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Ancient Italian tribes inhabited the area from the 16th century B.C., and later Romans conquered it. Once it was called “Massa Inferiore”, because another little village on top of the “Rocca” of San Salvatore (about one mile away) was named “Massa Superiore”. In the late 1700s it was a very small village of about 100 people, and many of them were Cofrancescos who moved there from San Lorenzello at the beginning of the 18th century.

People of Massa in an old photo of the 1940s

Many people left Massa during two time periods. The first emigration occurred between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when many people moved to the United States and a few other countries including Egypt and Argentina. The second wave occurred after the second world war, in the 1950s and in the 1960s, when about half of the Massesi, as the people who lived there were called, moved to northern Italy, to Garlasco in the province of Pavia, and to Magenta in the province of Milano. Several hundred Massesi and their descendants live there now.

The land of Massa is very fertile so the Massesi were mainly peasant farmers except for a few who became craftsmen. The Massesi who did not move still worked their lands and little by little developed new agricultural and industrial endeavors. One of the latest is the wine company called “La Vinicola del Titerno”, started by Angelo Di Leone in 1982, and continued by his sons.

Massa di Faicchio today
On the lower left side the old center of the village
On the top right side the new industrial area
(Photo Sasà Sagnella - www.vivitelese.it)