Scalea our home town

Scalea centro storico from Talao tower.

Scalea, our home town.
Lying just a few kilometres from Calabria’s border with Basilicata Scalea is one of the region’s most Northerly towns. Once considered as one of the most beautiful towns in Southern Italy with the old town wrapped around the Norman castle and descending down the hill to the green fertile plain of the river Lao, the plain stretched as far as the eye could see, from Scalea to the town and hills of Cirella.

That was until the early 1970’s when the builders and their bulldozers moved in and without real town planning and probably many backhanders ripped up the farmlands and built ugly high-rise condominiums wherever they saw fit. This modern maze of a town now sits there marring and masking the once beautiful sight of its centro storico (old town).

Today in the summer season with its eight kilometres of beach Scalea is one of the busiest holiday resorts in Calabria, when during the first weeks of August its population of around ten thousand can grow to as many as eighty thousand, as those condo apartments that have been abandoned for twelve months are opened for the holidays by their owners from all over Italy.

Scalea centro storico and castle.

You may think at this point I’m not a great fan of Scalea, on the contrary we’ve lived in the heart of its centro storico for the past ten years. My gripe is that the town had so much potential that was ignored during the mad build of the 1970’s and with the pillaging of the council coffers over the following forty years by crooked councillors and the Mafia, Scalea never really recovered from the rape of its beauty.

So Scalea is ideal for a beach holiday but is it worth visiting for history and culture today? Well if you are prepared to look for it then the answer could be yes with the emphasis on looking for it, as you’ll not find plaques, signs and notices that you would expect in such an historic town.

The cave under Talao tower.

Scalea is the oldest still inhabited town on the Riviera Del Cedro the part of the Western Calabria coast that stretches from Praia a Mare to Amantea. In the 1950’s excavations of the cave on Talao island just off Scalea beach revealed tools and other signs of the once presence of Neanderthal man (300,000-600,000 years ago). Between Scalea and the town of Marcellina excavations of the Greek town of Laos are still in progress (only open Sundays). Laos was built by Greek refugees from the Eastern coast city of Sibari who had fled the city during its war with the city of Crotone circa 510 BC. Little is left of ancient Lao, only the foundations of its houses as the town was never built with the opulence of Sibari.

Excavations of Laos.

 Locals will tell you that Scalea was once a Roman port named Lavinium but I’m yet to be shown any hard evidence. Wherever the Romans lived they left hard evidence this is easily seen in the neighbouring town of Cirella a few kilometres away with a roman mausoleum still standing, so my argument is if we have found evidence of early man and the Greeks why is there no evidence of the Romans who came later? Yes they were here as the land would have probably been farmed by the odd villa but in my view there was no large Roman settlement in Scalea.

Today’s visible history of Scalea starts with Robert Guiscard the Norman who built the now very ruined castle at the peak of Centro Storico, Guiscard is credited with being the Norman who conquered Southern Italy and made Sicily and Calabria the kingdom of two Scillies. One can walk around the castle and get great views of the bay but it’s advisable to go when the local volunteers have hacked a path through the weeds and brambles.

The South tower Scalea castle.

There are two palaces in centro storico, both renovated over the past ten years with copious amounts of money from the European Union, this is public money but both are still empty and closed to the public. Also in the old town there is a Byzantine chapel with its vandalised murals of saints and the crypt still holds the skeletons of dead monks. The chapel which was also once a hospital for returning crusaders is privately owned and opening times are anyone’s guess but you can knock on the door of the house opposite and ask for entry.

Cimalonga tower with Talao tower in background.

Scalea’s old town like most of Italy’s old towns has finely decorated churches of some interest and finally on the middle piazza is the Cimalonga tower, built in the Spanish Aragon style it was once the towns gaol and now houses a very small museum and the offices of the local archaeologists. Although Scalea offers very little to occupy ones time a walk around centro storico and the surrounding town at the foot of the hill can reveal glimpses of ancient times through its architecture as long as one has a some knowledge or a good sense of imagination.

A little over a ten minute walk from the bottom of centro storico is Talao tower the symbol of Scalea. Built on what was once an island in the 16^th century as one of 337 watch towers to deter Saracen pirates, the tower is sadly an empty shell and an occasional playground for graffiti artists. The structure and the land it sits on has great potential but is neglected by the commune who still charge an admission fee with a guide who mixes fact with urban legends and a little fantasy. The towers only worth is in the evening with the sun behind you and its elevated position over the modern town it is the finest vantage point to take photographs and see the splendour of centro storico that was once Medieval Scalea.

The hill towns of  the Laos plain.

Papasidero a town with several interesting features came into its own during the Byzantine times and many of the church frescos will endorse this. In the small town itself are the ruins of a Sveva Norman (1190-1250) castle which commands the old road over the mountains and down to the coast.

Papasidero from the approach.

But a must to see is the Church part built into the mountainside which can only be reached by an ancient footbridge spanning the gorge high above the river Lao below. This part of the river is also well known for white water rafting during the winter season.

Attributed to the town but actually some eight Kilometres further inland is the Grotto del Romito or cave of the hermit, a car is definitely needed to visit this site. Archaeological work is still in progress at the caves and many prehistoric finds have been made including graves. But the reason for many prehistory scholars to visit the cave is the carved drawing of a buffalo believed to be the most anatomically correct etching throughout Europe.

Verbicaro a town without a castle but still believed to have ancient beginnings, the centro storico is beyond the modern town through a narrow alley seeming to be heading nowhere. Once a thriving wine manufacturer (the industry is slowly being restored) many of its inhabitants were among the mass migrations during the 19^th and 20^th century to the Americas and other countries. Some of the following generations of these migrants return to the town in search of their ancestry.

The multi-storey houses of Verbicaro

I am told the vineyards and winery are worth a visit but the reason Verbicaro makes my list is the eeriness of its centro storico. As you walk in leaving the modern town behind you almost immediately walk into a silence. Although still very much intact many residents of the old town have chosen to live outside the walls in the more modern apartments leaving the centro storico an almost deserted ghost town. Look for the houses with outside precarious steps leading to third and fourth floors of the houses, these are a sign of the past when people outgrew their houses but wanted to stay inside the safety of the town walls, and not being able to build out they built up. Built of stone and cement with very little support one wonders if today these stairs could support the weight of a cat!

Orsomarso.

Orsomarso is known as the gateway to the Pollino national park as from here one can take a scenic walk up the river through woods and past waterfalls as you meander up the mountain gorge cut out by the river over the millenniums. Again without a castle but built in a valley amongst craggy rock formations and well hidden from the sight of pirates that may have been patrolling the coast in the past. On one of the rocky crags stand an unusual clock tower which when open offers a wonderful rooftop view over the town.

From the coast at the end of the Lao plain in the Cirella area you can see the Towns of Grisolia and Maiera; perched high on opposite sides of a deep ravine the two towns seem to be mocking each other knowing the ravine is a protection from their callings. A spectacular view from below it seems that the town’s people could throw stones at each other but to actually get from one town to the other it’s a long journey down the mountain and a similar tedious journey up the other side. Spectacular to see from the coast but maybe not worth the journey up as nothing of any interesting historical value can be seen.

Grisolia and Maiera.

Summary: Scalea is a great place for a beach holiday during the summer season and at times out of the season when the days are still warm and the beaches are empty. The old town has an ancient history and medieval charm that no other local town can rival but the local commune ignores this. They need to realise their town’s potential as a historical town and help visitors appreciate this.

External links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Guiscard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romito_Cave