Sersale

Sersale is a comune in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region of Italy. As of 2013, Sersale had an estimated population of 4,701. Sersale was founded in 1620. It was named after a baron named Francesco Sersale who owned a large amount of land in the area surrounding the present borders of Sersale. Francesco Sersale and his family came from Naples. There are records of this family in that area from as far back as 1271.

Life was difficult for the "humble classes" of people in those times, and in Serrastretta, things were so bad that a small group opted to leave. Upon hearing that Francesco seemed to be a very just landowner and offered what seemed to be a good deal to the peasants who settled there, a small group of colonists walked about over rough terrain to start new lives on Francesco's property. After having a fine palace built for himself, he had his workmen build narrow little shacks for the workers to occupy, in full view of his palace. He developed a co-operative system where people could work patches of land, and have to pay him a fee at the end of the year. He encouraged them to plant trees and gardens to feed their families, as the land was good and there was a stream that ran through the area all year round.