Paola (
Calabrian: ) is an Italian
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 15,408 inhabitants in the
province of Cosenza
The province of Cosenza ( it, provincia di Cosenza) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Cosenza. It contains 150 ''comuni'', listed at list of communes of the Province of Cosenza ...
in Calabria.
It is mainly known for being the birthplace of Saint
Francis of Paola
Francis of Paola, O.M., (or: Francesco di Paola or Francis the Fire Handler; 27 March 1416 – 2 April 1507) was an Italian mendicant friar and the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of Minims. Unlike the majority of founders of men's religiou ...
.
Geography
Paola borders along the coast to the north with the territory of
Fuscaldo
Fuscaldo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of 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 ...
, to the south with
San Lucido and inland with
Montalto Uffugo
Montalto Uffugo ( Calabrian: ) is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The original name of the town was Montalto. Uffugo was added to the town's name after the unification period in the 1860 ...
and
San Fili
San Fili is a village and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.
Geography
The town is bordered by Marano Principato, Montalto Uffugo, Paola, Rende, San Lucido and San Vincenzo La Costa.
San Fili is 56 ...
. It is 35 km from the
provincial capital
A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the g ...
and 50 km from the international airport of
Lamezia Terme
Lamezia Terme (), commonly called Lamezia, is an Italian city and ''comune'' of 70,452 inhabitants (2013), in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region.
Geography
Lamezia is located on the eastern border of the coastal plain commonly cal ...
. The town has an important railway station.
Seismic classification: zone 2 (medium-high seismicity)
History
The origins of the name Paola
The documentation on the origin of the name of the present-day town of Paola is rather scarce and appears at the end of the 11th century, when the ''tenimentum Paulae'' is mentioned within the possessions of the Norman notable Roberto Bohon of Fuscaldo.
From the middle of the 16th century, numerous scholars have tried to trace the origin of the town's name.
Among them, the first was the priest Gabriele Barrio who, on the basis of the work of the historiographer
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...
(who in turn drew on
Hecataeus of Miletus
Hecataeus of Miletus (; el, Ἑκαταῖος ὁ Μιλήσιος; c. 550 BC – c. 476 BC), son of Hegesander, was an early Greek historian and geographer.
Biography
Hailing from a very wealthy family, he lived in Miletus, then under Per ...
), identified the ancient
Oenotrian settlement of Patycos with the city of Paola, by assonance with the modern toponym.
* With the Roman conquest of Calabria, a Roman consul named
Lucius Aemilius Paulus established his residence in the Calabrian city. Hence the name Paola would derive from him.
* In the Latin language the word Pabula means grazing land. Some important documents show that Paola was a hamlet of Fuscaldo, administered by the Marquis Spinelli of Fuscaldo. Its territory, rich in vegetation, was mainly used for grazing animals.
Among these hypotheses, the most accredited by historians is the latter, which, unlike the other two, is supported by historical evidence.
Hellenistic and Roman periods
Between the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C., the territory of Paola was most probably part of the rural district of the
Bruttian The Bruttians (alternative spelling, Brettii) ( la, Bruttii) were an ancient Italic people. They inhabited the southern extremity of Italy, from the frontiers of Lucania to the Sicilian Straits and the promontory of Leucopetra. This roughly corres ...
oppidum of Clampetia, which recent studies have identified as the historical centre of the current municipality of
San Lucido. Here, in fact, during the reconstruction of the pavement of the Church dedicated to St. John the Baptist at the end of the 1980s, the remains of a Hellenistic-era settlement were discovered, consisting of a number of living quarters with production functions, including numerous loom weights and the remains of a kiln for the production of ceramic artefacts datable to the same period. On the basis of studies carried out in the area of San Lucido, the area of Paola too must have been dotted with small productive farms linked to the cultivation of olives and vines, favoured by geomorphological conditions. Faint traces of this presence are attested by the discovery of bones and ceramic fragments recovered during archaeological excavations carried out in the courtyard of the Badia Luta monastery complex, during restoration work in the late 1990s.
Subsequently, Clampetia, together with other Breton centres in the region, took part in the second Roman-Carthaginian conflict and was finally conquered in the last years of the conflict. Rome's victory over the Carthaginians marked the end of the political independence of the indigenous peoples of Calabria and the disappearance of the farms.
