On June 25th at the headquarters of the Salernitana Medical School Foundation in Palazzo Fruscione, Historia Salerni was established, a promotion and research committee for the re-enactment of the Salerno Commerciale Marittima with a strong emphasis in a contemporary key.
The objective is to restore the Mercantile Fair of San Matteo which was granted in 1259 with the privilege of Manfredi of Swabia through the intercession of the Magister of the Schola Medica Giovanni Da Procida, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Sicily.
Aware of this fascinating past that is perpetuated in the present, the Foundation wants to testify and pay homage to the thousand-year-old internationality of Salerno, which, with its port, was a crossroads, today we would say HUB, of spices, fabrics, animals and above all of civilization. That port that was the crucible for the creation of the golden age of Salerno and its “Schola Salerni”.
The idea is to create a scenographic historical moment by representing the meeting between King Manfred and the Magister of Procida, with a medieval multi-ethnic market, and at the same time a not only ideal but also concrete twinning between the cities of origin of the merchants of the time but also among all the most important companies in the Mediterranean basin. Today it would be called a commercial exchange platform, but we want to call it as Giovanni da Procida and Manfredi had thought of it, “La Fiera di San Matteo”.
The committee was entrusted, in its Presidency, to one of the greatest citizens connoisseurs of the mercantile and commercial matters of the Middle Ages, author of enlightening texts relating to this period, indomitable historical researcher and strong advocate of a commercial centrality of our Salerno, that is, the ‘lawyer Alfonso Mignone to whom goes applause and very good luck from the Foundation for the important work that awaits him.
