Sant'Amato

Amato was born in Nusco at the beginning of the year 1000. He was the son of a certain Landone and belonged to an important Lombard family. He became a priest when he was little more than a boy and decided to devote his entire life to bringing the Christian message to the towns and mountains of Irpinia, between the Upper Calore Valley and the Upper Ofanto Valley.

A very important figure in Amato's life was the Benedictine monk Alfano, a writer, physician and Archbishop of Salerno. It was thanks to him that the Diocese of Nusco was established in 1076, and Amato became its first bishop. From that moment on, Bishop Amato worked tirelessly to evangelise the Christian communities of Irpinia.

Amato had many churches built, including Nusco Cathedral, dedicated to the protomartyr Stephen, the church of Santa Maria Nova near Lake Laceno, and that of San Lorenzo in Bagnoli. He also had a hermitage built for silent prayer and restored an ancient abandoned monastery in the Fontigliano district.

He was a very generous man, so much so that before his death in 1093 he donated all his possessions to the Church. It is said that many continued to turn to him in prayer even after his passing, so much so that he seems to have been acclaimed a saint by the faithful even before being so recognised by the Pope.

In Nusco, Sant'Amato is celebrated twice a year: on 28 May and 30 September — the first in memory of the translation of his bones into the crypt of Nusco Cathedral, and the second on the date of his death.