To help us reconstruct a detailed history of the origins of Bella we have a unique notarial document. It consists of three parts: a decree dated February 10, 1785 written by the notary Bruno Bevilacqua, and two rental contracts of July 4 and 29, 1789, respectively, both drawn up by the notary Antonio Saladino. The decree was a commitment to rent property, which in this case involved an allocation of certain land with the consent of the competent authority, Vicar Pignatelli, Prince of Strongoli, whom the Neapolitan government sent to Calabria after the 1783 earthquake to supervise related emergency measures. The decree contains a summary of the key elements of a later definitive notarial instrument. It recounts that on that date--February 10, 1785—Don Pietro Di Sensi appeared before the notary Bruno Bevilacqua with a power of attorney (underwritten by the notary Domenico Matarazzo) in the name of a certain number of citizens of the suburb of Terravecchia. Also appearing before notary Bevilacqua was the archdeacon of the cathedral, D. Antonio Bruni, as legal representative of fourteen canon-chaplains of the Venerable Chapel of Santa Maria de Martibus, commonly called the chapel of Bishop Giovanni.
Layout of Bella (1880)
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According to the decree, Don Pietro Sensi was required to take into perpetual lease the lands named Caccuri or Romeo, commonly called La Bella, which were in the feudal dominion of the Chapel of Santa Maria de Martibus, commonly called the Chapel of Bishop Giovanni, which was permanently erected inside the Cathedral, and to pay the related rent of 50 ducats every year to the chaplainship and to its current and future chaplains.
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