The Roman influence soon triggered an impressive process of agricultural restructuring of the Calabrian countryside and new coloniae were founded to control the newly subjugated territories. Numerous villae were built on the fertile coastal terraces throughout the region, equipped with rich residences with baths or thermal baths (pars urbana) for the dominus and his family, accommodation for employees and slaves (pars rustica and ergastula), processing plants and large warehouses for storing agricultural produce (pars fructuaria and horrea).
One of these large villae was discovered in the early 1980s in contrada Cutura, on the northern outskirts of Paola. The building, which is still partially preserved and almost completely unexplored, occupies the top of a coastal terrace several tens of metres above sea level. The structures of the villa rest on an imposing masonry substructure built to regularize the natural slope of the same terrace (''basis villae''), with the pars urbana facing the sea, the outer face of which was interspersed with a series of niches that were intended to house a cycle of statues, making the complex even more majestic. The pars urbana also included a bath (balneum) or private spa, judging by the numerous ''suspensurae'' found on the site.
On the inner side of the coastal terrace, towards the surrounding hills, was probably the ''pars fructuaria'' of the villa, with facilities for processing olives and grapes, as documented by the numerous fragments of volcanic stone millstones and a fragment of a lithic press for crushing that have been found, as well as the numerous transport amphorae produced on site and discovered in small excavation tests carried out in 2002 by the Archaeological Superintendence of Calabria.
Byzantine Domination
In 395, with the death of Emperor
Theodosius Theodosius ( Latinized from the Greek "Θεοδόσιος", Theodosios, "given by god") is a given name. It may take the form Teodósio, Teodosie, Teodosije etc. Theodosia is a feminine version of the name.
Emperors of ancient Rome and Byzantium
...
, the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
was split into two, the
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period fr ...
and the
Eastern Roman Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. The former was entrusted to Theodosius' youngest son
Honorius; the latter to the emperor's eldest son
Arcadius
Arcadius ( grc-gre, Ἀρκάδιος ; 377 – 1 May 408) was Roman emperor from 383 to 408. He was the eldest son of the ''Augustus'' Theodosius I () and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius (). Arcadius ruled the ea ...
. The Byzantine Empire included parts of
central Italy
Central Italy ( it, Italia centrale or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a first-level NUTS region, and a European Parliament constituency.
Regions
Central It ...
,
southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
and
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, so the territory of Paola also became a Byzantine possession.
Justinian's reign was marked by a continuous struggle for dominance over Italian territory against first the
Ostrogoths
The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the larg ...
and then the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and ...
. By 536, Byzantine possessions had been reduced to the
Exarchate of Italy
The Exarchate of Ravenna ( la, Exarchatus Ravennatis; el, Εξαρχάτο της Ραβέννας) or of Italy was a lordship of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) in Italy, from 584 to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the ...
, the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
, the
Duchy of Naples
The Duchy of Naples ( la, Ducatus Neapolitanus, it, Ducato di Napoli) began as a Byzantine province that was constituted in the seventh century, in the reduced coastal lands that the Lombards had not conquered during their invasion of Italy in ...
, Sardinia and
Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
, Sicily and the
Duchy of Calabria
The County of Apulia and Calabria (), later the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria (), was a Norman state founded by William of Hauteville in 1042 in the territories of Gargano, Capitanata, Apulia, Vulture, and most of Campania. It became a duchy wh ...
. In the following centuries the Byzantines faced
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and
Saracen
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
invasions, as a result of which Sicily fell into Arab hands and the Duchy of Calabria was constantly plagued by the Islamists. It was during this period that Calabria became the favourite corner of the growing
Basilian
Basilian may refer to a number of groups who are followers of Saint Basil the Great and specifically to:
* Basilian monks (founded c. 356), monks who follow the rule of Saint Basil the Great, in modern use refers to monks of Eastern Catholic Chur ...
monasticism. The monks, following the Arab conquest of Sicily, found themselves forced to live in constant danger, so they abandoned it to settle in Calabria, especially along the Tyrrhenian coast.
In the territory of Paola monks of
St Basil
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great ( grc, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ''Hágios Basíleios ho Mégas''; cop, Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a bishop of Cae ...
