Whence We May Believe That To Satisfy Their Ardent
Desires He Was Continually Applying Himself To This Task Of So
Much
glory to Mary and her blessed Son." But the sacristan of the church at
Caulonia, to whom I applied
For information regarding these local
treasures, knew nothing about them, and his comments gave me the
impression that he has relapsed into a somewhat pagan way of regarding
such matters.
You may obtain a fairly good view of Caulonia from the southeast; or
again, from the neighbouring hillock of San Vito. The town lies some 300
metres above sea-level on a platform commanding the valleys of the Amusa
and Alaro. This position, which was clearly chosen for its strategic
value, unfortunately does not allow it to expand, and so the inhabitants
are deprived of that public garden which they amply deserve. At the
highest point lies a celebrated old castle wherein, according to
tradition, Campanella was imprisoned for a while. In the days of
Pacicchelli, it was a fine place - "magnifico nelle regole di Fortezza,
con cinque baloardi provveduti di cannoni di bronzo, ed una riccha
Armeria, degna habitazione di don Carlo Maria Carrafa, Prencipe della
Roccella, che se ne intitola Marchese." Mingled with the stones of its
old walls they have recently found skeletons - victims, possibly, of the
same macabre superstition to which the blood-drenched masonry of the
Tower of London bears witness. Here, too, have been unearthed
terra-cotta lamps and other antiquities. What are we to surmise from
this? That it was a Roman foundation? Or that the malaria in older times
forced Caulonia to wander towards healthier inland heights after the
example of Sybaris-Terranova, and that the Romans continued to occupy
this same site? Or, assuming Castelvetere to date only from mediaeval
times, that these ancient relics found their way into it accidentally?
The low-lying district of Foca, at this day, is certainly very
malarious, whereas the death-rate up here is only about 12 per 1000.
Dr. Francesco Genovese of Caulonia, to whom I am indebted for much
kindness and who is himself a distinguished worker in the humanitarian
mission of combating malaria, has published, among other interesting
pamphlets, one which deals with this village of Foca, a small place of
about 200 inhabitants, surrounded by fertile orange and vine plantations
near the mouth of the Alaro. His researches into its vital statistics
for the half-century ending 1902 reveal an appalling state of affairs.
Briefly summarized, they amount to this, that during this period there
were 391 births and 516 deaths. In other words, the village, which in
1902 ought to have contained between 600 and 800 inhabitants, not only
failed to progress, but devoured its original population of 200; and not
only them, but also 125 fresh immigrants who had entered the region from
the healthy uplands, lured by the hope of gaining a little money during
the vintage season.
A veritable Moloch!
Had the old city of Caulonia, numbering perhaps 20,000 inhabitants,
stood here under such conditions of hygiene, it would have been expunged
off the face of the earth in fifty years.
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