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You can see from a distance the ruins of a splendid tower that stands on the top of the hill: it is the Chair of the Devil.
The original stone sentry, eroded by time and weather, until it takes the form of a curious seat, is the precious testimony of the existence of the fortified medieval citadel of Montecorvino.
The ancient city was built at the beginning of the eleventh century by the Byzantines, together with Dragonara, Fiorentino, Civitate, Tertiveri and Troja, in a colossal work of setting the sweet profiles of the Dauni Mountains, in an attempt to protect their possessions from the increasingly threatening attacks of the Lombards.
Montecorvino did not have an easy life: it was destroyed in 1137 by troops of the Norman king Roger II D'Altavilla; it was rebuilt and again destroyed by Ladislao II in 1332 and in 1441 by Alfonso of Aragon, it was finally abandoned after the earthquake of 1452.
So it happened a diaspora of its inhabitants took refuge in the nearby Volturino, Motta Montecorvino and Pietramontecorvino. In addition to the tower you can see the traces of the medieval walls and the ruins of the ancient Cathedral, where Saint Albert the Norman was bishop.
Legend has it that Saint Albert appeared in a dream to two women from Pietramontecorvino, telling them that to alleviate the oppressive thirst of the fields, the Petraioli would have to make a penitential pilgrimage to Montecorvino. So it was, and on the way back from heaven fell the desired rain: the Saint had defeated the drought and conquered eternal devotion. Since then, every May 16, a colorful caravan, thanks to huge poles and the waving of colorful clothes linked to them, repeats a journey of faith, tradition and cultural identity.