, in particular of the
Basilian Order of St Josaphat
Basilian may refer to a number of groups who are followers of Saint Basil the Great and specifically to:
* Basilian monks (founded c. 356), monks who follow the rule of Saint Basil the Great, in modern use refers to monks of Eastern Catholic Churc ...
founded two monasteries, one in the ''Badia'' locality, consecrated to St Mary of the Valley of Josaphat and the Fosse, the other on the northern side of the territory, consecrated to St Michael the Archangel. From an architectural, historical and ritual analysis we can understand that we are dealing with a type of monastery called ''Laura''. These religious centres had the function of controlling the population in collaboration with the local feudal lord, the religious power and the constituted power collaborating to obtain the respect and devotion they demanded from the citizens for the development of the society of the time. In 1110, the wife of the feudal lord of Fuscaldo, Roberto de Bubum, made a written donation to the monks of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Fosse. Thanks to this donation, the monks were granted the property where they would later build the monastery, an old water mill, livestock and farmers to work the land. With this donation, Sica (widow of Robert of Bubum) tried to encourage the work of the monks towards the population, also obtaining their obedience.
Norman Domination
![Paola (CS) - castello aragonese](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Paola_%28CS%29_-_castello_aragonese.JPG)
Around the
year 1000 A.D.
the Normans, a people of warriors from
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
, arrived in Italy on board the mighty
drakkar.
They were led by
William of Hauteville, known as the Iron Hand, and his brother Drogone. In a short time these leaders took the Byzantines' dominion over southern Italy, starting with Sicily. In 1050,
Robert of Hauteville, known as Guiscard, arrived in Calabria, joined in 1057 by his brother
Roger
Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...
. The two began to lay siege to the main cities of Calabria, at first encountering opposition from the
papacy
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
. At the
battle of Civitate
The Battle of Civitate was fought on 18 June 1053 in southern Italy, between the Normans, led by the Count of Apulia Humphrey of Hauteville, and a Swabian-Italian- Lombard army, organised by Pope Leo IX and led on the battlefield by Gerard, Du ...
, the army of volunteers led by
Leo IX
Pope Leo IX (21 June 1002 – 19 April 1054), born Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 February 1049 to his death in 1054. Leo IX is considered to be one of the most historically ...
suffered a total defeat and the pontiff himself was captured by the Normans. With the arrival of the Scandinavians, all the Orthodox dioceses were converted into Catholic dioceses, so
Pope Nicholas II
Pope Nicholas II ( la, Nicholaus II; c. 990/995 – 27 July 1061), otherwise known as Gerard of Burgundy, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 January 1059 until his death in 27 July 1061. At the time of his ...
decided to form an alliance with the new masters of the south and in 1059 in
Melfi
Melfi (Neapolitan language, Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,7 ...
solemnly invested Robert Guiscard with the title of
''Duke of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily''. The city of Paola owes the construction of the ''Castle of Paola'' to the Normans around 1110 AD. This stronghold was built using mortar and sandstone, in a strategic position overlooking the city and was intended to defend monks and inhabitants from soldiers passing through the Paola territory.
Swabian-Angevin domination
During the reign of
Frederick II of Swabia
Frederick II (1090 – 6 April 1147), called the One-Eyed, was Duke of Swabia from 1105 until his death, the second from the Hohenstaufen dynasty. His younger brother Conrad was elected King of the Romans in 1138.
Life Early career
Frederic ...
, Calabria reached one of its moments of greatest prosperity. The sovereign had his residence in
Melfi
Melfi (Neapolitan language, Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,7 ...
, in Basilicata. He built the castle and the
cathedral in Cosenza and the fortress of
Rocca Imperiale
Rocca Imperiale is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Rocca Imperiale is located in the middle of the arc that surrounds the Gulf of Taranto and sits 4 km away from the sea on a hill at t ...
on the
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including C ...
. The Calabrians always remained loyal to the
Swabians
Swabians (german: Schwaben, singular ''Schwabe'') are a Germanic people who are native to the ethnocultural and linguistic region of Swabia, which is now mostly divided between the modern states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, in southwestern ...
