Between the Sila greca and the Sibari plain

We begin this new adventure in the Sibaritide LAG territory from the historic centre of Rossano, a town that is magical for its history as well as for the variety of treasures it holds.

In fact, Rossano is known as the Byzantine pearl of Calabria because, when the Byzantines occupied it from the 6^th century onwards, it experienced a period of great social, artistic and cultural splendour that still survives today through numerous works.

Rising initially in the 6^th century B.C. on the sea as the arsenal-harbour of Thurii (the second Sibari), with the name of Ruskía or Ruskiané, and then reborn on the hills as a Roman fortress-city, Rossano became, after the Greek-Gothic War (535-553 A.D.) and until the arrival of the Normans (1059), one of the most important Byzantine centres in Italy, acknowledged as the capital of the Byzantine Empire’s possessions in southern Italy, earning it the nickname of “Ravenna of the South”.

Having become a favourite destination for Basilian monks, fleeing from the East to escape the bloody persecutions inflicted by the iconoclastic policy of the Byzantine emperors (8^th century), Rossano also played a fundamental role in the religious sphere, since it represented the heart of Greek-Christian spirituality throughout the Middle Ages. Some of the numerous churches in the area surrounding the city are magnificent examples of art that, with their opulent style, leave their mark on the memory of present-day visitors as well as those of the past.

Today, Rossano is still one of the oldest and certainly one of the most representative villages in the entire area. Walking and getting lost in its labyrinth-like alleys is a continuous surprise, thanks to the countless noble palaces, squares, convents and churches hidden on every hill.

The visit can only start from the religious and devotional heart of the city: the Cathedral of Maria Santissima Achiropita, meaning “not painted by human hand”, one of the most important testimonies of the Marian cult in the Sibaritide area.

Next to the cathedral, the Archbishop’s Palace is home to the Diocesan and Codex Museum, which preserves one of Rossano’s most precious artistic works, since 2015 acknowledged by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, in the “Memory of the World” category. This is the Codex Purpureus Rossanensis, one of only seven oriental miniated codices still existing in the world.

Not far from the cathedral is another religious building of considerable artistic interest. This is the Byzantine oratory of the Panaghìa, dating back to the 10^th-11^th centuries. The name in Greek means “all holy”. Its construction is linked to the worship and veneration of the Virgin Mary and to the community asceticism of hermit and laurite monks. It preserves the original, very beautiful and evocative architectural-artistic structure, the fragmented frescoes of Saint Basil of Caesarea and the enigmatic figure of Saint John Chrysostom.

At the southern edge of the town, in the area known as “Graecìa”, is the small Oratory of Saint Mark, dating back to the 10^th century and considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Byzantine religious architecture in Calabria.

The visitor, up to this point, might think that Rossano can only offer art and religious monuments, but its beauties include the entire surrounding countryside. The olive tree is the absolute protagonist among the gentle undulations gently sloping towards the coast, and its millenary presence expresses an entire cultural universe that has shaped the landscape, conditioning its economy and food and wine tradition. In this countryside, dotted with ancient rural structures, the protagonist is the Dolce di Rossano, an extraordinary olive cultivar brought here from ancient Greece. From this prized variety comes the PDO Bruzio Colline Ioniche Presilane olive oil, with a fruity aroma that reveals surprising notes of balsamic herbs and sweet almonds. Oil also takes on another fundamental value as, since ancient times, it has been used to preserve food. Today, artisanal companies still offer a wide choice of “sottolio”, the inviting glass jars preserving mushrooms, chicory, olives, chillies, tomatoes, aubergines, wild onions, wild artichokes and the famous “sardella” sauce (PAT).

The vast territory of what is now the municipality of Corigliano-Rossano certainly features a bucolic and “home-like” side facing the coast and the sunny Mediterranean beaches, but it also owns a wilder and more solitary one, dominated by the mountain environment. In order to discover it, we leave the historic centre of the Byzantine pearl of Calabria and head inland, entering the Sila Greca mountains along the SP 188 provincial highway. Soon we find ourselves immersed in the thick of a lush forest whose heart is the Riserva naturale dei Giganti di Cozzo del Pesco (Nature Reserve of the Giants of Cozzo del Pesco). Spread over an area of about 8 hectares, the reserve is dominated by magnificent centuries-old chestnut trees, several of which are colossal in size.

