A 15th century text tells us that, in Roman times, CASSANO was a flourishing center dedicated to the cult of the gods . It’s been said that St. Peter, on his way to Rome, stopped in town and converted two existing temples into Christian churches. One of these churches, the one outside the town, was dedicated to the “Madonna della Scala“, and it is the current Church of Casarosa.

This has been the legend up to now. The documented history however is very ancient. The first historical document, the “onciario land register” of the kingdom of the two Sicilies of 1752 states that: the Church and the annexed buildings are “ecclesiastical benefits” and is property of the Church. In 1809 Joachim Murat confiscated all ecclesiastic property and put them up for sale.

Francesco Paolo Balestra, who was then prelate, made use of them, bought the Church and the rest of the property including a tower and other rooms. He restored the property and, when he died,he bequeathed it to his nieces, Stella and Raffaella Balestra who benefited from them for 40 years.

In 1855, while under the reign of Ferdinando II, King of the Kingdom of the two Sicilies, with an act of donation, the original copy of the act which was jealously guarded, the sisters Balestra gave the property to their nephew, Father Nicola Tassielli, who owned it for more than 30 years. Father Nicola Tassielli left a holograph will in which he left the property to his housekeeper to pay her back for all the years of service without pay.

18 years later, in 1901, the housekeeper sold the property to the engineer Giuseppe Pellerano who changed it into a villa.