History
The feudal estate San Sergio, according to the priest Don Giuseppe Stanziola, parish priest of Centola, took its name from the chapel of San Sergio located there. The feudal lords of Centola were the Rosso who had the first lordship, then Giacomo della Morra, the Di Sangro, with Carlo and Alfonso, seen in 1456, when according to Stanziola, they built the chapel called San Sergio.
Then came the Caracciolos, again the Di Sangro with Sigismondo and Ippolita who built a small manor there between 1532 and 1535. The Rosso family returned at the end of 1500 and, in 1602, with Ascanio Rosso and then their daughter Maria, ceded the Feud to Mario Rosso and from these it passed to Fulvia Scondito who, in 1622, for 12,000 ducats, sold the fiefdom to Domenico Pappacoda , Marquis of Pisciotta and former feudal lord of Molpa and Palinuro. It meant that the negotiation took place right in the manor of San Sergio, with the priest Don Luca De Angelis on one side and a friend of Scondito’s, Sofia Scannuzzi on the other. The economic situation of the Scondito was burdened by many debts, due to her thunderous life as a beautiful woman. On the chapel there was certainly the income from the abbey of Centola, and was governed by a priest.
We know that in 1587 Don Oreste Cerulli was the priest until 1598, the date of his resignation. In 1613 we find rector Don Gianpaolo De Damiano (resigning) who left for fear of the bad condition in which the walls of the chapel were. From the year 1622 until 1626 the chapel disappeared leaving only a few ruins standing; the feudal lord Giuseppe Pappacoda died in 1773, Prince of Centola and Marquis of Pisciotta, inherited the titles and assets of his only daughter Giovanna Pappacoda who died in 1809.
Giovanna Papacoda married Prince Giovancarlo Doria D’Angri; in fact Donna Maria Antonia Doria, heir of Pappacoda, sold the estate of San Sergio and other small properties to the agent of the fiefdom Giovanni Angelo Rinaldi in 1820. Giovanni Angelo Rinaldi died in 1852, unmarried, leaving San Sergio to his nephew Achille Rinaldi (1823-1876) a very active and positive man; practically, always according to Stanziola, it was he who transformed that small manor into a palace with structures similar to a castle. After the aforementioned Achilles died, San Sergio passed to his son Giovanni who in turn gave it to his son Achille born in 1880 and died celibate in 1933. His sisters remained the heir of his properties; one of these had San Sergio, and his son Michele De Augostinis inherited the Castle. After Michele’s death, his daughter Silvia De Augostinis had the idea of transforming it into a B&B and today, with her children Vincenzo and Maria, she is the current owner.
