The “Crocella”

The Crocella is considered another precious place to the Roccolanis.

It was a popular oral belief that toward 1750 a frightening monster with the head of a lion and four long arms with terrible claws lived in the area between Fossa and Preta. This monster, covered with long hair of an orange color, launched from its mouth sparks of fire that rolled among the trees like red hot stones. The frightened people turned to Don Carlo Fiore for help and he, during a procession, while praying, implanted a great wooden cross on the summit of Monte Della Rocca.

Since then the monster was never seen again. In 1911 Don Tobisi Silvestri, priest of Roccacasale, replaced the wooden cross with an iron one. Since then the summit of Monte Della Rocca has been called The Crocella.