, even after the death of
Corradin of Swabia, who was killed by order of
Charles I of Anjou
Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the Capetian House of Anjou, second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and County of Fo ...
, who took power in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. Paola also benefited from this prosperous period. The town gradually began to grow until, when Calabria passed from
Swabian to
Angevin
Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to:
*County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France
**Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou
**Counts and Dukes of Anjou
* House of Ingelger, a Frank ...
rule, it became a fief, and was entrusted to the
Ruffo
Ruffo is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Noble house of Ruffo di Calabria
*Fabrizio Ruffo (1744–1827), Italian cardinal
*Fulco Ruffo di Calabria (1884–1946), Italian World War I flying ace
* Giordano Ruffo (1200-1256), ...
family. In 1418
Polissena Ruffo
Polissena Ruffo (1400 Cariati - 17 July 1420) was a princess of Calabria. Princess of Rossano, countess of Corigliano and Montalto was the daughter of Carlo Ruffo di Montalto and Ceccarella Sanseverino.
She married Francesco Sforza (founder of ...
married the
Duke of Milan
The following is a list of rulers of Milan from the 13th century to 1814, after which it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia by the Congress of Vienna.
Before elevation to duchy
Until 1259, Milan was a free commune that elect ...
Francesco Sforza
Francesco I Sforza (; 23 July 1401 – 8 March 1466) was an Italian condottiero who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan, ruling as its (fourth) duke from 1450 until his death. In the 1420s, he participated in the War of L'A ...
, bringing as dowry the Paolano territory. Polissena died of poisoning by one of her uncles in 1420 without giving any heirs to the Duke of Milan, and Paola and the other villages she had brought as dowry returned to her family. The fief of Paola was again brought as a dowry by
Covella, younger sister of Polissena, when she married Giovanni Antonio Marzano. From their union
Marino Marzano was born, who was stripped of the fief for having conspired against the King of Naples
Ferrante of Aragon
Ferdinando Trastámara d'Aragona, of the Naples branch, universally known as Ferrante and also called by his contemporaries Don Ferrando and Don Ferrante (2 June 1424, in Valencia – 25 January 1494, in Naples), was the only son, illegitimate, of ...
.
Aragonese and French domination
With the arrival of the
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
ese, Paola reached the status of a city and was proclaimed such by
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia from ...
. During the landing, which took place in 1283, the inhabitants of the Fosse district, to avoid being involved in the clashes, entrenched themselves in the areas surrounding the Castle of Paola, upsetting the balance that revolved around the ancient abbey of their district. The monastery therefore faced an inevitable decline, despite the efforts of the last inhabitants and monks.
On 2 July 1555, the town was besieged by the Turks, commanded by
Dragut
Dragut ( tr, Turgut Reis) (1485 – 23 June 1565), known as "The Drawn Sword of Islam", was a Muslim Ottoman naval commander, governor, and noble, of Turkish or Greek descent. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended ...
Rais, who sacked and burned the town, attacked the Convent of the
Minim Friars founded by St Francis and plundered it. After recovering, the town continued to live like the other towns in Calabria, but it was getting bigger and bigger, also growing in importance.
On 18 October 1806, Paola was occupied by the French. They burnt and sacked the
Sanctuary of St Francis, which remained deserted. Following a law issued by
Joachim Murat
Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...
in 1809, the suppression of all religious orders in the
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
began, including the proto-cenoby of the Minims of Paola. Despite its importance, the convents were all converted to other uses, often military, the churches passed to the
diocesan
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...
clergy and all clerical property was confiscated.
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Kingdom of Italy
After the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
(1815),
Ferdinand IV of Bourbon was restored to the throne of Naples. The following year the two kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were united to form the new
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...
. In 1844 King
Ferdinand II and his wife
Maria Theresa of Habsburg visited Paola as a vow. The king later returned on 29 October 1852, accompanied by the crown prince,
Francesco
Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name " Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include:
People with the given name Francesco
* Francesco I (disambiguation), sev ...
.
During the
Risorgimento
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...
, Paola participated in
Garibaldi's movement. ''The hero of the two worlds'', however, did not pass through the town, unlike his ''Garibaldini''. They were even helped by the municipality when troops commanded by
Nino Bixio
Gerolamo "Nino" Bixio (, ; 2 October 1821 – 16 December 1873) was an Italian general, patriot and politician, one of the most prominent figures in the Italian unification.
