farther afield.
Both communities still maintain the traditions of huge bon-fires of stacked wood set alight as acts of propitiation at the end of the old year and beginning of the new. 
The Dominican monastery of St. Bartholomew was home for a while to Giordano Bruno the celebrated monk, who today still represents the freedom of the intellect in the face of tyranny. There is an item here about him.
The church of Santa Maria la Nova in Campagna contains a pillar known as the Column of St. Antonino. The saint was tied to the column by the devil, himself, and tormented. The saint resisted and thus drove away the devil. That column has been used for centuries in acts of home-grown exorcism by believers in spite of attempts by the official Roman Catholic authorities to suppress it.
In Campagna at the end of July they hold an open house for gluttons! You can wander from one entrance to the other among the ancient villas in the historic center of town and sample local food and drink right there at the door-step.
...and so forth