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During the Middle Ages the wide estate called “ITI” (the name probably derives from the Latin word “iter”, path, road), was part of the Valimonti estate, a very important centre founded because of the salt mines situated in this place. We haven’t any precise documents about the first years of Iti farm, but it’s very probable that it had the same historical and economic destiny which had the whole surrounding environment, when, at the end of XV century, the agro-pastoral economy of the place gradually evolved towards specialized cultivations, such as vine and olive.
The Iti farm brought to an end this change between the end of the XVI and the beginning of the following century, thanks to the Cherubini family, which, as other family of the new emerging class, supplanted the old nobility, still linked to military traditions and destroyed by wars and debts.
During the Spanish domination, the demand for olive oil increased in all Europe: oil was actually necessary to domestic lighting, and essential to soap industries. The rossanese proprietors didn’t miss this opportunity, and what was a mixed cultivation became the most important agriculture resource for exportation.
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The family probably has Jewish origins – as many others remained on the spot after the expulsion in 1541 – and comes from the Yripini line. A certain Leonardo or Nardo Yripini is actually named in the last will of Giovanni Aloisio Cherubini, dating October 5th 1604.
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The first person belonging to this family who entered the history of Rossano was Giovan Aloisio Yripino, son of Leonardo, who modified the surname in Cherubini and married Lavinia Sanfelice and, on a second marriage, Antonella Mazziotta. Both of them belonged to rich families of Rossano. As very often happened in high social class families, Giovan Aloisio let a son graduate in law and another become a man of church – Don Giovan Leonardo. It was just in that period that the Cherubini family achieved a solid success and consideration among the noble families of Rossano, and Giulio could marry Beatrice Mannarino, belonging to a very important aristocratic family of the country. |
The social ascent of this line of the family seems also to be linked to the famine occurred in 1622, when lucky speculations enabled the two brothers to acquire numerous and important estates in the neighbourhood. Thanks to further matrimonial connections with the most prestigious families of the place (such as Dattilo, Passalacqua and Mangone) the Cherubini family became one of the most important family of all Calabria’s.
Since three centuries Iti belongs to the Cherubini family. Originally it was an olive-grove estate; nowadays it’s an orange grove surrounded by new olive trees, producing a particularly good oil, which is used to cook the famous south-Italian foods and preserves.
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“Airone” – January/February 1998, pp. 177 – “Qualche alternativa per chi non ama l’albergo”.
“Oasis” – January 1998, pp. 104-109 – Andar per campi in Calabria”.
“L’Espresso” – April 1998, p. 224 – “Sensazioni da Bebč”.
“Mensile a Tavola” – June 1998.
“Panorama Travel” – June 1999.
"Geo & Geo" - Dicembre 2008 |
