An old man views of the world.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link,  An old man view of the world.  

In this article, we are talking about what is happening these days, which in a way resamples what has happened in the past, like the exodus in the Bible. In the Bible the Israelite leave Egypt to go to their Promised Land, this was called exodus in the Bible. It was a lot of people moving from Egypt to the Promised Land, today something similar is happening, and this can be a problem. 

Welcome to our article, An old man view of the world. 

Dear readers, this blog has been taken from my personal story that I wrote a few years ago, and since most things are the same and can repeat themselves, I am using this old story to point out what I am worried about today, because I am concerned. Now there is also something on the back of my mind, which I am saying it here for the first time, it is that humanity needs to find and suggest a way how the Muslims can be self disarmed.

Anyhow, we old people are concerned about what can happen, because we have seen nasty things happen during our lives; therefore, we are looking for signs that can tell us what can happen next. People must understand that we old people do this because we fear for the worse, our own lives have taught us to be alert, to prevent nasty things happening to us.

You see, old people are concerned for themselves, and other people as well, so, they believe that their role is that they have to look at what is happening in the world, and try to compare yesterday events to today happenings, in the hope that they can see what can happen. This does not mean that what they see will happen, but it can happen, therefore, they want to warn the people about those concerns.  

So, I am looking at the world today, and I don’t like what I see, because what I see is uncertainty all around us. So, I think that the world is going mad these days; I feel that humanity that was supposed to know better in the 21^st century, it is not doing what they are supposed to do.

Some of us think that we have reached the age of reason, but from what happens, I am sure that we have not reached the age of reason; because the age of reason is when people don’t make mistakes, and they have learned how to live peacefully, with the people around them.

So, what is wrong with humanity I would like to ask? You see, today when we look at the news, it is impossible to avoid seeing the violent things that are happening in the world. What hurts most is that humanity is doing this to themselves, as if they don’t know better.

One of the bad news, is about the terrorist that seem to happen very often. We know that the bad and violent news are reported more often than the good news. Because the public needs to know what is happening. But really, we are becoming tired of all these bad news, because most times they are so ugly that one wants to switch off the TV, throw away the newspaper and turn off the computer.

So, I have to say that as a human being my heart is crying, my heart is crying because there are terrible things going on in the world today; so, I believe that we must do something to stop this violence; if we cannot do anything that can help, we need at least talk about it, in the hope of finding a way out. Who knows somebody can come up with a solution?

What we are saying is this, the world is at war, but at the same time there is no real-world war going on, of course, there are some real wars going on, but not large enough to be called world wars, so, I am concerned for the entire world, because these things can escalate. There are people that think that this is the beginning of the third world war, some religious people say that this is the beginning of the end of times, as it is written in the last book of the Bible Revelation. But I don’t see it that way, however I am concerned.  

Anyhow, I am concerned what is happening in the entire world, I am concerned about this peaceful country of Australia, because it may not be peaceful anymore, since we cannot avoid to be involved, and I am also concerned about my native country Italy, because Italy is in the front line, you see, there are thousands of illegal emigrants arriving to Italy continually.  

I know for a fact that in Italy there have been many wars in the past, as it has a long history about them, so, I fear that something can happen again. You see, today there are a lot of refugees coming in. This might not seem important to some people, but, the views of this old man are that, they seem to occupy the whole country and the Italians are welcoming them, even when a lot of other Italians are concerned.

Anyhow, I don’t see that this peaceful welcoming is going to last long, because most regions of Italy are not rich, so, they cannot sustain all these illegal emigrants; therefore, if this refugee’s problem that we are witnessing today keeps going on, there can be another violent story that can unfold in the future in these regions of Southern Italy, therefore, we wonder, if history is going to repeat itself, so, we should be concerned what is happening.   

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Why we should be concerned. 

We should be concerned, because there is this movement of people that can be considered a Biblical Exodus. You know what I mean, the Jews left Egypt to go to their Promised Land, in their way they had many problems, one of their biggest problems was that they had to fight the people that were occupying their Promised Land, so, in the process many people were killed. Now that is one example of what happens when a large number of people move from one place to another; of course, there are many more examples if we read our human history, but I believe that I have explained my point of view.

