The village was originally named Vinearum Castren (which later turned into Vignacastrisi).
The first historical data about Vignacastrisi date back to the 11th century, when the Normans introduced the great feudal estates.
Such data refer to the annexation of the estates, which once belonged to various farmhouses, included those of Vignacastrisi and Capriglia, which this way became part of the Castro Diocese and County .
The shared interpretation of the name of the village probably refers to the time when the “vineyard of Castro” were cultivated in the nearby Castro.
Indeed, the coat of arms of the village shows a tower with cylindrical base twined with a vine stock.
A further interpretation on the origin of the name of the village might refer to the two words “castrisi” and “vigna”, which mean “fortified countryside”.
As a matter of fact, the first houses of the village were built on a rocky relief, still called nowadays “Cutizzi” (meaning sharp rocks in the local dialect).
This new acquired geographical position of Vignacastrisi was significantly favourable for the control of the territory.
Furthermore, the consequent distance from the sea made the village safer.
For many decades the inhabitants of Vignacastrisi worked as farmhands or “massari” under the few nobles of the village.
One of the most prominent family was the Guglielmo, who lived in the palace in Umberto I square, and the Baroni Bacile, who owned a big manor farm in the suburbs of the village, which is now a private summer residence.
The economy of the village was based on the cultivation of these families estates and on their wheat, barley, oats, fava bean, flax, olive, wine harvests.
Among them the oil harvest and its production was far and away the most profitable activity thanks to the vast tracts of olive groves: in the first years of the 20th century there were four oil mills out of few hundreds of inhabitants.
The most ancient oil mill is a semi-underground oil mill located in the Santu Lia ancient quarter (so called after the name of a little church dedicated to Sant’ Elia, which is now no longer working).
