The Municipalities of Cilento

Giungano owes its name to the latin word iuncus, the cane plants that, harvested and treated by the locals, became the town's most important export. The first citizens of these area where the people of Paestum who had fled the dangers of living on the coast. This town is located dose to the deep Gole di Tremonti, where the plain of Paestum opens up towards the northern part of Cilento. Here, in 71 BC. Spartacus and his companions faced the armies Marcus Licinius Crassus in a final battle. The town of Giungano was probably founded in 1003 and it soon became an important feudal estate of the Duke Garofalo who built here their palazzo. Of particular artistic and historical interest is the Church of Santa Maria l'Assunta containing an ancient wooden statue brought here by the citizens of Paestum.