Caulonia - Italy

Caulonia (RC)

Calabria (Italy)

Caulonia, formerly called Castelvetere and Kaulonia (Greek dialect - Calabrian), is a town in the province of Reggio Calabria.
A walk to the center of Caulonia experience is certainly more expressive than anything else can read or write on its artistic heritage.
It can take a thick stratigraphic unit, the walls between old and new, with a deep sense of the spirit of the place as the scene of the landscape.
II center is located on a rocky outcrop about 300 meters above sea level and until 1860 was called Castelvetere (Castrum = vetus old castle), of which there are few ruins, but still help to maintain an ’image of a fortress-like Caulonia.
Are still visible four gates of the medieval city walls, now incorporated into the urban fabric:
- Port St. Anthony or the Saviour, the sandstone;
- Porta Pusterla, linked to the castle walls, stone and brick;
- Amusa door, the door of the gardens and the road along the river Amusa, take the patient, the smallest, brick and stone, facing the coast on the way Allaro River and its estuary.
From the religious point of view Castelvetere was distinguished by a large number of churches, now (those remaining, thanks to restoration work), enrich the precious historical and artistic heritage of the country.
Among these are:
- The church Matrix built in 1513 by the will of Count Vincenzo Carafa.
It was one of eleven churches in the diocese of proto papal Gerace.
Inside, divided into three naves and decorated in eighteenth-century style, there is the white marble sarcophagus in the Renaissance Vincenzo Carafa (national monument of great artistic interest), placed there in 1637 by Geronimo Carafa.
The high altar of fine craftsmanship, and marble while the mixed choir is made of walnut.
In a side chapel is the statue of St. Hilary Abate, patron saint of the city;
- The Church of the Immaculate, the old foundation, in existence in 1690 as part of the destroyed building of the Augustinian convent.
The single nave interior is richly decorated in Baroque style with four side altars, two of the 700 and 900 of the two.
The altar, made of valuable marble, is dominated by a most valuable and artistic marble statue in the round depicting the Immaculate Virgin (National Monument).
The altar is separated from the nave by a marble balustrade, embroidered and inlaid into its colors by presenting a refined and elegant beauty.
In it retains the majestic statue of Christ at the Column, wooden work of 600 (national monument).
There are two bodies one of the ’700 and a ’900.
The church of the SS. Rosary was linked to the existence of an ancient Dominican convent destroyed by the earthquake of 1783 and the ruins of which remain close to the church.
Built in Baroque binder, with massive columns and decorative cornices aggentanti, the church has a single nave and a coffered ceiling.
In this Dominican community is said to have found asylum philosopher Tommaso Campanella.
Inside we find precious paintings and shepherds Neapolitan 700;
The former church of S. Zachary is one of the oldest churches in Caulonia.
Currently it houses a valuable Deesis depicting Christ Pantocrator in the middle and the Virgin and Saint John the sides, just like the famous Byzantine Deesis of the largest of which is in the basilica of St. Sophia in Istanbul (Constantinople).
We can therefore say that the Byzantine fresco Caulonia which is part of a much broader cultural circuit, since the Byzantine Deesis the most popular in the south;
In addition to churches, some palaces, doorways, courtyards, gardens, rich and precious furnishings, are very finely crafted art, indicating the socio-economic welfare that Castelvetere had reached around 700.
Among the private villas, most important are the elegant Villa Campisi, surrounded by gardens and cloisters of great interest not only from the architectural point of view but also medicinal and botanical.
The most important of the historic center is named after Vincenzo Niutta (duct illustrious castelveterino 800), while Piazza Month, Seat and Piazza Piazza Baglio, correspond to the center of religious, political and commercial country.
Between the beautiful portals of the old town there are some clear ocher sandstone and others, singular, red sandstone, like that of the former church of San Leo.
They are also a large number of portals in eighteenth-century local white granite, very well worked and richly decorated in the style of the time and artistic skill of the stonemasons mastery of Serres.
All these elements together linked by roads (paved with stone or pebbles) that in many places along the old churches, squares and ancient buildings (that look with their imposing and majestic portals), and intertwine with many narrow alleys (vinedi), make the center a very charming hillside village.
During the summer we organize conferences, events, festivals, and parties that contribute to aggregate the citizens of the country and villages, but also attract many tourists, which can be seen as positive, in terms of cultural, historical, artistic and cuisine, the country has to offer.
Examples are the event Tarantella Power (now Kaulonia Tarantella Festival) that for a decade, at the end of August fails to address in the little village, thousands of people from every part of ’Italy, thanks also to the organization of courses and seminars on the typical calabrese traditional dance, by the municipal administration.
Remember also the rites of Holy Week, with the ritual of Caracol.

Written by:
Suraci Paolo