The civic coat of arms of Corigliano is characterised by a red heart and a Latin inscription telling us that our strength lies in our heart. We do not know exactly when the village was founded and whom it is named after. The legend says it could be Corileo, the son of a Greek king, who was exiled and had to leave Greece. Some scholars do not agree because the Greeks used to set themselves along the coasts and Corigliano is too far from the sea. This village could also be named after Marcio Coriolano, a Roman consul who was exiled from Rome because of his bad behaviour. He wanted to join the Volsci to fight against the Romans, then his wife and his mother made him change his mind and he gave up fighting. The people of Corigliano named the village after him in order to show him their thankfulness. Those are only two legends about the origin of Corigliano but we know that from the 6th and the 10th century it was strongly influenced by the Greek domination. Signs of their presence in this area have survived through the centuries, for instance, the elderly people can still speak ‘griko’, a kind of Greek dialect. A group of Basilian monks arrived in Corigliano during the Greek domination and wrote many important codes, some of them are preserved in the Ambrosian library in Milan and in the Vatican library. The Basilian monks had to leave Corigliano in the 10th century, they found shelter in Otranto but the Greek rite was celebrated until the 17th century. According to some historical documents, King Tancredi gave the village to the Drinis in 1192 during the Norman domination. Afterwards it was ruled by the Sanfelices, the Ceppoys and the Tremblays. In the 15th century it was sold to the D’Enghiens and later to the Orsini del Balzos. During the domination of the Aragonese it was ruled again by the Drinis and, when the last heir had died, Ferdinand of Aragon gave it to the De Montis who sold it to the Tranis. The last family to rule Corigliano were the Pignatellis because in 1806 the feudal system came to end. Among the famous people who came from Corigliano we remember: Panfilo Cosma, a talented doctor and appreciated physicist. In 1604 he translated a manuscript about the life of Saint Irene by the Bishop of Smirne from Greek into Latin. Andrea Peschiulli was born in 1601 in a wealthy family. He was interested in several subjects for instance theology, Greek, philosophy and medicine. He was usually a guest of the De Montis and this friendship caused him many troubles. When Ferrante De Monti was considered as one of those who had conspired against the Spanish government and was beheaded, Andrea Peschiulli had to run away. After several stops he went to Venice where he was a well-known person and has been a guest of Giovan Francesco Loredano. He left Venice short after and went to Genoa where he had the help of the Franzonis. He wrote several books, had 7 children and died in Rome in 1691. Scipione De Monti was born in 1525 and was son of Giovan Battista De Monti. He was very interested in military subjects and wrote several books and a collection of lyrics.