If you follow my main point of view, we can say that today we need to be concerned about what is happening; because what has happened in the past can happen again, therefore, we must treat this refugee problem with caution. Because history tells us to be concerned. Not only in Southern Italy, that happen to be in the front line, but also in the entire continent of Europe, as there are too many refugees that arrive from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, so, I am concerned.

Some people say that today refugees is a worldwide problem, even if it is a worldwide problem, I would like to tell my own country people that what I see coming worries me. You see, today I am viewing all these happenings from the land down-under here in Australia. Now because I am so far away, my point of view can be different from what the people of Southern Italy are seeing in their own country.

Now, to understand what I am worried about, it is necessary to know more about this region of Southern Italy and the inhabitant that are living there. You see this region is not rich, the only thing that it is going on there is wheat farming, for those people that own enough land to do that, there is also some mixed farming going on for their own use; there are a lot of small farms that can sustain the native inhabitant only. We have also to say that there are times when these small farms do not produce enough and people must leave the farms and go to work somewhere else, even if they have to go to another country. You see this is the main reason why I left our small family farm in Southern Italy and migrated to Australia.

We know that a few things have changed since I left Italy, but if they have changed it is not a great deal, so, the way of life over there is very much the same as it was in the fifties when I was there. As you can see from what I have said, this region of southern Italy cannot support any outside people that want to come and stay there, and that is one of my concerns.

But as we have said, this can apply to several other regions of Italy and indeed the entire world. We really have to think about what we need to do next, so, whatever concerns I have for my native town of southern Italy and the entire country of Italy, they are also concerns for the rest of the word and above all the western world, since that is the place where these refugees are moving to.

Now, these refugees believe that they are the only people that have got problems, but even in Italy there are unsolved problems, which I am going to point out here-under, just to explain my views. You see, Italy is overpopulated already, if we compare the resources and capacity that Italy has, and that is one of the main problems over there.

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This boat full of refugees can tell us that these people are really desperate to go to Europe, they overload the boats and put themselves in danger of drowning, because things can easily go wrong. Anyhow, today refugees are from Africa and the Middle East, they want to move to Europe, they want to leave their land, because wars are going on. But there are also people that just go in search of a better life. This people do not care if they are a problem in the country they go to. So, we should be concerned about what could happen. 

Italy position and population.  

The Italian peninsula in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, this makes it easy for the African refugees to come to Europe. We believe that this is the main reason why so many illegal emigrants arrive in Italy every day, and sometime even thousands of them can come in just one day, other times just a few, but it is a problem that may never end, unless we of the western world are able to find a solution. Any solution can help, but the best is that we must find a way how to keep these refugees in their own countries of origin.

We know that it is not easy, because if that was the solution, it should have taken place by now, but we must continue to see if the refugees can be kept in their own original land. We know that this is almost impossible, therefore, we are concerned about it, since it brings lots of other problems.  

We have reasons to believe that Italy cannot cope with this incoming of refugees for long. What is happening now is this, Italy accepts these refugees on humanitarian grounds, they even go to help them when they get in trouble in their overloaded boats on their way to Italy, but there are too many of them arriving every day; so, it is a never ending problem. Most of the western world is worried about these refugees; but we don’t know what to do to stop them.

Let me point out this to you briefly, since I have written the first part of this article, there have been several terrorist attacks that involves illegal emigrants and refugees, but that is not all; for instance, today on the Italian news, we have seen the eternal city of Rome full of uncollected rubbish in the streets. This is another problem that the refugees will produce, since there are more people, there will be more rubbish. Now the rubbish can be collected, but where to take this rubbish will be the problem of the future. 

Today I am editing this article, so, I can add other things that have happened since last time I wrote this article. There has been an earthquake in central Italy, where near three hundred people have died. At the same time, in a few days about 15 thousand refugees have arrived in Italy. It is very warring, therefore, I feel sad for the Italian people, since they have to cope with this other disaster. So, in the world there are more problems to solve every day.

The Italian problem of today. 

At the beginning of this article, we have talked about that there are many illegal migrants in the world today; they are illegal migrant because they forcefully go everywhere, even when they are not wanted. So, I must say that when they do this forceful migrating, they can upset the way of life of the people that are forced to receive them against their will. Anyhow, let us see what the cause of this migration is, and then extend our search to what can be done to avoid them, because I am worried that something nasty can happen in southern Italy soon.

