with oil and vinegar. The Reggio were given their clothes and personal property and then forced to march naked up to Punta Pezzo. Then the armed men returned to Reggio and the next day with artillery burned the entire village, with houses, animals, boats, trees, and quantities of oil and wine set on fire, even the Church of Maria SS.ma delle Grazie di Pezzo where it was believed that the plague had taken refuge. The Fossa people remained in miserable conditions at the beach of Pezzo for several days, without receiving any help. Ferri ordered Carlo Ruffo, Duke of Bagnara and Lord of Fiumara di Muro to provide for them, as the Fossa people were still part of the Fiumanese feud. But even the Duke did not care about them: he first denied the plague, and pretended to be irritated by the act performed by the Reggio against his employees, then dumped these charges on the University of Fiumara, promising reimbursement of expenses. But it was only sent a few beans and an ox, certainly insufficient for all the inhabitants. Only the captain of a boat that was carrying onions from Tropea took pity on them and offered his poor load. Finally, between Fossa and the neighboring towns about eighty people died from the plague. Reggini people thought they had thus preserved the city from the disease, but in early July, the disease also came to Reggio, where in a year of plague there were recorded about 5,000 deaths, with about another 500 dead of exhaustion and hunger and another 500 sentenced to death by the governor Ferri. At Messina, of 62,775 inhabitants, just 11,436 were left, that is to say that there were 51,319 deaths. Government aid was absorbed by Reggio and Messina and for the people of Fossa nothing came. Subsequently, Pope Benedict XIV sent 100,000 ducats to the countries affected by the plague, but also this time in Fossa did not touch anything of the money allocated. The birth of Villa San Giovanni The turning point in the history of the area occurred in the late eighteenth century, when Rocco Antonio Caracciolo, wealthy landowner and silk entrepreneur from Fossa, wanted to remove the hamlets of Fossa, Pezzo, Cannitello, Piale and Acciarello from the then University of Fiumara di Muro, thanks to the good offices of the Bourbon court of the Kingdom of Naples, in order to give