I still remember when, young and ignorant university student, I said to a friend: go ahead, there Calabria it is predominantly a seaside region. She, who came from a mountain village and was very proud of everything about her, got very angry and began to give me data on mountainous prevalence of the region that gave birth to both.
After many years, I have also learned to love the mountains, I like to do trekking, ski and breathe the fresh and light air.
I have learned that Calabria has mountains imposing, proud, majestic, which now, after taking part in the Adventure Tour in Calabria Gole del Raganello last week, I know a little more.
We are on Pollino in the extreme north of Calabria, al border with Basilicata, so close that sometimes the two regions get confused. It is a very large area, but we will focus on the area surrounding Civita, San lorenzo Bellizzi and Francavilla.
Civita is a delightful village nestled in the mountains, one step away from the very narrow gorges of the Raganello river, and is considered the gateway to Pollino National Park. Civita was founded in 1467 by Albanian families fleeing the persecutions taking place in that period, on the ruins of a pre-existing settlement and is in fact one of the Arbëreshë villages present in Calabria, where the Albanian language is still spoken fluently and in which inhabitants are part of the Albanian ethnic and linguistic minority of Italy.
What to see and do in Civita? Before starting sports activities, we advise you to know a little more about this village that will surprise more than a traveler. You can find the Devil's Bridge, one of the main attractions, which connects the two walls of the canyon carved by the Raganello river and which seems to have been used already in Roman times to cross the Alcalandros (current Raganello) and reach Magna Grecia.
Obviously behind this name there is a legend, which tells that the citizens of Civita, after having tried in vain to build a bridge between the Raganello gorges, made a pact with the devil, offering in exchange the soul of the first person who had crossed the bridge. But the citizens, once the bridge was built, changed their minds and made a dog cross it, infuriating the devil who left the marks of his anger on the bridge itself.
Strolling the chimneys and Kodra houses
The seven Kodra houses owe their name to the Albanian artist Ibrahim Kodra who, visiting Civita, portrayed them recognizing elements of his painting in them. They have a curious morphology that reproduces the features of a human face, a reflection of the distribution of spaces inside the house.
After identifying the houses, continue your walk with your nose up, because another peculiarity of Civitese architecture are the chimney pots of the houses dating back to the end of the 800s and early 900s. According to popular superstition, the chimneys had the power to keep evil spirits away, and for this reason one can admire the presence of particular ornaments such as apotropaic masks, terracotta artifacts and, recently, glass bottles. Each chimney pot is different from the other and always according to the stories, it is thought that the beauty and the dimensions indicated the status of the owner, re-proposing in small what were the medieval towers, symbol of power.
After walking around the city, take a seat in the square, have a chat with the old people who populate it on never too hot afternoons, listen to their stories and enjoy the tranquility of this village and its mountains.
San Lorenzo Bellizzi
Even closer to the top of the mountain, isolated, secluded, almost shy in its being so far from everything, we find San Lorenzo Bellizzi. It is a very small village, of whose origin is little known, but which will enchant the eyes of those who visit it, with the gray of its houses, the roofs never the same, the narrow streets that always rise. I recommend walking late in the evening, when the village becomes even more fascinating and in solitude you will be accompanied only by the stars and the eyes of those who are curious, will look at you from behind a window.
Starting from San Lorenzo, you can visit the Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Armi which stands clinging to the rocky wall where from the 1440th century onwards Greek monks had lived in hermitic conditions and built thanks to the discovery in XNUMX of an ancient Byzantine icon. The view from the sanctuary over the whole gulf of Sibari is simply spectacular !!
Francavilla Marittima
Francavilla Marittima is located on the northern bank of the Raganello, on a promontory, practically acting as a hinge between the last offshoots of the Pollino and the first expanses of the plain of Sibari.
Here, the impassioned of the archaeological genre, will find bread for their teeth, because a shrine complex dedicated to Athena was unearthed on the Timpone della Motta, while on the Macchiabate plateau, north of the Timpone della Motta, the remains an indigenous necropolis with burials covering a chronological period from 850 to 530 BC
