The origins of Marcellinara are still wrapped in mystery.
Second the studies of archaeologist Armin Wolf its territory constituted the mitycal Scheria,
the Land of the "Feaci" by Homero, where Ulisses met Nausicaa on the banks of the Amato river.
And just in a river point belonging to the town that Ulysses met Nausicaa,
who after to have satisfied his hungry
and to have dressed him accompained him to her father, in the wonderful palace of
Tiriolo,
the capital of "Feaci".
A tradition says that after the destruction of a certain Omelea, the survivors re-built
the town and called it "Marcellus in ara" ("Marcello on the altar") , in honour of martyrdom
of a bishop so-named. But probably Marcellinara born during the war of Sicilian Vespers,
when it was a small Hamlet of Barony of Tiriolo, involved in the Feud of Ruffo di Calabria,
Count of Catanzaro till 1445. When King of Neaples Alfonso of Aragona proclaimed
Feud the land of Marcellinara - now "Universitas Terrae Marcellinarae" -
and gave it to Niccolò Sanseverino, who accompanied him to the siege of Catanzaro
against Antonio Centelles. From this point up to first half of 1900 at least,
the history of Marcellinara is indissolubly tied to the one of this family
who has regulated great part of life, economy and society of the town.
The art of silk would have been rather developed since the first years of new feud,
when Catanzaro was already famous in all Europe. In 1799 it was involved in the Canton of Monteleone,
then in the Governement of Tiriolo and in 1811 it was declared Comune.
Second the tradition Saint Francis from Paola would have lodged
in the building of Barons at the time of his journey in Sicily and
here he would have predicted that the branch of the Sanseverino of Mancellinara
would have been the only one to survive in centuries. Original historical centre was destroyed
by the earthquake that in 1783 interested all Calabria.
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