The causes of this illegal migration, it is that these refugees are in search of a better life, there are many reasons for that, but above all it is poverty. When poverty is bad people can even starve to death, now that is when people are very poor, and they are forced to find a way how they can feed themselves; here the rest of the world that are better off should try to help them and there is no question about it.

But on the other hand, there are people that are not that poor, they want more because they are greedy, they want to believe that the rest of the world is better off than they are, therefore, they want to grab whatever the others have, and this is the main problem that the entire world is facing today.

Anyhow, here we want to talk about the Italian problem, mainly because I am an Italian that has emigrated from southern Italy; therefore, in this article I want to talk about Italy and my native town and the surrounding towns and countryside. So, we want to start imagining what can be like in the future to live in southern Italy, in these towns with all these new migrants coming in. But who are these emigrants we must ask and why they are migrating?

This is the main thing that worries me. These people that are arriving as refugees in Italy and other parts of Europe, they look like that they can feed themselves well, in their own country of origin. So, feeding themselves is not the problem for these people. Therefore, what other problems they might have one should ask?

Before we can answer that question, we want to define the sort of refugees we are talking about here. There are at least two types of refugees, the real refugees are those people that are forced to run away from a natural disaster or war. The rest of them are not real refugees, they are illegal emigrants that are looking for opportunities to live a better life.

Now, there is nothing wrong for people wanting to live a better life, if the better life they are looking for is hard work, and this hard work is easily available in the country they emigrate, but if they are looking for a better life, because they believe that the people in the country they have emigrated are better off, just because they have heard that in their country of origin, then there will be great problems. This is the reason why I am concerned.

We can talk about other concerns that can affect Italy and the rest of the world, but we have said enough to make our point. We hope that this problem can be solved soon. 

See you in our next blog about my life story, Goodbye to my country. 

To see more click on this link,  An old man view of the world. 

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The Norman castle of Monteserico.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link,  The Norman castle of Monteserico. 

 Here are people visiting Monteserico castle, I guess that this road they are walking on, may have been a deep trench to keep away the enemy from the castle walls. Anyhow, this photo shows how the castle walls were built with stones. In the old times everything was built different from today. 

The Norman castle of Monteserico

Welcome to our blog, The Norman castle of Monteserico. 

Dear readers, before we write this blog, I need to explain that in this blog we have not been able to upload most photos. So, to see the original article and the photo, you need to click on the link above, the Norman castle of Monteserico.  

Anyhow, we have called this article, The Norman castle of Monteserico, since The Normans first they fought around this castle to conquer it and then used it to run their conquest in Southern Italy around 1040 AD; we could have called it, ‘the castle of Federico II’, since he used this castle as sit for the “magister massarium Apuliae” while he was master of Southern Italy around 1220-1250; today we call it the castle of Monteserico, because that is how this zone of southern Italy is called. 

So, let us talk about the castle of Monteserico. Now, this may seem strange, but the town of Genzano di Lucania has two castles, one is in the town itself, which has been modified and today is used as the Town Hall (Municipio). But today we are going to talk about Monteserico castle in the country; we need to say that the name of “Monteserico” in Genzano, not only refer to this castle but it also refer to the county itself; in fact this name would cover about three quarter of Genzano territory.

Monteserico castle is a very old castle that a long time ago had a village of its own; some people believe that the Normans built it, but most people don’t agree with it. Anyhow, the castle was there, and the Normans may have modified it and used this castle, while they were ruling over their conquest in Southern Italy.

Anyhow, this castle of Monteserico was there before the modern Genzano came into existence; we say the modern Genzano because there is some evidence that Genzano existed in the Roman times, as it is mentioned in the archive of Potenza that two martyrs Donato and Secondo were executed in Genzano around 258 AD; see, Genzano di Lucania history, therefore, the town of Genzano existed even then.

Anyhow, let us talk about Monteserico, this castle was completely independent from the town of Genzano di Lucania, in fact the modern town of Genzano came into existence well after the Norman invasion of Southern Italy. We can say this because even though today Monteserico Castle is situated in the territory of Genzano, the founder of the existing Genzano came from this castle. History tells us that this was the castle of queen Aquilina Sancia, who lived there before Genzano town was rebuilt and Aquilina Sancia is said to be the founder of Genzano.

