Cornus mas
Francesco Torre, in his book "Cenni storici di Corleto Monforte" ("A Brief History of Corleto Monforte"), published in 1893, recounts some of the theories on the origin of the town's name: The first title given to Corleto, as is found in historical documents, was 'Cornito,' which became 'Corneto' over time by one of those simple changes which occur in the other names of towns and cities. There are various opinions regarding the origin of this name. Some believe that Cornito, or Corneto, derives from "cor nitidum," [Latin, meaning "splendid heart"]; others from the fact that the estate was abundant in horned animals [from Italian "cornuto", meaning "horned"]; and, finally, others maintain that the town was called Cornito on account of the "cornus arbor," as there were forests of dogwood (Cornus mas) in the area. From these three versions, the third seems to us to be more plausible, because the ancient Lucani, as related by Varro, the Antonines, and other ancient historians, were accustomed to give towns their name based on the nature of the site where they settled; and Corleto in those times was abundant, as it is still now, in dogwood. The reason for which Corneto was changed to Corleto with the turn of the centuries, we do not know. Thanks only to the aid of philology and tradition are we able to posit that the Corletani, on account of a joyful heart, named their town "cor laetum" [Latin, "joyful heart"], and this too explains the fact that Corleto uses a heart on its crest.From 1811 to 1860 it was part of the region of Sant'Angelo a Fasanella, which belonged to the District of Campania during the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.