St. Peter's Church and Convent
The Church and Convent of San Pietro, as seen in this postcard from the 1930's. Note how in the description it's referred to as San Vincenzo.
His holy relic resided here for many years, and most local residents commonly knew this building by it's informal name, San Vincenzo.
The Church of San Pietro, as it appears today.
Featured in this month's calendar is the
Church of St. Peter and the Franciscan Convent. It lies just three hundred meters southeast of the old town and was built in 1620-31. The
convent, which at one time housed twelve to fifteen Franciscan monks, had two courtyards. The larger courtyard had
seven columns made of marble, of which three are walled in. On some of the 
columns there are little gargoyle masks, a pagan element- to protect from evil. There
was a fountain in the
courtyard, but it no longer exists. On the main facade there were at least seven arches, while
there were twelve in the main courtyard. On the first floor were
the rooms of the monks. The Holy Relic of San Vincenzo remained in the Church of San Pietro from the late 1700's until the disastrous landslides of the 1970's. In 1870,
the monastery was adapted by the city to host the official telegraph office and a warehouse. It was also used as the barracks for the carabinieri (state police), a
kindergarten, and for municipal offices. Around 1885, the building
suffered significant damage: the columns fell and the arches collapsed. A walkway was constructed for access to the premises which once contained the rooms of the
friars.
The Monastery and the Church were officially closed to worship and its walls were braced after the earthquake of November 1980.
Currently, this building has undergone a partial restoration and is being used as the headquarters of Craco Richerca,
a group dedicated to scientific study and the preservation of Craco Vecchio, under the direction of Dr. Giuseppe Lacicerchia.
During our group trip in June of 2008, we were given a tour and formally welcomed there by Dr. Lacicerchia.
A video clip of the Monastery, taken during our trip in June of 2008, can be viewed by clicking
here, or on the two large photos above.
The Italian American Museum
Dr. Joseph Scelsa and our friends at The Italian American Museum have been selected to receive a
$475,000 federal grant for improvements to their historic facility. The museum is located at 155 Mulberry St. (the corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets), in the
heart of New York's Little Italy. You can visit their website at:
www.italianamericanmuseum.org . We congratulate Dr. Scelsa and his staff on their significant accomplishments, and thank them for their efforts to
preserve our common heritage.
C
raco
Politsportiva
Craco Polisportiva, after winning the championship in 2008.
We have just received word that Craco Polisportiva has been
victorious in their last two matches against La Fiasca and Tricarico!
While Craco Polisportiva's success on the field is a great reason to celebrate, this wonderful activity
is also very much of a social project to engage the local youth in a healthy and competitive activity. Another objective of this program is to
create an enjoyable environment for the spectators by removing all forms of violence and impropriety. The Craco Society strongly supports
Craco Polisportiva's mission, so that the youth of Craco will not feel limited by small
town trends that are marked increasingly by regression.
Polisportiva Craco can accept contributions directly through
PayPal. For those who
don't know about using it please click on:
PayPal and you will be taken to their site. You will see the "Send Money" screen and to the right an area where you can enter the
team's email address for donations by inserting:
todono@tiscali.it
Then follow through with the rest of the process.
If you are unable to use PayPal or prefer to send a donation but can not
convert funds to Euros the Society will handle the electronic funds transfer transaction for you through the Society's PayPal account. You can send your contribution
to:
The Craco Society (Inc.) - Polisportiva Soccer Fund
14 Earl Road
East Sandwich, MA02537
2009 Trip Update
Many of our
members expressed an interest in visiting our ancestral home of Craco, Italy again this year. Along with Unitours, we crafted a unique itinerary for a group trip
starting on April 30 and in time to view the Feast of Madonna della Stella in Craco. Unfortunately, we did not meet the minimum number of participants needed to
go ahead with this trip, so it has been canceled.
If your plans
include individual travel to Craco this year, please remember that the Society may be able to assist you with information about your visit. We plan to offer a group
trip to Craco in 2010 and are expecting this return visit will be as warm and wonderful as our last trip. We will keep you informed through the Society newsletter, and
here on our website.
