Calabria - Amordivino

Calabria

Population: 2.070.992
Surface (Kmq): 15080
Density (Inhabitants/Kmq.): 137
Main city: Catanzaro (CZ)
Other towns: Cosenza (CS); Crotone (KR); Reggio Calabria (RC), Vibo Valentia (VV).

Calabria is the extreme SW region of mainland Italy, washed by the Tyrrhenian and lonian Seas. It is a mountainous region, with a high central Apennine ridge crossing it north to south. The coastlines present landscapes of wild beauty. Calabria is a place for two types of people: Calabrians and adventurers. It is bewildering, even frightening to all others, but richly rewarding for those who want to go beyond the common stereotypes of Italy.
In Calabria there are: unforgettable vistas across rugged mountains, vast golden wheat fields and crystal clear seas; age-old olive trees that grow as tall as eucalyptus; ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Norman ruins, forgotten by time, which suddenly loom over the horizon; shy but hospitable villagers who still wear voluminous black skirts or colourful traditional costumes; delicious fish, vegetables, cheese, sausage, salami, wild mushrooms and figs.

The very first name of this region was, surprisingly enough, Italia. The name was either derived from the Italic tribes who first inhabited the region or from the land's geography: wood-rich mountains full of vituli or caves. In later times the area was known as Brutium before being colonized by the Greeks and then re-named Magna Grecia or “Great Greece”. The name was eventually changed to Calabria in the 7th century A.D., when the Byzantine rulers politically joined the region with the Salentine Peninsula which already bore that name.
Traces of ancient colonisation tell a story of subsequent cultures and civilisations that lasted centuries. In addition to such ancient ethnic groups as the Achaeans, the Locris and the Brutians, there are traces of Arabs, Berbers and Gypsy tribes along with the Indo-European people. Though the Romans improved the territory by organising agriculture, building roads and founding cities such as Cosenza, they also contributed enormously to the decline and decimation of natural resources by claiming whole forests for ship construction.
Almost bringing history alive, the Grecanici are a people still living today in small communities spread along the slopes and the fiumare (dry rivers) of the Aspromonte. They are very protective of their ancient language and traditions and trace their roots to the Esicasti and the Speleoti monks, or further to the heirs of Odysseus and the survivors of the Trojan war.