It was in the thick of these woods that the monks from the East found the ideal place to focus on their meditative and prayer life. Here, in fact, at Ronconiate, lies one of the most splendid pearls of Byzantine architecture and sacred art in Calabria. It is the monastery of Santa Maria Nuova Odigìtria, or of the Patìr, founded in the 11^th century. The monastery took its name from the icon brought by Saint Bartholomew of Simeri directly from Constantinople. For centuries it was an important cultural and prayer centre, thanks to its scriptorium and its library, among the most important and famous in southern Italy, to which we owe the rescue of a large part of the collective historical memory of the Greco-Latin civilisation. Among the most admirable works in the complex, are the mosaic floors depicting geometric motifs and mythological animals.

After visiting the Patìr, our itinerary heads back towards the coast. Soon the forests give way again to cultivated fields and the blue sea beckons us towards the coast: impossible to resist the call!

When our road joins the SS 106 highway, we again take the direction of Rossano. This time, however, our destination is not the historic centre, but the nearby Lido Sant’Angelo, where we are welcomed by one of the most beautiful beaches on the Costa degli Achei (Achaean Coast): a long tongue of golden sand, nestled between the shoreline and the Mediterranean maquis, above which rises the silhouette of the Torre Stellata (Star Tower, also known as Castello Sant’Angelo), a military fortification dating back to the 16th century, erected as a guard against Saracen invasions and still in a perfect state of preservation.

Right here, on the seashore, we find evidence of one of the most precious gifts that nature has offered this territory. In fact, the municipality of Corigliano-Rossano is the Italian capital of liquorice production and the town of Rossano Scalo is home to the curious and fascinating Liquorice Museum, created to illustrate the properties of this precious root, to tell the story of the Amarelli family of liquorice producers and to discover the entire processing cycle, still conducted according to traditional rules.

Back on the SS 106 highway, we now head towards Corigliano, a town equally rich in history and tradition.

Dominating the historic centre of the town is the grand architecture of the Ducal Castle, with its mighty towers, built as a military fortress in the 11^th century. Over the course of time, the building underwent a series of transformations: the Sanseverino princes, the Saluzzo dukes and the Compagna barons altered and enlarged the original structure to make it impregnable to enemy sieges, and subsequently adapted it as a noble residence. During the 20^th century, the castle was acquired by the municipal administration, underwent impressive restoration work and is now a space for exhibitions and events, as well as a museum area that allows visitors to experience a real journey into the past, visiting the ancient dungeons, the 19^th-century kitchen, the magazine, the noble halls and then the “Mastio” Tower, the original nucleus of the manor, which develops on five levels, four of which are connected via an admirable cast-iron staircase and entirely frescoed.

Among the most remarkable religious buildings is the church of Saint Anthony, with the adjoining Franciscan convent, built in the first half of the 15^th century and later remodelled in 1740. The large dome, covered with yellow and blue majolica tiles, and the six smaller domes, three on each side, catch the eye. The entrance boasts a magnificent bronze door, created by the sculptor Carmine Cianci in 1982. The interior, featuring a Latin cross plan and a single nave with six side chapels, is richly decorated in Baroque style. The old sacristy houses the Mausoleum of Barnaba Abenante from 1522.

The main religious building in Corigliano is the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, whose original structure dates back to the 10^th century. It was rebuilt again at the behest of Count Ruggero Sangineto in 1329 and remodelled again in 1744, when it took on its current aspect. It features a finely decorated Baroque façade, as well as a single-nave interior with side chapels. Inside, it houses: an 18^th-century painting attributed to the painter Cesare Fracanzano; a pictorial cycle, also from the 18^th century, by the painter Pietro Costantini of Serra San Bruno; a pipe-organ from 1757; and a wooden choir, also from the 18^th century, made by Agostino Fusco of Morano Calabro.

A visit to the town would not be complete, however, without a walk on the Ponte Canale (Canal Bridge). Located in the lower part of the historic centre and erected in 1480 with the original function of an aqueduct, the artefact, which is built on a three-level arched system, has over time become one of the characteristic elements of the town skyline and is today partly practicable as a pedestrian street.

