Though there
are now few visitors to Calabria, this southernmost
province [Reggio Calabria] of Italy
proper has had many stirring events of history connected
with it. Scylla was a terror to Ulysses; it
lay in the path of Garibaldi's triumphal march to
Naples from Sicily; earthquakes often shatter the
homes of its people, and archaeologists still find
it a treasure-trove.
page 181
Such Types
as an Artist Seeks
Many of the thriftiest
citizens of Calabria have emigrated from its low,
sandy plains and unhealthy marshes and have come
to America. This region of Italy was once
a notorious brigand retreat.
page 182
Calabrian
Peasants at Saracena
Many old customs,
proverbs, and superstitions still survive in Calabria
and all southern Italy. When a girl child
is born to a peasant he immediately plants a row
of poplar trees, which will be large enough to cut
down for her dowry when she is seventeen.
page 184
Her Cask is Filled with Calabrian Wine
page 187
San Francisco
di Paola [sic] Stands Guard Over His Home City
Just outside the city of Paola, the birthplace of
the saint who founded the order of Mendicant Friars,
there was an old monastery built in his honor around
a fountain which he is said to have made gush out
of the earth. To its waters are attributed
many healing powers.
page 188
A Point
of Vantage
These children and their pig
live in Policastro, now a town of barely 500 inhabitants,
but a city of power and affluence in the days of
ancient Rome. It fell before the Saracens
in 915 and was destroyed 140 years later by the
Normans under their heroic leader, Robert Guiscard.
page 193
Calabrian
Water-Carriers from Paola
Paola is one
of the most important towns in the neglected southwest
coast of Italy. In the hills back of the city
lived Re di Sila, or the King of the Mountains [sic],
who during the 16th century was the terror of the
Spanish viceroys and barons.
page 196
The following pages were not shown due to National
Geographic Society's apparent ignorance of Italian
geography--how ironic. The article was entitled
"Daily Life in Calabria". As you
can see, they could not distinguish between CALABRIA
and CAMPANIA.
Page 183: Before the Cathedral of St. Andrew:
Amalfi [Salerno, Campania]
Page 185: Stalwart Maids of Atrani [Salerno,
Campania]
Page 186: Chatting Beneath a Wayside Shrine
at Dragonea [Salerno, Campania]
Page 189: An Itinerant Hardware Store in Naples
[Napoli, Campania]
Page 190: A Firewood Donkey Train from the Forest
near La Cava Dei Tirreni [Salerno, Campania]
Page 192: Advertising her Wares at La Cava Dei
Tirreni [Salerno, Campania]
Page 194: Amalfi's Waterfront is One of the
Loveliest in All Italy [Salerno, Campania]
Page 195: A Neapolitan Chair and Basket Vendor
Who Makes Personal Deliveries [Napoli, Campania]
![San Francisco
di Paola [sic] Stands Guard Over His Home City](/library/history/images/page188_sm.jpg)
