The region of Calabria is situated in the southernmost part of Italy, between the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian Seas; it is separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina, and it is connected to the region of Basilicata through the great Pollino massif. In actual fact, 'Calabria' is the most recent name given to a region which is far from being well defined and compact, because of its changeable political borders as well as its unstable geological characteristics. Its most ancient name 'Italia', came from the Peucetian branch of the first inhabitants of this region, the 'Itali'; or perhaps from being a land of mountains and woods, full of calves ('vituli'). And so it was at the dawn of history. Later on, Calabria was called 'Brettia' from the 'Brettii', or because of the Levantine goddess who bore the same name. After that, being colonized by the Greeks, it received the name of 'Magna Graecia' ('Great Greece'). It was eventually called 'Calabria' in the VII century a.D., when the Byzantine bureaucrats extended the toponym, which was once only used for indicating the Salentine Peninsula, to the long strip of land which stretches from the Land of Otranto to the Straits of Sicily. From that moment on, that was the name given to this region and so it is today. Such a succession of names is the reflection of the main periods which featured in Calabrian history. In fact, we can find the remains of the ancient colonizers (the Achaeans and the Locris), as well as anthropological influences which show a deep connection between the ancient stocks and the various generations which followed century after century, with the variety of somatic features which testify a meaningful presence of Arabs, Berbers and Gypsies, along with the more common Indoeuropeans. The Calabrian Greeks, also called 'Grecanici', are very jealous of their language and of their ancient traditions. They might be heirs of the 'Esicasti' and 'Speleoti' monks, or even heirs of Odysseus and the survivors of the Trojan war. Today they are small communities spread along the slopes and the dry rivers ('fiumare') of the Aspromonte, clinging to their folklore in order to maintain their own vitality. One can also glimpse other hidden presences, as testified by the language of the people, by toponyms, by artistic expressions, or simply by the rich and colourful everyday life. They are in fact traces of the passage of the Vandals, Goths, Longobards, Slaves, Bulgarians, Armenians, Dalmatians, Normans, and more. To this we must add the more consistent passage of the French, the Catalans and the Spanish, corresponding to as many chapters of a long, very tormented, sometimes tragic and painful history. Just think of the expulsion of the Jews from Calabria in 1541, after they had been present actively for twelve centuries, as is well documented; think of the massacre of the Waldenses in Guardia, on the Paola Appennine, in June 1571, for having them embraced Lutheranism. Very few survived the violence, either unwillingly accepting Catholicism, or escaping death through exile. Their descendants, some scores of people still present in the territory of Guardia Piemontese and San Sisto dei Valdesi, still speak the language of Provence and keep up, at least in part, their ancient traditions. Far more important is the number of Albanians in Calabria; they are in fact a real 'nation' within the region, where they arrived in several different periods during the second half of the XV century, led by Giorgio Castriota Scanderberg, fleeing from the Turks who had invaded Albania. The main feudataries of Calabria Citra, as it was called in those times, the noble family of Sanseverino, allowed the refugees to settle in their territories, granting them uninhabited and untilled lands, preferably isolated, where the Albanians have jealously preserved their language, traditions and their Byzantine rite. It is thus clear that, in order to understand Calabria, we should well clarify such a complex variety of ethnic groups and cultures interwoven there. As a background to that, there is a marvellous land, lapped by the sea and exalted by the Pollino and Sila mountains, which compose one of the most beautiful countries in the Mediterranean Sea, and a huge mine of cultures.
(Pietro De Leo (Università della Calabria)