Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Reggio Calabria”
AN OLD CUSTOM It was a little later than I had wanted to arrive, but there were still a good ten minutes before the presentation was to begin. Rounding the hallway, I could see the aula magna or assembly hall, full of students, waiting rather patiently, I thought, for a school event. I entered through the doors in front with …
UNPROTECTED FEMALES IN SICILY, CALABRIA, AND ON THE TOP OF MOUNT AETNA Intrepid is the word that comes to mind when characterizing women travelers in remote regions. Take Mrs. and Miss Lowe, two proper British ladies, a mother and daughter team that tramped all over the “continent” in the middle of the 19th-century to both the horror and delight of …
EARTHQUAKES, PLAGUES, WARS AND FAITH The devastation of the recent earthquake in Amatrice reminds me of the precariousness of life. The town had been preparing for its annual festival celebrating the world-renowned sauce that bears its name – the “amatriciana” would instead be celebrated all over the world. The region of Calabria is likewise no stranger to hardship, and in …
WHAT IS THE BERGAMOT? The bergamot is a wonderfully unique citrus that makes its home in Calabria. It’s quite puzzling, this strange fruit with a bitter, almost musty-smelling pulp and incredibly light, fragrant zest. Equally intriguing, the bergamot’s complex properties lend themselves to a wide variety of uses and products – from perfume to cuisine to pharmaceuticals – positively jaw …
NEWER CALABRIA MUSEUMS No matter where you dig in Italy, you’re bound to hit upon something ancient, or at the very least medieval. Calabria is certainly no exception. Exciting discoveries pop up with a certain frequency and new museums are even inaugurated from time to time, such as the Monasterace Museum that opened its doors in the town of the …
Following one of my recent presentations about Calabria, an inquisitive audience member was inspired to look through his home library and revisit a book he had read almost twenty years earlier: The Pillars of Hercules: A Grand Tour of the Mediterranean by Paul Theroux. He remembered the author had mentioned Locri and told me about it a few days later.
MuSaBa is an expression – a dream that became a reality, a past looking for a future, and the present finding meaning in its roots. The brainchild of artists Nik Spatari and Hiske Maas, MuSaBa or the Museum Santa Barbara is a concept, a park, a museum and a laboratory located in the foothills of the rugged Aspromonte Mountains in …
Before my daytrip to Palizzi, I associated the town with two things: Edward Lear’s wonderful lithograph drawings and red wine – not necessarily in that order.
WHERE IS PERSEPHONE? The first time I laid eyes on Persephone, I had no idea as to her history or the significance she would hold for me in time to come. I was in Berlin and the antiquities collection of the famous Pergamon Museum was on my list of cultural must-sees. Seven years later I would arrive in Locri, Persephone’s …
FIT FOR ROYALTY “You haven’t ever eaten at “La Collinetta”? You have to go there!” Mercedes was very enthusiastic, to say the least, about this trattoria where she and her friend dined every Saturday afternoon. “They treat us like princesses.”