Anyhow, nobody knows exactly who started to build this castle of Monteserico, and it has many stories about its origin, what we know today is that this was one of the main castles that the Normans used to rule over Southern Italy in the beginning of the second millennium, and that in this part of southern Italy there have been many wars and this castle has had many owners, another historically well-known owner was “Frederick II” about 1194-1250, check the links below. 

Frederick II. of Hohenstaufen - YouTube

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor - Wikipedia, the free ...

 Frederick the Second, 1194-1250 - Google Books

Some other owner of the castle we will try to mention in our text here under. Anyhow today it happens that this castle has been restored to safe keep the heritage of this part of Southern Italy; but it is a very quiet country place, it seems almost forgotten except for the people that work around in the fields that produce some of the best durum wheat that is used to make pasta and other wheat products.

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Explaining the missing photos. 

In this blog, we are not able to upload the photos, so, you need to click on this link to see them, The Norman castle of Monteserico. Where you find the photos and the following explanation. 

Here above is the chapel of the Madonna of Monteserico, but the original Monteserico Madonna picture has been stolen, and somebody replaced it with a cheap picture; so, the town of Genzano ordained the painter Pedota, to paint a portrait of the Madonna, Maria SS Delle Grazie, and in 1953 they had a feast and replaced the cheap picture with this new painted image. So, today this chapel of Monteserico has this new picture of, Maria SS delle Grazie, patron Saint of Genzano.  It is said, that the inhabitant of Genzano need to open, visit, or make a feast at least once a year, otherwise they lose possession of Monteserico chapel, and the possession will pass to the family De Chio of Spinazzola, as they were the last owners or tenants of the place.

Below is a photo of the castle taken from a faraway field, you see in this part of the country there are only fields that are used to grow wheat or other produce and not much else for miles. This photo reminds me about the thousands of time that I have seen this castle from our family farm, when I was young.

Then there is this photo of this poster about the inauguration of Monteserico Castle after the restoration, where the names of people that have contributed and other things are shown.

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About the castle of Monteserico. 

Monteserico castle seems to be built different from other castles. It is shaped rectangular or almost square, one can say that it is more a military fortress than a real castle; it is built in stones of every shape and size, and today it would be hard to find builders or tradesmen that are able to build something like that, even though there are some tradesmen as we can see from the entry pathway that looks almost new, and it is almost identical to the castle masonry; however we know that it has been added later, because this castle had a trench around it a long time ago, for reasons of defense, but this added entry pathway makes it easy to enter the castle, so, it is an addition and it looks good. Anyhow, these two photos one above and one below are there to show you how the castle is like today.

Anyhow, let us look at some history of this castle of Monteserico, but before we do that, we need to point out that the castle of Monteserico looks exactly like one of the Norman castles in Normandy France; let me explain, one day I ask this French army captain about the castle in Normandy that looks like Monteserico castle, and he said to me, that the Normans have built only two castles, one in France and one in Southern Italy, see our hub, Genzano the Lucania history; and some other evidence that we are going to quote from.

 Genzano di Lucania history,

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Norman conquest of southern Italy spanned most of the 11th and 12th centuries, involving many battles and many independent players conquering territories of their own. Only later were these territories in southern Italy united as the Kingdom of Sicily, which included not only the island of Sicily, but also the entire southern third of the Italian Peninsula (save Benevento, which they did briefly hold on two occasions) as well as the archipelago of Malta and parts of North Africa.

Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in Southern Italy (the Mezzogiorno). Probably the result of returning pilgrims' stories, the Normans entered the Mezzogiorno as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, but they refused and instead offered to tell others back home of the prince's request. William of Apulia tells that, in 1016, pilgrims to the shrine of the Archangel Michael at Monte Gargano were met by Melus of Bari, a Lombard freedom-fighter, who persuaded them to return with more warriors to help throw off the Byzantine rule, which they did.

(End of quote)

In some written history of Genzano and this castle of Monteserico, there is this famous Norman leader (Roberto il Guiscardo) Robert Guiscard that is said to own the castle of Monteserico as also some battles that happened around this castle, here is a link about Robert Guiscard.  

