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Known since the XVth century, the family Siciliani
was brought to fame by many of its members, prelates,
lawyers, soldiers and men of letters. Among the others,
in recent times, Luigi was a poet and a refined lover of ancient
languages and elegant translator of the eroticism of the Classics;
he also kept up a confidential correspondence with some of the most
celebrated poets of those years, such as Pascoli or D'Annunzio. In the
chronicles of the period it is said that " ... on the ground called dopo
San Francesco, in the country of Cirņ, Domenico from Paola... founded a
monastery in 1578; all around vineyards and olive groves were planted ...
This convent was suppressed on 30 October 1770 by an ordinance of Ferdinand IV ..
After such a decree, the goods of the monastery, included the factories,
were put up for auction, and on 14 july 1777, were awarded, ad estinzione di candela,
to Don Benedetto Siciliani..." From those vineyards, the wines from the Fattoria
San Francesco are still produced, and the monastery, today called Casale San Francesco,
is the centre of the agricultural activity, and the residence of the family Siciliani.
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