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

Stilo is located at the foot of Mount Consolino, along the valley of the Stilaro River. Stilo’s origins are associated with the destruction of the city of Kaulon during the Greek period by Dionysius of Syracuse.

The city still displays a number of vestiges from the past. The Stilo forest extends across the areas near Ferdinandea, with white firs and beech trees and a rich ground cover.

La Cattolica of Stilo

This is a tiny gem of 11th Century Byzantine architecture. The name of Cattolica (katholiki) was used to indicate the category of first-class “privileged churches” which was reserved to only those churches that were equipped with baptismal fonts.

The church has an architecture that is purely and typically Byzantine, with a Greek cross layout, the only of its kind, besides its twin in San Marco in Rossano (CS).

In 1557, the church converted to the Latin rite. The four central columns that support the small cupolas are placed on different bases that were recovered from the ruins of the ancient colony of Kaulon.