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.
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