I PARCHI LETTERARI® IN CALABRIA “JOURNEYS TO THE FUTURE OF MEMORY” - I PARCHI LETTERARI IN THE LOCRIDE AREA: BIVONGI

Bivongi is a small city that is famous for its authentic traditions. Its history dates back to 1090 and is associated with the Convent of the Apostles, of which only some ruins on a hill remain today. Its geographic position makes it especially suited for a day immersed in the beauty that nature has to offer. All around, there are testimonies to the mining activity that once took place in the Stilaro Valley.

San Giovanni Theristis

San Giovanni, a meek monk who was born in Palermo during the Arab occupation, lived in a monastic settlement located between the Assi and Stilaro river beds, during the 9th Century. He had escaped from Palermo to the countryside of Stilo at the suggestion of his mother, who was forced into slavery after an Arab raid. He became a Christian by receiving his baptism. Once a monk, Giovanni lived as a saint, and even performed miracles. The most famous was that of the harvesting of the wheat at Maroni, a low lying area near the sea, which gave him the title of Theristis (Harvester).
Built during the second half of the 11th Century, the Basilica provides obvious architectural testimony to the passage from the Byzantine era to the Latin one.
Today, after nine hundred years, it has become home to Greek Orthodox monks from Mount Athos.

"Locride, Italy’s flower for its nobility, its wealth and the glory of its people." Plato, 4th Century B.C.

Among the literary glories of Locride, we cannot fail to mention one of the most important and representative 18th Century authors from the region: Corrado Alvaro.

“Life for the shepherds in Aspromonte is not beautiful, in winter, when the cloudy torrents run down to the sea, and the land seems to navigate on water… They are curled up at the thresholds of the dens, in the glow of the land, and they wait for the day when they will descend to the plain, when they will hang their jackets and their flasks on the sweet tree of the plain.”

Here he mentions Aspromonte, of course, but the historic-cultural stratification of Alvaro’s Calabria, is in fact what can be found by visiting the archaeological ruins of Locri Epizephiri and Caulonia, of Gerace and Stilo, the native land of Campanella, who the writer from San Luca recognised as one of his spiritual leaders.