Life and career
He was born Gerolamo Bixio in Genoa. While still a boy ...
and
Giacomo Medici embarked to join Garibaldi in Naples. Before the construction of the
Paola-Cosenza railway in 1910, the port of Paola was very busy, the steamers from
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
and
Messina
Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...
were loaded with goods and travellers and trade flourished. The last secretary of the Fascist Party, Carlo Scorza, was born there.
Main sights
The town is one of the destinations for religious tourism in Calabria.
![Arco di San Francesco da Paola (I)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Arco_di_San_Francesco_da_Paola_%28I%29.jpg)
Among the main places of interest are 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 ...
of
St Francis, the Badia, the so-called church of Sotterra (in the locality of the same name – formerly Gaudimare – with paintings of which the oldest ones date back to the early Middle Ages),
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
ruins, Scorza Palace, and the castle of Paola.
The birth of
St Francis of Paola is celebrated on 27 March, and his death on 2 April (the canonical feast day of the saint). Solemn celebrations in honour of St Francis are held from 1 to 4 May, with several processions on land and at sea of the Saint's 'bust' and ''cloak''. Tradition has it that a boatman refused to ferry St Francis from the Calabrian coast to Messina and the Saint crossed the strait with his cloak. St Francis has been proclaimed patron saint of Calabria as well as patron of seafarers. On 4 May 2008, the celebrations for the fifth centenary of the death of St Francis ended.
With regard to the elements of historical, religious and cultural value, it should be remembered that the 16th century was undoubtedly a golden period for Paola, thanks especially to St Francis, whose faithful came from all over Calabria. For this reason there was a remarkable urban growth for those times. As the city expanded, its buildings, streets and fountains were embellished. In a little less than a century there was a feverish building and artistic activity.
Apart from the sanctuary of San Francesco di Paola, there are numerous churches and convents in Paola:
*
Church of Sotterra
* Church of the Madonna del Carmine
* Church of San Michele
* Badia Convent
* Cathedral
* Convent of Sant'Agostino
* Church of San Giacomo Maggiore
* Convent of the Capuchins
* Church of San Leonardo
* Church of the Immaculate Conception
* Jesuit Convent
* Church of the Rosary
* Church of San Francischiello
* Church of Montevergine
* Church of the Madonna delle Grazie
* Church of the Addolorata
* Church of Santa Margherita
* Church of San Giuseppe
* Church of Santa Maria di Porto Salvo
* Church of Our Lady of Angels
* Church of Sant'Anna
Fortifications:
* Norman-Aragonese Castle
* Tower of the Blow
* Badia Tower
Archaeological sites:
* C. da Cutura
* Via S. Agata
The following are also worth mentioning:
* Monument to the Fallen;
* Arch of St Francis (entrance to the city);
* The 'Pisciariddi' (monumental fountain in Piazza del Popolo);
* Clock Tower;
* Birthplace of the patron saint;
* Steps;
* Fontana delle sette cannelle (Seven canals fountain);
* Rocchetta (a district with all its characteristic architecture, including alleys, openings, loggias, arches, buttresses and stone portals);
* Piazza del Popolo.
Fountain of the Seven Canals
The monumental
Fountain
A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...
of the Seven Canals stands at the foot of a long flight of steps and is the work of local craftsmen; it is dated 1636. The fountain opens like a large fan, reminding us of the tail of the
peacock
Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...
, the symbol of Paola: originally it had 12 holes (Abate Pacichelli), today it consists of two arms, the walls of which have seven panels with seven stone protomes, from which the water flows, and is then collected by a channel and poured into a semi-circular basin. The stone shields, although worn by time, are still intact: they depict the symbol of the peacock and the coat of arms of the Spinelli family, who bought Paola at the beginning of the 16th century and governed it for about three centuries.
