Pallagorio ( sq, Puhëriu, Calabrese: ''Paragùriu '') is a ''

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 ...

'' and

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in the

province of Crotone The province of Crotone ( it, provincia di Crotone) is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It was formed in 1992 out of a section of the province of Catanzaro. The provincial capital is the city of Crotone. It borders the province ...

, in Calabria,

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 ...

History

The village and the surrounding area have been inhabited since the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

; there are numerous caves scattered in the territory, including the so-called "Cave of St. Maurice" of

palaeontological Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

interest. In the second millennium BC, the area was settled by the Oenotrian- Italic population of the ''Chone'', who left traces of their presence both in

toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

and with devotional objects found throughout the area. Archaeological remains from the early 1st millennium are found all over the area surrounding the town. It is speculated that the area was the seat of Chone, the city Italic-Hellenic founded in Mycenaean age by

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

hero Philoctetes, mentioned by historical sources ( Strabo, Apollodorus, Lycophron). Archaeological finds include Italic-Hellenic walls,

amphorae An amphora (; grc, ἀμφορεύς, ''amphoreús''; English plural: amphorae or amphoras) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storag ...

, tombs and the remains of an ancient necropolis with votive statues related to the

Orphic Orphism (more rarely Orphicism; grc, Ὀρφικά, Orphiká) is the name given to a set of religious beliefs and practices originating in the ancient Greek and Hellenistic world, associated with literature ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus ...

cult. Between the 7th and 5th century BC, Greek colonists arrived here, as testified by numerous remains and again by toponyms of Greek origin. In

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

colonists settled in the area overlooking the village, along the river valley Vitravo, starting an intense colonisation of the land. In the Middle Ages, the village, concentrated in the districts of "Valle" and "Cucinaro", took the name of "San Giovanni in Palagorio". It had a few hundred inhabitants, mostly farmers, depending from the feudal lords of

Umbriatico Umbriatico is a ''comune'' and town in the province of Crotone, in Calabria, southern Italy. As of 2007 Umbriatico had an estimated population of 930. History Umbriatico was founded by the Oenotrians before the arrival of the Greek colonists who ...

.Pallagorio - Palolo Staltari (in Italian)
/ref> Around the mid-15th century, Albanian-Greek mercenaries from

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...

and Peloponnese under the guidance of Demetrio Reres settled the area after having fought in the war between the Angevins and Aragonese. Since the end of the 17th century, the village was the subject of an intense and continuous migration of people attracted by the fertility of the land, and the mild climate. The village was a fief of the Spinelli finally until the end of the century, then it went to Rovegno, who held it to the end of the 18th century. After the events of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, it became an independent town in 1834. Next, it followed the fate of the

Kingdom of 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 all ...

. Until the mid-17th century the village preserved the use of Byzantine Rite in addition to the Catholic Rite. The village still retains the

Arbëreshë language Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arbënesh/Arbëresh originally meant all Albanians, until the 18th century. Today it is used for different groups of Albanian origin, including: * Arbër (given name), an Albanian masculine given name * Arbëresh ...

, in addition to the

Calabrian dialect The primary languages of Calabria are the Italian language as well as regional varieties of the Neapolitan and Extreme Southern Italian, all collectively known as Calabrian ( it, calabrese, link=no). In addition, there are 100,000 speakers of the ...

Etymology

Hypothesis on the origins of the name are various. One is that the current village is located near the ruins of a pre-existing fortress-town, whence the Greek name ''Palaios Chorion'' ("old settlement"). Others derive it from the Albanian name (Puheriu), from ''Puhe e ri'' ("New Puhe") referring to a possible settlement in Albania with the same name. The last one is still derived from the Arbereshe dialect: ''Pucciur e riut'' (Kissed from the wind), referring to the geographical position.

Main sights

*Mother church, or church of St.

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

(16th century) *Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (early 20th century) *Church of

Saint Philomena Philomena ( el, Ἁγία Φιλομένα), also known as Saint Philomena or ''Philomena of Rome'' was a young virgin martyr whose remains were discovered on May 24–25, 1802, in the Catacomb of Priscilla. Three tiles enclosing the tomb bore ...

, finished in 1859 *Church of Saint Anthony, located in Gradea neighborhood, residue of an old

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

*Chapel of Saint Christopher *Altar of the Madonna of the Stairs, in Grisuni *Ancient

Portal Portal often refers to: * Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

of the Piazza Rattazzi (Rattazi Square)

Culture

Events in the village include: *Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (second Sunday of May) *St. Lucy's Day *Christmas, for which a special desserts are prepared: ''culumolli'', a doughnut style pastry fried in oil; ''xhurxhullea'', a type of

Turrón Turrón (), or torrone (), is a southwestern European nougat confection, typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds or other nuts, and usually shaped into either a rectangular tablet or a round cake. It is frequently c ...

made with

sesame seeds Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus '' Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...

and almonds worked with honey and covered in colored sugar ornaments; ''bukunotet'', a kind of dumpling filled up with

marmalade Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamot ...

ricotta Ricotta ( in Italian) is an Italian whey cheese made from sheep, cow, goat, or Italian water buffalo milk whey left over from the production of other cheeses. Like other whey cheeses, it is made by coagulating the proteins that remain after th ...

cheese and covered with powder sugar; and ''krustullit'', a type of big egg, milk, and flour

gnocchi Gnocchi ( , , ; singular ''gnocco'') are a varied family of dumpling in Italian cuisine. They are made of small lumps of dough most traditionally composed of a simple combination of wheat flour, egg, salt, and potato. Variations of the dish sup ...

s dipped in honey and must.

Economy

Pallagorio relies on the production of

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

, cereals,

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

es, and the intense breeding of

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

People

* Anselmo Lorecchio (1843 - 1924), Italian lawyer, politician, poet, and writer, activist of

Albanian National Awakening The Albanian National Awakening ( sq, Rilindja or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political and social movement in the Albanian history where the ...

* Ofelia Giudicissi Curci (1934 - 1981), poet, painter, and archeologist

References

{{authority control Cities and towns in Calabria Arbëresh settlements