Robert Guiscard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From what we have been able to learn, it is that the Normans have used this castle extensively and perhaps modified it or partly built it, and since Robert Guiscard (Duke of Apulia) was there, we know that this castle has been the Norman castle of Southern Italy from where the Norman ruled over their conquest.

 

Historic event in brief. 

Now the history of the castle of Monteserico during the first millennium is not known much, but it is believed that there were some caves that the shepherds and other inhabitant of this region used for themselves, before the castle was built. Some people say that this part of Southern Italy has seen many battles; they even suggest that Spartacus with his other slave friend have been here, while they were in Southern Italy, as history tells us when the slaves rebelled and formed their own army under their leader Spartacus, they went to live near the Ionian Sea, now Monteserico is part of the territories that runs into the Ionian Sea through the river Bradano and its tributaries. Then in Genzano town even today there is this chasm called the Greek chasm, the only thing this can mean is that there was a Greek colony living in this chasm; and Spartacus being Greek for sure was attracted from this Greek community, so, even Spartacus could have come in Monteserico territory.

Now let us go back to talk about Monteserico castle; as we know everything can starts small and then starts growing, so, some people say that at the beginning, this could have been a Roman villa used for holiday, then turned as a monastery of the Greek orthodox religion. Then as the time went by and many wars and other things happened around this place it kept growing until we find that the Normans at the beginning of the second millennium have this castle, and they rule over most of southern Italy from this castle of Monteserico.

After that the castle of Monteserico changed many owners, and some of which we are going to mention as soon as we get around; one of the most known people that the inhabitant of Genzano know is Aquilina Sancia queen of Monteserico. The reason for this is that while this Aquilina Sancia was there she built a monastery of the Clarisse in Genzano and this monastery attracted people that lived around to move and live around this monastery, for this reason Genzano town is said that Aquilina Sancia is the founder of the existing Genzano, today we know that this is not correct, since there is historic evidence that the town of Genzano has existed since the Roman times. 

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More Monteserico castle historic events. 

Now we are going to look at some historic event that can help establish the history of this castle, but there isn’t real written history about this Monteserico castle, so, we are going to rely on search done about sixty years ago from the writer Ettore Lorito, who has done some search and written a book about Genzano including the castle of Monteserico:

The writer Ettore Lorito suggests that the beginning of the castle is ancient, but nobody knows when it was started: anyhow, we want to tell you what he has written in this very shortened translated version; we are doing this since the original is written in Italian. Now if there are people that want to read the original Italian version they should go to this link;  http://genzanoit.blogspot.com/, to navigate to this link, first of all click on the link above, once you have reached the blog, you need to navigate down the left side column until you reach Home pages, in Home pages find the link, Genzano in Italiano, (it 1) and click on it, go down the page and then click on the link, Scrittori e poeti, a few names of writers come up, click on Ettore Lorito, some links for two books come up, click on GENZANO DI BASILICATA Cronografia; within this book there is also the story of the castle of Monteserico.

Now that I have explained how to find the Italian original version, let me tell this version in English.

It is thought that very early at the place where the castle is today, there were caves below it that the local people used to live in; so, that was already a start for people to continue to live there. So, very likely when the Romans conquered southern Italy, they might have built a villa, this was only natural as this gave them the control of the countryside, this is one of the possible ways how this castle was started. It is also believed that Spartacus and his Roman slave’s friends have been in this country and fought with the Romans, and also that even the Roman council Marcello and Hannibal have fought on this territory, but there is no mention of the castle in those times.

Some people say that the castle was built before 900 AD. because they have found some written story; one of this is the following.

The writer Deblaisiis in his Norman Conquest said that in the year 929 AD Guaimaro and Ladolfo to repay the Norman for the help they had given at Monte Serico and Monte Peloso gave them some castles including one in Spinazzola; so, the castle of Monteserico was already there, perhaps it had been there as a villa at the beginning and then modified into a castle after the fall of the Roman empire, when most localities had to look after themselves, since there was not a Roman army to guard the country. Anyhow, because in 929 the castle was already there, it was not built by the Norman as some people believe.