Leaving Corigliano we travel for a stretch along the SS 106 highway, running parallel to the coast, until the junction with the SP 186 provincial highway, which heads straight inland. The journey along the provincial highway soon takes us back to the natural environment typical of the Sila Greca and leads us to some of the municipalities in the Sibaritide LAG area, where the traditions of the Arbëreshë ethnic group are still most alive. They arrived on the Calabrian coast from the other side of the Ionian Sea and settled here between the 15^th and 18^th centuries, following the death of the Albanian national hero Giorgio Castriota Scanderbeg, coinciding with the progressive conquest of Albania by the Ottoman Turks. The culture of this community, which is strongly diffused in the Sila Greca, is defined by characterising elements evident in the language, religious rites, habits, traditions, customs, art and gastronomy, which are still jealously and proudly preserved today.

The villages we visit are small mountain hamlets, where one should certainly not expect to find great historical monuments or spectacular architecture. What is to be sought here is the authenticity and distinctiveness of a popular identity that contributes to enhance the extraordinary richness and variety of Italian culture.

The first of the Arbëreshë villages we encounter on our journey is that of San Giorgio Albanese, which stands on a panoramic hillside halfway between the Sila mountains and the Ionian coast, almost as if it were a sentinel with its feet firmly planted on the land of Calabria, which welcomed it so many centuries ago, but with its gaze always turned towards its ancient homeland overseas.

The village of San Giorgio (Mbuzat in the Arbëreshë language, named after the warlord who, according to tradition, was its founder) well represents, also in its urban structure, the strong sense of identity of these communities, with the houses arranged around the central square (called shesi), a meeting and socialising place around which the gjitonia (literally “neighbourhood”) is articulated, a social interaction made up of spaces and moments dedicated to meeting, sharing and conviviality.

The Byzantine religious liturgy is one of the fundamental elements of the local identity, finding its fulcrum in the church of San Giorgio Megalomartire, a building dating back to the 18^th century and originally built in Baroque style with a large bell tower on the left side and two side chapels with a Byzantine-style dome. The interior, divided into three naves, was remodelled according to the dictates of the Greek-Byzantine rite after the creation of the Eparchy of Lungro. It is rich in Byzantine iconography depicting events from the life of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the Saints. In the nave there are three large chandeliers of Greek workmanship. Among these, the largest one, the polieleos, surrounded by a large circle called choròs bearing the effigies of the saints, is placed under the image of Christ Pantocrator.

Just outside the centre of the town is the Centro Studi per le Minoranze Etniche (Centre for Research on Ethnic Minorities), dedicated to the promotion of the Arbëreshë cultural heritage. The building that houses the Centro Studi is striking for its architectural originality: designed by Marcello Guido, it represents one of the greatest examples in Italy of the deconstructionist style, characterised by a total break with traditional schemes and by lines and volumes always poised between chaos and expressiveness, between tensions and contrasts.

Leaving the village of San Giorgio, we head south through the beautiful Presilan hills, following the SP 186 provincial highway until the junction with the SP 181 provincial highway, which we take to the right, following the signs for Vaccarizzo (Vakarici in arbëreshë).

A route that is as winding as it is pleasant and scenic leads us close to the small village. The first houses we encounter are those of the more modern nucleus, built after the Second World War. Here, too, the traditional town-planning structure has been respected: on either side of the straight main road are the characteristic clearings and small squares around which the daily life of the inhabitants revolves.

The proper historic centre is a maze of alleys developed in a circular form around the mother church dedicated to Saint Mary of Constantinople. The building, dating back to the 17^th century, has a Greek-cross plan and its interior houses the square-shaped altar surmounted by a ciborium covered by a dome, the tabernacle and the baptismal font, made of wood by master craftsmen from Valle d’Aosta in 1950, while the basin of the apse contains a large fresco of the Virgin of Constantinople, patron saint of the town. Recently, the coffered ceiling was also restored and adorned with an icon of Christ Pantocrator by master Josif Droboniku.

