Scigliano used to have a very old and respected district court, la Pretura, that gave way to the following proverbial warning, famous in the entire region of Calabria:

“Dio te scampi è morte eterna, dalla Pretura dè Scigliano e dè Taverna”

which approximately means:

“May God protect you from eternal damnation, from the Pretura of Scigliano and from that of Taverna”.

    Around the middle of the 19^th century, Pope Pius IX announced the  advent of the Holy Year and that was roughly the time when the “monte dei maritaggi” (“marriage hill”) first appeared in Diano.

    The “maritaggio” was a sum of money (25 Ducati, an old currency), used as a dowry and allotted to “8 young women, poor and honest, between the ages of 20-30” (these are the exact words of the original decree which inducted the maritaggio). The young women had to, necessarily, belong to the Parish of Diano and be ready to marry soon; yet, for lack of money, they and their families could not face the cost of a wedding. The young ladies would apply for the maritaggio privilege and attend the December 8 ceremony, during which the names of 8 of them were drawn by lot in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin, before the public and ecclesiastic officials.

    The enterprise was entirely financed by the interest deriving from a sum of money that a man named Filippo Talarico bequeathed to the Church for this very purpose.

    Each year, about a week before Christmas, the committee who organizes the yearly bonfires in the various hamlets, gathers the wood from the forest and from residents who generously pitch in.

    The wood is heaped in front of the church and the bonfire is lighted just before midnight mass on December 24^th. 

    After mass, many people stay on and warm themselves at the fireside where a genuine yuletide atmosphere is generated  while roasting

    The earthquake of 1783 that struck most of southern Italy, has a special meaning for the community of Scigliano. 

    On that very night, one of Scigliano’s priests dreamt that Saint Joseph instructed him to gather the faithful in church because something devastating was about to happen. 

    The people knew that whenever the bells were rung in the middle of the night something serious was in the air. 

    Upon hearing the alarming sound, they rushed to church as the terrible earthquke struck; although many were still in the street, most of the population was miraculously saved.

    Since that day, Saint Joseph has become the Patron Saint of Scigliano and every year, on the anniversary of the earthquake, the residents offer an altar-candle (cero votivo) to the Saint, in praise of his benevolent protection, and observe a day of fasting

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