Now to make this story shorter, let us go to when the Norman had got possession of the castle of Monteserico after many battles, you see even today after a thousand years there is a hill called (Serra della battaglia) this laterally means “the hill of the battle” But even though the Norman and their allied won that battle on this hill, they were not able to take the castle this time, because the castle was well defended; but they got there some years later.

Anyhow, we know that Robert Guiscard, a Norman by birth became duke in southern Italy owned this castle; then other people, but for me to name them is hard to do, unless I find an historic list, but we can say that through marriages, exchanges and other things the castle of Monteserico was ruled from this Spanish princess Aquilina Sancia around 1300 AD.. In those times there was also a village near the castle, but it slowly disappeared around 1400 and 1430 AD.

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Imagining the history of Monteserico.   

Let us imagine how Monteserico castle was built, since nobody knows who, when or the reason it was built, but let us say how we see this castle history.

In the beginning there were people of this region living in the caves where today stands the castle, they could have been local shepherd or other people; these people could have come from Greece or somewhere else, they came up the valley of the river Bradano and settled here in Monteserico and in the town of Genzano, since in Genzano even today there is this chasm called the Greek chasm.

Let us talk about the Roman Era with their conquest of southern Italy, followed by their conquest of the known world. So, the Romans ruled over this part of Italy for a very long time; during that time some of the Roman leader may have started a holiday villa or a building to live in and rule over the countryside, that is what the Roman did best, they would build something wherever they went, so that they would run that part of their conquest easily, at the same time bring civilization to the people in that region. So, we believe that since the Roman times there has been a building there that the Roman used; after that, it might have grown bigger and modified many times.

When the Western Roman Empire collapsed around in 475-76 AD, when the German Odovacer deposited Romulus Augustulus, and in affect became king of Rome.

After the fall of the Roman Empire there wasn’t any real peace in Italy, so, people had to try to protect themselves the best way they could, this in affect made people build castles, so, this villa or whatever was built in Monteserico started to take the form of a castle.

The first time that a castle or fort is mentioned is in the 800 AD. You see there were many wars so Monteserico castle and other castles in this part of the region became fortified forming a line of defense against the enemy; please note that this is before the Norman came to southern Italy, so, when Robert Guiscard came to this part of Italy the castle was already there, as we can see from some important battles that happened in those times. 

Anyhow, the castle of Monteserico has changed many owners, and some of which we are going to mention here; one of the best-known owner for the inhabitant of Genzano is Aquilina Sancia queen of Monteserico. The reason for this is that while Aquilina Sancia was there she built a monastery of the Clarisse in Genzano and this monastery attracted people that lived around this monastery, for this reason Genzano town is said that Aquilina Sancia is the founder of the existing Genzano. But there is historic evidence that the town of Genzano has existed since the Roman times. 

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More known Monteserico history. 

Anyhow, now let us mention the owner that we know that have owned the castle of Monteserico, So, let us start with famous owners like Robert Guiscard duke of southern Italy in 1047 of Apulia and Calabria and later on the Two Sicilies etc.  Born 1016 died 1085

Another famous owner is Fredrick II, 1194-1250, after Frederick II, it is not easy to follow the chain of events, but we know that castles and other holdings always changed hand. It is said in history that there was a Roberto D’Angio who had married a Sancia he donated the castle to a family member del Bosco who saw husband of Aquilina Sancia, and when he died Aquilina Sancia became owner of Monteserico.

From Aquilina Sancia it was inherited from her daughter Giacoma Rachele who married Roberto San Severino the count of Carignano and Terlizzi, and then it was passed to the family Dentice delle Stelle under the queen Giovanna and to the Ruffo.

During this time Monteserico had a village but around 1400-1430 it slowly vanished, there was not an explanation why this happened, but it happened.                   

After Aquilina Sancia there were the Sanseverino who had the castle. After that in 1603 was a Genoese Grimaldi, in 1613 was the Doria, at the end of 1700 was some descendents of the Sancia family and after that was abandoned.

It was bought from the Baron Dell’Agli-Certi the 30-01-1857, and then it was sold to the Cafieri the 30-03-1875 but by then it was too run down to live in.

