Casasola, Italy

Casasola is a village in Friuli-Venezia Giulia in northeast Italy. It is a località of the comune of Frisanco, in the province of Pordenone.

Casasola has only 40 inhabitants, compared to 450 at its peak in the 1850s. It lies in the Val Colvera.

Casasola was founded in 1480 by Luca and Marco di Rosa (hence the root name Rosa which continues to be the family name of most of the families from Casasola) from the town of Maniago, approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) away. Luca was Marco's uncle and their purpose for moving (with their families) to the area at the base of Monte Raut was likely to make charcoal. They eventually built one large house with stone walls for their families and this house led to the naming of the village of Casasola, which means one house.

No other houses were built for over 50 years and the first small church, in honour of St. Oswald, was built in 1580. By this date, the different Rosa families were being distinguished with surnames stemming from their location in the village or other characteristics. For example, the Rosa-Tezza came from a family of weavers (tezza). The Rosa-Bernardins named all their first born Bernardo. The Rosa-Del-Vecchio had an exceptionally old grandfather.

There are numerous stories about happenings in the Val Colvera that are the same or similar to many other villages and regions. One interesting example is the Inquisition trials in 1648–50 claiming the existence of witches from the village of Poffabro who would perform their rituals in the "Plan di Malgustat" behind the peak of Monte Raut. Three local women were actually tried and sent to jail in Venice but fortunately were later found to be innocent.

The current Church of San Oswaldo was begun in 1650 and expanded in 1730 and again a century later. The Campanile was started in 1772 and completed in 1779. By the 18th century most of the able men would travel to the Istria region to work as lumberjacks, attesting to the lack of paid work close to home and insufficient local resources to provide for the growing population.

...
Wikipedia