Text : Elisabeth Fox
In southern Italy, at the tip of the toe in the region of Calabria there are a few isolated villages along the slopes of the Amendolea flood river, in the heart of the Aspromonte mountains, where the ancient language of Homer, Aristotle, and Plato survives. The Graecanic area of the Aspromonte National Park is a cultural-pocket area known as a “Greek island” of Calabria, Italy—home to the descendants of the ancient Hellenic settlements. (The term “Graecanic” means small Greek or secondary Greek.)
Graecism, in Calabria, has very ancient roots that go back not only to the age of the Magna Graecia, but is also connected to the history of the western province of the Byzantine Empire of which this region was an outpost for centuries. The uninterrupted line of historical-linguistic continuity that links the first Greek colonies to the Greek-speaking people of present-day Aspromonte is an outstanding fact. This language is much different than Modern Greek. It contains some traces of Ancient Greek, influenced both by Byzantine Greek and Latin, later Italian and Modern Greek. Born according to some scholars between the VII to IX century AC, according to others it descends from Greek spoken in ancient Magna Graecia.
Two hundred years ago, in the Bovesia area, at the extreme south tip of Calabria, there were some 20 Graecanic speaking towns making up the Graecanic Area. The geographic isolation and harsh conditions of the Aspromonte mountains helped maintain a close economy, similar to a policy of self-sufficiency up until World War II, which helped keep the idiom and culture alive. Today, the Greek language of this area is going through a strong, perhaps, irreversible crisis. Calabria is an economically devastated region, the poorest in Italy. The Graecanic area is conceivably the most destitute of the region. Modernization brought on by the 20th century promoted several social and economic transformations, such as emigration and depopulation, favoring the decline of the area.
Nonetheless, a new interest was sparked in the Graecanic communities during the ’60 and ’70s, which awakened awareness to the linguistic patrimony, Graecanic customs and folklore.
Local concern for the native language and traditional ways has increased, thus creating a series of cultural associations and cooperatives. These organizations actively maintain recovery and conservation of the endangered language, as well as cultural roots by fostering cultural “immersions” of tourists into the local context, organizing interactive meetings between : shepherds, foresters, craftsman, farmers, housewives, old people, ethnic musicians and historical-cultural figures.
The natural environment is of rare beauty with highly varieties fauna. It offers unusual contrasts and unique landscapes being close to the sea, but unquestionably a mountainous environment.
Local guides organize very special trekking excursion packages for groups and accompany hikers along nature paths and trails. For instance, explore “The Englishman’s Path”, taken for the first time by writer Edward Lear in 1847, while donkeys carry the luggage. These villages still offer accommodation, as they did in Lear’s time, with local families, which gives better insight into the economic, social and cultural background of the area. Unearth links to ancient roots and the Grecanico way of life, a priceless cultural inheritance snuggled amongst wilderness and wildlife unparalleled in Italy.
Contact
Cooperativa “San Leo”
Andrea Laurenzano
Via Polemo – 89033 Bova (RC), Italy
Tel. : (cell) ++39/3479350278
Fax : +39/ 0965.762165
E-mail : coopsanleo@katamail.com
Websit : www.naturaliterweb.it
Language : Italian, English, Greek
Autres contacts
Naturaliter (small tour co-op operator)
Pasquale Valle, Amendolea di Condofuri - 89030 Condofuri (RC) - Italy
Tél. : ++39/ 0965.626840, Cell :++39/3289094209
E-mail : info@naturaliterweb.it
Ugo Sergi’s Farm holidays, “Il Bergamotto”
Loc. Amendolea – 89030 Condofuri (RC) – Italy
Tel./fax : ++39/0965.727213 – Cell. ++39/347.6012338
Courriel : ugosergi@yahoo.it
Calabria in Famiglia, Bed&Breakfast Association
Tél. : ++39/0965.626840, Courriel : info@bbcalabria.it
Internet :www.bbcalabria.it