After world war 1 the tenant Gardini bought a portion of the land from the Cafieri and the castel of Monteserico, it was used for holiday or resting place from this actress: Lyda Borelli (22 March 1884 – 2 June 1959) was an Italian actress ofcinema and theatre. She was born in Genoa, and died in Rome. Her career in theatre started when she was a child, acting on stage with Paola Pezzaglia in the French drama I due derelitti.

There might be other things to add but I don’t know what else to say at the moment, except that this military castle of Monteserico is a small fortress that has got many unknown stories, whether we will be able to tell these stories one day we do not know.

Anyhow, we hope that we have told you this story of Monteserico for everybody to read, but it has also been especially written for those people that come from Genzano, so that they can remember their native town and our Monteserico castle.

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Dear readers, we have written several articles about Genzano di Lucania, and the castle of Monteserico, of course, there are other things that can be said about the past, but today we have to start to look at the future, because there are things happening in southern Italy that worries me. Because looking at the past, we can forecast what could happen around these places in the future. So, later after writing about my life in Australia, I will return to talk about Italy modern history.

But before we do that, let me show you what I have found on the Internet about famous castles, so, here is Leeds Castle 

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 Greensleeves Hubs

Leeds Castle - 'The World's Loveliest Castle'; A Photographic Essay

In order to get a larger amount of people interested in castles and their history, we have borrowed this photo, and also the link that links to this great hub, so anyone that likes to read this hub can view it just by clicking on the link. 

You see, we have talked about our small castle of Monteserico, So, to keep the public interested in castles and castles history, we have borrowed the link of, Leeds Castel, and the readers can read both hubs. But be warned the castle of Monteserico is only a small castle compared to Leeds Castle, but it has got its own history, which we have written the best way we could. 

Anyhow, this blog is becoming too long, so see you in our next blog, An old man view of the world. 

To see more click on this link, The Norman castle of Monteserico. 

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What is happening.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG YOU ARE INVITED , TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. Anyhow, here I will publish my own diary and what I see happening in the world, and when I do not have much to say, I will write posts from my life story. 

Anyhow, you can also find this article at, http://oldman-lifeworks.blogspot.com,  

My other sites; http://frankmenchise.com,http://diybrickwork.com,http://manneedsgod.co.uk  

You can see more at this addresses, DIY brickwork  and,  http://diybrickwork.com,   

This article can also be found at this link, February 2022 World News Diary. 

Dear readers, this photo above, shows Ukrainian people in a shelter in the subway. I believe that today these terrible things should not happen anymore. We in the western world, we ask ourselves, why Putin wants to occupy Ukraine, and what is the reason, because we do not see any valid reasons to occupy it. 

Welcome to our blog, February 2022 World News Diary. 

Dear readers, this is my diary, about what I see happening these days. in this article will talk about, what is happening in Ukraine, what wars do to humanity, and the terrible weather. Anyhow, this is what is happening in February 2022, and they are talking about war between Russia and Ukraine, again. Now, this issue has been going on for a while, and we hope that it does not happen, because in today’s wars there are no winners. Anyhow, a few days ago seemed that the French president Macron had talked to Putin, and all was going to be well, but today the war is still going to happen. ( these are quotes from the internet).    

As Russia continues to move troops and equipment to the border, many Ukrainians have started to prepare for the worst.

Some are taking up arms and joining territorial defence forces, others are packing emergency bags, and a few have started to familiarise themselves with the city's bomb shelters.

The Kyiv City Council recently updated a map showing people where to find their nearest shelters in the event of an assault. (End of this quote).

Anyhow, Putin has ordered his troops to move into these two regions of Ukraine, saying that they are there to keep peace, but the entire world wonders what else is Putin up to, so, we are all waiting to see what happens next, which very likely is going to expand and occupy the entire nation of Ukraine, and what will happen then, nobody knows.

Anyhow, just as we thought, Putin is going to invade Ukraine, this is the report on the Internet, (And I quote)    

Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the Donbas region but within minutes bombing was heard in the capital Kyiv.

At least four other cities have come under heavy shelling including the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, Mariupol in the southeast and in Odessa.

Russia’s defence ministry also claims the assault “neutralised” Ukraine's airbases and air defences, destroying 74 military ground facilities, including 11 airfields.