Sanctuary of St Francis
![Paola Santuario](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Paola_Santuario.jpg)
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 ...
of San
Francis of Paola
Francis of Paola, O.M., (or: Francesco di Paola or Francis the Fire Handler; 27 March 1416 – 2 April 1507) was an Italian mendicant friar and the founder of the Roman Catholic Order of Minims. Unlike the majority of founders of men's religiou ...
is located in the upper part of the town, in a valley bordered by the Isca stream and rich in vegetation. It is a pilgrimage destination from all over
southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
, especially from
Calabria
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
, of which St Francis is the patron saint. It houses part of the saint's remains (the rest are in
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
, France).
In front 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 ...
there is a large square, at the edge of which stands the main façade of the temple. To the right of the main entrance, there is an archway leading to the side of the sanctuary, which houses the large modern basilica (opened in 2000) and the Cucchiarella fountain, from which pilgrims drink. Next to this is an unexploded bomb, which fell into the stream next to the sanctuary during an Anglo-American bombing raid in August 1943, but which did not damage the sanctuary. Continuing on, you come to the Devil's Bridge and a path at the end of which is a place that was the saint's refuge in his youth.
Entering the sanctuary through the main entrance leads to two initial semi-open rooms. The first contains several plaques from the 16th and 20th centuries commemorating various anniversaries and events at the sanctuary, while the second is the true
pronaos
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
of the old basilica: to the right is the portal to the basilica, to the left is a view of the stream and the adjacent monastery, and ahead is the entrance to the cloister and hermitage of the saint and the cell of ''Blessed Nicholas''.
The ancient
Romanesque basilica, dating from the 16th century, consists of a large, rather bare main hall and a single side aisle on the right, along which there are four small chapels, culminating in the sumptuous
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
chapel housing the few relics of St Francis that have survived in Paola, including some of his clothes and bone fragments.
In the cloister of the sanctuary, closed to the outside with stained glass windows, is the rose garden of the saint, which is now a large garden and has frescoes along its interior walls depicting the main episodes in the life of the saint, many of which are linked to legends. Adjacent to it is the hermitage of St Francis, a set of narrow underground spaces that constituted the first nucleus of the coenoby for the saint and his confreres. The bell tower of the temple rises between the cloister and the ancient basilica.
Transport
The town has several infrastructures and connecting lines such as: the
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
along the
Southern Tyrrhenian Railway and interchange point with the Paola-Cosenza railway. The town is crossed by the
state road 18 along the north-south axis from which the state road 107 branches off. In the city there are various means of transport such as taxis, buses and urban service, in the city there is a minibus service on call.
Twin towns
*
Frejus, France
*
Barra do Piraí
Barra do Piraí () is a municipality of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. It is located at latitude 22º28'12" South and longitude 43º49'32" East. Its population is 100,764 (2020) and its area is 578.471 km². It is 114 km from Ri ...
,
Brasil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area an ...
*
San Giovanni in Fiore
San Giovanni in Fiore (; nap, label= Calabrian, Sangiuvanni ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.
The town originates from the Florense Abbey, built here by the Calabrian monk Joachim of ...
, Italy
*
Paola, Malta
*
Puerto Madryn
Puerto Madryn (; cy, Porth Madryn), also known as ''Madryn'', is a city in the province of Chubut in Argentine Patagonia. It is the capital of the Viedma Department, and has about 93,995 inhabitants according to the last census in 2010.
Puer ...
, Argentina
*
Susa, Piedmont
Susa ( lat, Segusio, french: Suse, frp, Suisa) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, Italy. In the middle of Susa Valley, it is situated on at the confluence of the Cenischia with the Dora Riparia, a tributary of ...
, Italy
*
Assisi
Assisi (, also , ; from la, Asisium) is a town and ''comune'' of Italy in the Province of Perugia in the Umbria region, on the western flank of Monte Subasio.
It is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Latin poet Propertius, born aroun ...
, Italy
*
Otranto
Otranto (, , ; scn, label= Salentino, Oṭṛàntu; el, label=Griko, Δερεντό, Derentò; grc, Ὑδροῦς, translit=Hudroûs; la, Hydruntum) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertil ...
, Italy
See also
*
US Paolana
*
Paola railway station
Paola railway station ( it, Stazione di Paola) serves the town and ''comune'' of Paola, in the Calabria region, southern Italy. Opened in 1895, it forms part of the Battipaglia–Reggio di Calabria railway, and is also a terminus of a secondary ...
References
External links
Paola official website
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Calabria