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couldn ’ t reach because of the thick vegetation . Between the two lays , on the side of the mountain , the stone ruins of the most isolated and undeveloped village amongst many anonymous townships of the South .
Two and a half thousand people lived here in the 1930s , a flood forcing them away in 1951 . This was the official excuse as documented by history , for the reason to displace the people as part of huge geographical speculation that had fateful consequences . Villager ’ s became refugees in their own country , spread throughout many shantytowns before again being relocated . During the 1980s the people were placed in prefab houses far from the original existence , a deportation that interrupted centuries of culture and community . The people now had nothing of what they had before .
Many other small villages had the same destiny , Ferruzzano , Roghudi ,
Pentedattilo , old communities disintegrated with the excuse that their town would be collapsing at any moment . The villages are still there , still standing , venerated by their exiled people as sacred Places of Remembrance , to be visited almost on tiptoe .
Abandonment is a recuring topic in the Aspromonte , and maybe what remains of everything is the lifeblood of a surreal atmosphere of the whole area . Abandonment and rediscovery are the ends of a thread linking villages , language , and music . All over the Ionian Coast ancient Greek was used until 17th century , when Rome sent catholic bishops to spread Latin and convert a population practicing Orthodox worship , those influences are still alive in New- Latin dialects . The Greek-Byzantine matrix remained alive in inner settlements , handed down orally by shepherds and farmers , communities transmitting it without knowing through handicraft and musical traditions from overseas .
Twentieth century modernity considered Grecanic as the language of backwardness , something to be ashamed of . For this reason , people stopped transmitting the language of their fathers . The same fate befell traditional music and dance as rules placed upon the archaic society had consequences . In some areas the practices have been kept alive throughout small communities in an area that is now known as Grecanici .
Despite the fact they were small villages far from the rest of the world , a sense of hospitality is still very strong in Grecanic Culture . Welcoming a stranger was , and still is , an important part of social rites . When you enter any village , there is no doubt someone will offer you a coffee at the bar and then ask you “ where are you from ?”, “ what are you doing in your life ?”, “ why are you visiting his town and not any other
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