Dozens of people have been killed and hospitals are among the locations being targeted. (End of quote)

This happened a few days ago, so, after moving in these two regions easily, because there were a lot of pro-Russian people in them, since then Putin forces are trying to occupy Ukraine starting with Kyiv. But the people in Kyiv do not like the Russians, so, there is a lot of resistance, So, we must wait and see what happens next. But whatever happens it is going to be easy for both sides, you see wars are a disaster whichever way you see them, and Putin could have avoided this war, since I do not even know why Putin wants to occupy Ukraine, when he is not wanted. So, if the outcome of this war, makes Putin a less liked leader than he was before, then that is what he deserves, because that war is a mistake, today the will of the people should be respected. The could always call up a poll, to see what people want, instead of going to war. 

Anyhow, is has been several days since the war started, and there have been many causalities on both sides, this is a war that did not need to happen. This is a war of possession, but there is nothing to posses, because they want to posses the people, when the people have got their own will. Now what worries me most, is that it can involve the entire world, at least the rest of the world is concerned. Anyhow, we must wait and see what happens next. But let us talk about, what wars can do to humanity in a general way. 

 

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What the wars do to humanity.

Now let us forget about the war in Ukraine, and let us talk about wars in a general way. You see, what wars bring about is only disaster, to the people of the region where the war happens, and to the soldiers that are forced to fight the war. It is a well-known fact that most soldiers are affected adversely for the rest of their lives, some of them even commit suicide. Now let us see what is happening to one of the supposed to be best solders, Ben Roberts Smith.  

The gravest question lying at the heart of the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial is whether the once universally lauded former soldier committed or enabled war crimes during his service in Afghanistan.

That question loomed ever larger over the hearings this week as a third military witness, Person 16, entered the witness box on Friday morning to join two previous SAS witnesses, Person 41 and Person 14, in levelling damning accusations at the Victoria-Cross recipient.

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Now, looking at what is happening to Ben Robert Smith, we must admit that wars are the worst thing that humanity can ever do, there are no winners, people will get killed during the war, and those that survive must live with what has been done. All this makes me think that nobody should ever want to be a soldier, because it is the hardest thing one can ever do, soldiers risk their lives, so, when they are under stress, they can make mistakes. Now, to understand what I want to convey here. Humanity must learn how to avoid wars, because wars do not bring benefit to anyone, they only bring death and despair to whoever takes part in them, as you can see from what we have written above, that even the best soldiers will suffer one way or another. So, they must be avoided, may God help humanity to achieve that. This is all I want to say in this article.  

 

Talking about the weather.

There are a lot of things that affect us all, and the weather is one of them. Anyhow, today is the 27^th of February 2022, I start wondering what has happened to the weather, in Brisbane it has been raining for a very long time, in fact for the last four days and three nights it has been raining no stop, I have never seen this before, so, it worries me a bit. In Queensland 6 people have lost their lives in the floods so far, it is very sad, it almost makes me cry, when they tell you that this lady volunteers to help other people, but somehow, she fell into the water and was carried away from the current and died. Today of TV some channels are continually talking about the flood, there is a lot of damage everywhere. We will see in the following days what happens.  

What we can ask here, is the weather changing because of the global warming? So, in a way we are causing these extreme weather events. If that is the case, then we must start thinking how that can be fixed. 

Anyhow, the weather seems to have missed no one, See what Bindi Irwin is saying about their Australia Zoo.

Bindi Irwin revealed on Saturday that Australia Zoo has been impacted by the devastating floods affecting northern New South Wales and Queensland.

The wildlife warrior, 23, shared video footage to Instagram of herself cradling her nearly one-year-old daughter Grace at home in Queensland, and detailed the extent of damage to her family's zoo.

Bindi said that while they were able to 'clean up and reopen', it's been a long journey with 'hundreds of trees having fallen' and 'enormous flood waters passing through'.

'My heart goes out to everyone that has felt the hurt and experienced unfathomable damage from these unrelenting storms here in Oz,' Bindi began her post.

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Today while I am editing this post, I know that 11 people have lost their lives, and there is a lot of damage. Anyhow, this diary article is becoming too long, so I better stop writing it. See you soon, when we go back to our persona articles. The Norman castle of Monteserico. 

To see more click on this link, February 2022 World News Diary.   

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