Wandering through the streets, the historical palaces belonging to the town’s wealthiest families stand out. They feature the characteristic elements of Arbëreshë architecture, with a quadrangular plan and access through a stone portal leading to the open attic, as well as the typical oval windows on the top floor. Surrounding the palaces are the so-called ‘terrana’: the simple dwellings with an external staircase that once housed the families employed by the various noblemen. Outside these buildings are still visible the stone benches and ovens around which women worked on household chores, helping each other and sharing traditions and experiences, in the spirit of solidarity that united (and still unites today) the members of the same gjitonia.

One of the identity elements of the Arbëreshë culture is certainly the traditional costume. Particularly rich and elaborate is the women’s outfit, which today in Vaccarizzo, as in the other centres of the Arberia, is worn only by some of the oldest people, but which in the past was part of the dowry that each girl received at her wedding with a real dressing-up ritual, and which she would then wear on all the most important occasions of her life.

In order to preserve this important tradition, the municipality of Vaccarizzo has established the Museo del Costume e degli Ori Arbëreshë (Museum of Arbëreshë Costumes and Jewellery) in the Palazzo Cumano, one of the oldest palaces in the town. The museum houses a permanent exhibition of the magnificent gala, half-gala and daily dresses of numerous Arbëreshë communities. In addition to the traditional costumes of Vaccarizzo, those of Frascineto, Farneta, San Demetrio Corone, Piana degli Albanesi, Santa Sofia d’Epiro and Spezzano Albanese can also be admired.

From the town of Vaccarizzo, a short stretch of road along the SP 183 provincial highway takes us to San Cosmo Albanese (Strigàri, in the Arbëreshë language).

The village has very ancient origins, since the first agglomeration developed in the 11^th century, around the monastery erected by Basilian monks fleeing from the iconoclastic persecutions. These same places later became a hospitable home for the Albanian ethnic group exiled from its homeland after the death of Giorgio Castriota Scanderbeg in 1468. As in many other areas of the Calabrian inland, the industriousness of the Arbëreshë people contributed to transform the once uncultivated and almost uninhabited land into the splendid natural garden that we can admire today, in which the man-made countryside blends harmoniously with the beauty of unspoilt nature.

The heart of the small local community is the Sanctuary dedicated to the Saints Cosmas and Damian, erected on the very site where the ancient Basilian monastery once stood. The sanctuary is a real jewel of art and tradition linked to the Arbëreshë culture. Inside, it preserves remarkable Byzantine frescoes by the Cretan painter Niko Gianakakis and mosaics by the Mellini art workshop of Florence, symbolising the most significant aspects of the divine intervention in the world and the Greek-Byzantine liturgy, inspired by the Eastern tradition. The celebrations officiated by the Bishop of the Eparchy of Lungro, which take place in the church on the occasion of the patron saint’s feast day, every year on the 27^th of September, are an occasion for the different Arbëreshë communities from all over the region to meet and an opportunity for everyone to admire their costumes and learn about their local traditions.

San Cosmo, however, is also known as “the village of poetry”, because it is the birthplace of Giuseppe Serembe, who lived an adventurous and troubled existence in the second half of the 19^th century and was an important exponent of the modern Albanian literature, author of poems, lyrics and translations of the Psalms of David.

We continue along the SP 183 provincial highway westwards, through the gentle Presilan hills, dotted with olive groves, mulberry and chestnut trees, heading for the next stop on our journey. We are in the municipality of San Demetrio Corone, one of the most vital centres of Arbëreshë culture.

In Shën Mitri, as the village is called in the local language, customs and folklore have remained intact and vital, and the rites of the Greek-Byzantine religious liturgy still mark the most important moments in the inhabitants’ social life.

One of the most heartfelt traditions is that of the Panaghia, linked to the celebration of the commemoration of the dead, that takes place on the Saturday before Carnival Sunday. On this occasion, priests (papàdes) visit families to impart blessings to the table set with wine, bread and boiled wheat, over which a candle burns, symbolising the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul.

Also linked to the Carnival rites is the saraband of devils (djelzit) who, on Ash Wednesday, roam the streets of the village, dressed in goatskins.

