Caulonia
by
Antonio Nicaso
Set
upon a rocky mass “in the shape of a scalene triangle”, among a pleasant
expanse of orange and lemon blossoms, broom bushes and jasmine, kissed
by a clear Mediterranean sun, reflecting on a cobalt blue sea, sits
Caulonia, from the height of its three hundred metres, fascinates
its visitors with its customs and its remote traditions, and steals
their hearts with the discovery of a “Calabria” suspended between
fantasy and exultation, between nature and history, where everything
combines to give life to surprising sensations. This noble citadel,
whose origins are wrapped in the veils of Magna-Grecian culture, owes
its birth to the desire for liberty which enabled a colony of strong,
young Achaeans, led by Trifone di Egina, to row the currents of the
Ionian sea. The place on which Caulonia gradually rose and expanded,
was founded around 722 B.C.
Built
under the rule of the Crotonians, to the left of the banks of the
Sagra, among happy woods and rolling hills, near Mount Caulone, it
soon became an autonomous and independent republic, able to mint coins
and dictate their movements. For Caulonia, the doors of the temple
of “Giano” opened after three centuries of peace, precisely in 389
B.C., the year during which it was laid under siege, conquered and
destroyed by the bloodthirstiness of the Aratusian tyrant Dionisio
il Vecchio (the old), with the tacit connivance of the republic of
Locri. After the death of Dionisio il Vecchio in 367 B.C., following
his defeat on behalf of the Carthaginians of Erice, his son, Dionisio
il Giovane (the young), came to the throne of Siracusa and, as his
first command, commissioned the Locresi to reconstruct and re-populate
Caulonia.
Subsequently passed into the hands of the Bruzi, dominated
by the unstoppable force of the Roman eagles, it was handed over to
Pirro, king of Epiro. It was then completely destroyed for having
sided with the legendary Hannibal, during the Punic wars, by the army
of the “Temporeggiatore”, Fabio Massimo, in 200 B.C., following an
irrevocable verdict emitted by the Senatus Popolusque Romanus.
The “Cunctator” managed to bury the glorious republic
under the rubble but he did not manage to suppress the Caulonians,
who transferred their “Penati” to a well fortified place not far from
the remains of their superb city. By wish of the conquerors, the Greek
name of Caulonia was changed to the Latin name of Castelvetere and,
as a consequence, the remaining survivors had to forget their Magna-Grecian
traditions. The ancient inhabitants of Caulonia however, found comfort
and hope in the Evangelical message of the Redeemer.
With the passage of time, through the turbulent events
of that era, Castelvetere once more shone in the firmament of Calabria.
Around the year 1000, the town, “encircled by walls
and ramparts”, was, according to the Partenopean archives, a feudal
town belonging to Malgeri d’Altavilla, one of the descendants of the
Tancredi who took part in the first Crusade and whom the poet Torquato
Tasso wrote about in his “Gerusalemme Liberata” as a generous Christian
nobleman and a thinker.
From Malgeri d’Altavilla, the town passed on to Roberto
Filangeri, then Matteo de Ara, Anselmo de Caprosio, Roberto de Vetro,
and on to the Marquis Muscatello, Bardessino Galeoffo and Antonio
de Centelles. This last feudal lord betrayed the royal trust and the
town was given to Iacopo Carafa, son of Onofrio, by the king, Ferdinando
d’Aragona.
In
1497, Castelvetere had the honour of having the Pope, Paolo IV, one
of the members of the Carafa family, as its guest. In 1525 it welcomed
the winner of the duel of Barletta, Ettore Fieramosca, as a guest
of his brother, Cesare, to whom, in 1520, Carlo V had given the iron
and the lead mines of Campoli, Stilo and Fabrizia. In 1535 the town
had the Emperor of the Hapsburgs and king of Spain and Emperor of
Germany, Carlo V, as its guest. He was returning from a expedition
to Africa against the Turkish pirate, Khair-Ad-din, otherwise known
as Redbeard. He stopped his galeons in order to visit his friend Giovanbattista
Carafa. In 1571 the town took part in the Battle of Lepanto with the
“galera del corsale” at the side of the Spaniards, the Venetians,
the Popes, the Savoias and the Cavalieri di Malta against the Turks
who had occupied Cyprus. Then in October 1594 the town courageously
managed to repress the attacks of the “Flagello delle Calabrie”, Sinam
Cigalà. In 1738 following the Polish succession war, Castelvetere
passed over from the Carafa family to the Bourbons who dominated it
until the advent of Garibaldi. On the 30th of June 1862,
following the territorial unification of Italy, by the Ministerial
Decree N.123830 of the Italian Home Office, Castelvetere changed its
name back to the ancient glorious one of Caulonia.
During the Fascist Regime, it had the honour of obtaining,
after Milan, the pennant of Italy, while in the sports field it won
second place in the “Dux” campsite in Rome. In March 1945 it lived
its five days which resulted in the proclamation of “Republic of Caulonia”,
by hand of the Elementary teacher Pasquale Cavallaro, which because
of a series of unfavourable circumstances, was quickly forgotten.
Today, out of all the 96 Municipalities in the Province of Reggio
Calabria, Caulonia comes third place for territorial extension, eleventh
for number of inhabitants and it counts about twenty fractions both
large and small.
Caulonia
by
Antonio Nicaso
Tourist's
guide -Caulonia
Translated by Alexia Mazza
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