'It's All There,' He Said; 'let Him Off This Time.' Then Musolino
Turned To The Lad:
'You have behaved like a mannerless puppy,' he said,
'without shame or knowledge of the world.
Be reasonable in future, and
understand clearly: I will have no brigandage in these mountains. Leave
that to the syndics and judges in the towns.'"
We did not traverse Musolino's natal village, Santo Stefano; indeed, we
passed through no villages at all. But after issuing from the labyrinth,
we saw a few of them, perched in improbable situations - Roccaforte and
Roghudi on our right; on the other side, Africo and Casalnuovo. Salis
Marschlins says that the inhabitants of these regions are so wild and
innocent that money is unknown; everything is done by barter. That comes
of copying without discrimination. For this statement he utilized the
report of a Government official, a certain Leoni, who was sent hither
after the earthquake of 1783, and found the use of money not unknown,
but forgotten, in consequence of this terrible catastrophe.
These vales of Aspromonte are one of the last refuges of living
Byzantinism. Greek is still spoken in some places, such as Rocca-forte
and Roghudi. Earlier travellers confused the natives with the Albanians;
Niehbuhr, who had an obsession on the subject of Hellenism, imagined
they were relics of old Dorian and Achaean colonies. Scholars are
apparently not yet quite decided upon certain smaller matters. So
Lenormant (Vol. II, p. 433) thinks they came hither after the Turkish
conquest, as did the Albanians; Batiffol argues that they were chased
into Calabria from Sicily by the Arabs after the second half of the
seventh century; Morosi, who treats mostly of their Apulian settlements,
says that they came from the East between the sixth and tenth centuries.
Many students, such as Morelli and Comparetti, have garnered their
songs, language, customs and lore, and whoever wants a convenient resume
of these earlier researches will find it in Pellegrini's book which was
written in 1873 (printed 1880). He gives the number of Greek inhabitants
of these places - Roghudi, for example, had 535 in his day; he has also
noted down these villages, like Africo and Casalnuovo, in which the
Byzantine speech has lately been lost. Bova and Condofuri are now the
head-quarters of mediaeval Greek in these parts.
From afar we had already descried a green range of hills that shut out
the seaward view. This we now began to climb, in wearisome ascension; it
is called Pie d'lmpisa, because "your feet are all the time on a steep
incline." Telegraph wires here accompany the track, a survival of the
war between the Italian Government and Musolino. On the summit lies a
lonely Alp, Campo di Bova, where a herd of cattle were pasturing under
the care of a golden-haired youth who lay supine on the grass, gazing at
the clouds as they drifted in stately procession across the firmament.
Save for a dusky charcoal-burner crouching in a cave, this boy was the
only living person we encountered on our march - so deserted are these
mountain tracks.
At Campo di Bova a path branches off to Staiti; the sea is visible once
more, and there are fine glimpses, on the left, towards Staiti (or is it
Ferruzzano?) and, down the right, into the destructive and dangerous
torrent of Amendolea. Far beyond it, rises the mountain peak of
Pentedattilo, a most singular landmark which looks exactly like a molar
tooth turned upside down, with fangs in air. The road passes through a
gateway in the rock whence, suddenly, a full view is disclosed of Bova
on its hill-top, the houses nestling among huge blocks of stone that
make one think of some cyclopean citadel of past ages. My guide stoutly
denied that this was Bova; the town, he declared, lay in quite another
direction. I imagine he had never been beyond the foot of the "Pie
d'Impisa."
Here, once more, the late earthquake has done some damage, and there is
a row of trim wooden shelters near the entrance of the town. I may add,
as a picturesque detail, that about one-third of them have never been
inhabited, and are never likely to be. They were erected in the heat of
enthusiasm, and there they will stay, empty and abandoned, until some
energetic mayor shall pull them down and cook his maccheroni with their
timber.
Evening was drawing on apace, and whether it was due to the joy of
having accomplished an arduous journey, or to inconsiderate potations of
the Bacchus of Bova, one of the most remarkable wines in Italy, I very
soon found myself on excellent terms with the chief citizens of this
rather sordid-looking little place. A good deal has been written
concerning Bova and its inhabitants, but I should say there is still a
mine of information to be exploited on the spot. They are bilingual, but
while clinging stubbornly to their old speech, they have now embraced
Catholicism. The town kept its Greek religious rites till the latter
half of the sixteenth century; and Rodota has described the "vigorous
resistance" that was made to the introduction of Romanism, and the
ceremonies which finally accompanied that event.
Mine hostess obligingly sang me two or three songs in her native
language; the priest furnished me with curious statistics of folklore
and criminology; and the notary, with whom I conversed awhile on the
tiny piazza that overlooks the coastlands and distant Ionian, was a most
affable gentleman. Seeing that the Christian names of the populace are
purely Italian, I enquired as to their surnames, and learned what I
expected, namely, that a good many Greek family names survive among the
people. His own name, he said, was unquestionably Greek: Condemi; if I
liked, he would go through the local archives and prepare me a list of
all such surnames as appeared to him to be non-Italian; we could thus
obtain some idea of the percentage of Greek families still living here.
My best thanks to the good Signor!
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 109 of 129
Words from 110142 to 111158
of 131203
