Oriolo

Orange Flag of the Italian Touring Club

The village of Oriolo is perched on an outcrop of sandstone rock in a dominant position over the Ferro valley, which is traversed by the river of the same name. It appears as a kind of 'impregnable citadel', immersed in a picturesque landscape, in a hilly area on the slopes of the Pollino National Park and only 20 km from the coast of the Ionian Sea.

The imposing castle , which overlooks the town, dates back to the 15th century and is the only remaining structure of the mighty defences that once protected the village. With a square keep and angular cylindrical turrets from the Aragonese period, its interior houses a museum with interactive, educational and multimedia classrooms and a conference room.

In the historical centre, the following are worth a visit: the mother church dedicated to St. George the Martyr, of Norman origin, with a 15th-century portal surmounted by a bas-relief and, inside, a Baroque wooden altar with a mother-of-pearl tabernacle; and Palazzo Giannettasio, dating from the 18th century, which houses an interesting Museum of Peasant Civilisation.

The village cuisine, linked to rural tradition, offers handmade pasta dishes, such as gnocchi (rashkatìll) or a kind of hollow fusilli (firzùw), or fettuccine of various widths (uaganèll' and tagliuuin'). Also worth mentioning are the products of the Santa Marina Farm and Agritourism, such as the olive-based Ulivar bitter liqueur, Agostina apples, a rare species at risk of extinction, and Vulgare Viride del Pollino oregano, a botanical native of the Alto Jonio Cosentino.