Helfara. Sant'Angelo a Fasanella from Hel to St. Michael the Archangel
Historical and non-invasive archaeological research project focused on the Longobard settlement of Sant'Angelo a Fasanella, located within the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site).
From Topogenesis to the Grotta
Linguistic reconstructions of the late 6th-century Longobard settlement name, compiled through metathesis and inverse transliteration, have mapped out the following evolutionary sequence Helfara > Farahel > Fasanel > Fasanella > Sant'Angelo a Fasanella. We have then hypothesized possible sites of pagan worship of the goddess Hel, and it led us to the Grotta of St. Michael the Archangel.
The Runes
While exploring the Grotta for early medieval Longobard clues, we identified areas of probable noble burials. In March 2025, a potential rock-cut trace of a hypothesized runic funerary inscription emerged. Within this group, we distinguished 14 possible runes, with two specific clusters suggesting the word "love" and the name "Edwige/Hedwig".
We consulted Prof. Henrik Williams of the Uppsala University, in Sweden, the world's leading authority on runology. Based on the initial photographs, he did not detect any runic clue, outlining the precise scientific criteria required to move forward. However, evaluating our graphic reconstruction of the potential characters, he considered a plausible historical timeframe between the 7th and 10th centuries, pointing toward a Scandinavian-Viking alphabet rather than an Anglo-Saxon one.
Funding and verification protocols are currently being planned. Should scientific investigations confirm the hypotheses, the discovery would be an unicum within Italy, with potential candidacy of the Grotta as a UNESCO Site.