Another heartfelt tradition is that of “stealing water” associated with the rites of the Holy Week when, on the night between Saturday and Sunday, the groups of the various village gjitonias leave the village without uttering a word, to go and draw water from the monks’ fountain at the Collegio di Sant’Adriano (College of Saint Adrian), built between the 11^th and 12^th centuries on the site of the Basilian monastery founded in 955 by Saint Nilus of Rossano. Young people from the various groups compete to induce others to break the rule of silence. The older women carry long sticks with forked ends, which they do not hesitate to use to prod and discourage the “tempters”. Only after drawing from the fountain is the silence broken with the exchange of good wishes and the beginning of the songs and dances that accompany the procession to the church parvis. Here, the great bonfire (qeradonulla) is lit, chanting the Greek hymn Kristos Anesti, meaning “Christ has resurrected”.

The patron’s feast also has its folkloric customs, which no villager is willing to give up. Tradition has it that, on the eve of the saint’s feast day, the “horse of Saint Demetrius” (kali i Shèn Mitrit), a kind of papier-mâché puppet, emerges from the main gate of the church of Saint Demetrius Megalomartyr, supported by two people, and rides among the houses carrying good-wishing messages and receiving gifts and money in return.

Once again underlining the link with its cultural roots, since 1980 San Demetrio Corone has hosted the annual Festival della Canzone Arbereshe (Arbereshe Song Festival), organised by the Italo-Albanian College of Sant’Adriano, an important religious and cultural organisation dedicated to the preservation of the Oriental rite, the traditions and the identity heritage.

The town also hosts the Museo Etnografico di San Nilo (Saint Nilus Ethnographic Museum), dedicated to the reconstruction of the traditional family environments of the rural world, covering a period from the first settlements of Basilian monks to the 20^th century.

Leaving San Demetrio we go further into the heights of the Sila Greca to reach the last station on our route among the Arbëreshë villages. Following first the SP 177 and then the SP 238 provincial highways, we reach the village of Santa Sofia d’Epiro, a centre that grew out of three different settlements of Albanian refugees in the 15^th century.

A first group settled near the pre-existing church dedicated to Saint Sophia Martyr, which still reveals elements reminiscent of its Byzantine origin. A second group camped on the eastern flank, where the church of Santa Venere was later built as a reminder. A third group settled on the upper level of the promontory.

The nucleus of today’s village is built around the church of Saint Athanasius the Great, erected in the main square of the village in 1742 according to the neoclassical style. Today, the interior is magnificently adapted to the Greek-Byzantine rite, although the previous Latin rite structure remains clearly visible. It was decorated in the 1980s with paintings of clear Byzantine evocation by the Cretan painter Nikos Jannakakis.

Not to be missed is a visit to the Museo del territorio e del costume Arbereshe (Museum of the Arbereshe Territory and Costumes), housed in one of the central buildings overlooking Largo Trapeza. The museum features a rich display of traditional costumes, all strictly original. The exhibition is divided into four rooms in which the costumes are displayed: the daily dress, the half-party or gala dress, the party or bride dress, the mourning dress and a rare half-mourning dress.

For the more curious, we also recommend a visit to the town’s Civic Library, which contains numerous testimonies relating to Calabria’s linguistic minorities.

One of the best occasions to visit Santa Sofia is the traditional Italian-Albanian Spring, which traditionally takes place in May and brings together representatives of the neighbouring communities in the village, under the banner of brotherhood and sharing. On this occasion, young people parade through the village streets in traditional costumes, involving everyone in the festive atmosphere with singing and dancing.

Our journey through the villages of the Arbëreshë culture has been a real trip in space and time, but the road holds surprises and discoveries that will take us even further…

Following the SP 177 highway in the direction of the Ionian coast, we gradually leave the mountains behind us. The steep slopes of the Sila Greca and even the gentle hills of the inland areas of Corigliano and Rossano soon become a distant memory. Now the horizon all around becomes a tabula rasa: we are now in the centre of the Sibari plain, in the municipality of Cassano all’Ionio.

Cultivated fields and rice paddies run as far as the eye can see and nothing would suggest that this countryside is the theatre that saw the rise and then fall of one of the most prosperous and powerful cities of pre-Roman Italy.

