Monte Stella is a mountain in the

Serre Calabresi The Serre Calabresi or ''Calabrian Serre'' ( Calabrian dialect: ''Serra'') are a mountain and hill area of Calabria, southern Italy, characterized by large extents of woods. The name could be derived by the Jewish ''Ser'', meaning "mountains", ...

, in the

Locride Locride is an area of Calabria, Italy around the town of Locri in the Province of Reggio Calabria. The term takes origin from the Locris, an ancient Greek region. It is divided into 5 areas: * Vallata dello Stilaro * Vallata del Torbido * Epizef ...

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It is part of the

Vallata dello Stilaro The Vallata dello Stilaro is a valley in the Province of Reggio Calabria of Southern Italy. It takes its name from river that flow in the area, the Stilaro. The principal settlements present in the valley are Bivongi, Monasterace, Pazzano a ...

, in the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

Pazzano Pazzano ( Calabrian: ) is a village and ''comune'' located in Locride's region in the province of Reggio Calabria ( Calabria, southern Italy). History The first known mention of Pazzano dates to a 1094 document. The town was founded as a miner ...

. Monte Stella is composed of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

limestones.

History

At the base of the limestone rocks, at their conjunction with a

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

bed, are

limonite Limonite () is an iron ore consisting of a mixture of hydrated iron(III) oxide-hydroxides in varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO(OH)·H2O, although this is not entirely accurate as the ratio of oxide to hydroxid ...

(iron mineral) rocks whose exploitation started from around 1000 CE. The mines continued to work until the late 19th century. Until the 17th century the mountain was home to a hermitage of Orthodox monks, later replaced by

Basilian monk Basilian monks are Roman Catholic monks who follow the rule of Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea (330–379). The term 'Basilian' is typically used only in the Catholic Church to distinguish Greek Catholic monks from other forms of monastic l ...

s. In the cave of the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

is a statue in Sicilian style, sculpted in 1562. Convento (pazzano)

Sources

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stella Mountains of Calabria Monte Stella Mountains of the Apennines

History

See also

Sources