Right here, a short distance from the mouth of the Crati river, Achaean colonisers from the Peloponnesus founded at the end of the 8^th century B.C. the polis of Sybaris, whose power gradually grew until it dominated a large part of the Ionian Arc territory, exerting its control over no less than twenty-five other Greek colonies. Soon, however, Sybaris found itself in competition with Crotone, the other “superpower” of the Magna Graecia, whose troops defeated the Sybarite army in 510 B.C. at the Battle of Nika, before conquering and destroying the city. Subsequently, the colony was rebuilt under the name of Thurii and survived into Roman times. The progressive swamping of the territory and the troubled events of the centuries following the fall of the Empire led to the final abandonment of the area and the creation of new settlements in the safer inland area, which gave rise to the present-day town of Cassano.

The monumental ruins of ancient Sybaris, however, have been preserved to the present day, constituting one of the most interesting archaeological parks in Calabria, where the National Archaeological Museum of the Sibaritide is located. In the halls of the museum, one can find many testimonies of the Greek civilisation and the later Roman settlements: architectural fragments of great value, grave goods, the religious ornaments of the sanctuary of Athena and the important bronze table with the dedication of a Sybarite citizen who won a competition in the ancient Olympics.

Water is the element that has always marked the history and characteristics of the Cassano area. From the waters of the Ionian Sea came, in fact, the ancient founders of Sybaris and, today, the same splendid sea and its beaches are one of the most sought-after tourist attractions.

But the area has also been known since antiquity for the curative qualities of its oligomineral hot springs, probably already exploited by the Sybarites and the Romans. The modern Terme Sibarite (Sybarite thermal baths) are heirs of this ancient thermal tradition. They are located on the outskirts of Cassano, immersed in a charming green area, near the ruins of an ancient Byzantine monastery and the Milone Tower, a proud and precious medieval fortress.

The thermal baths themselves can provide the starting point for a visit to the beauties of the old town, beginning from the Pietra del Castello, the rocky elevation that dominates the town and on which stands the Clock Tower, one of Cassano’s symbols, famous for the “cintu ‘ntinni”, the hundred chimes that resound every ten minutes before midnight, at eight in the morning and at midday. Another much-loved symbol of Cassano is the cathedral dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin, an ancient building, although it has been remodelled and rebuilt several times over the centuries, particularly after the disastrous earthquake of 1706. The church was built on the site of the previous church of the Madonna del Lauro (Virgin of the Laurel), which in turn was built near a laurel tree that marked the prayer point for the first local Christians. The Vergine del Lauro, an effigy of Byzantine origin, can still be found in the church and is the object of heartfelt popular devotion by the inhabitants of the community.

Next to the cathedral, the Bishop’s Palace houses the Diocesan Museum, an exhibition full of interesting items, most notably the collection of large paintings by artists from the southern Italy such as Nicola Malinconico and Felice Vitaleo.

Wandering through the alleys of the old town centre, a shrewd visitor will not fail to notice the numerous large and small fountains that once again confirm Cassano’s name as the “city of water”. The Fountain of the Three Lions, in the square in front of the cathedral, and the sulphurous water fountain in the municipal park in via Amendola, are certainly the best known and most important from an artistic point of view, but every corner of Cassano has its own small or large fountain, a witness to the history and daily life of the town.

Water is also responsible for the origin of another of this area’s wonders: in fact, the area is rich in karstic cavities, such as the Grotta della Vucc’Ucciardo, which develops inside the Pietra del Castello and has been enhanced for tourist visits and as a splendid and evocative setting for concerts and theatre performances.

With the visit to Cassano, our itinerary between the Sila Greca and the Sibari Plain has come to an end. Leaving the town on the road heading north, however, with the Pollino mountains looming on the horizon, a last stop in the Cassano area is a must along the way, to visit the monumental sanctuary of Santa Maria della Catena (Saint Mary of the Chain), an abbey that is one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in this part of Calabria.

The profound devotional value of the place and the extraordinary natural context in which it is set already announce the next stages of the journey that will take us to discover the traces of faith and paradises of nature in the villages of the northernmost area of the Sibaritide LAG.