La Sila, also simply Sila, is the name of the mountainous

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

and historic region located in

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, southern Italy. The Sila National Park is known to have the purest air in Europe.

Geography

The Sila occupies part of the provinces of

Cosenza Cosenza (; :it:Dialetto cosentino, local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosen ...

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages unti ...

and Catanzaro, and is divided (from north to south) into the sub-ranges ''Sila Greca'', ''Sila Grande'' and ''Sila Piccola'' ("Greek", "Greater" and "Lesser Sila", respectively). The highest peaks are the Botte Donato (1,928 m), in the Sila Grande, and Monte Gariglione (1,764 m) in the Sila Piccola. The Sila Greca is the northernmost section and is now mostly cultivated rather than thick woods. Around this area, Albanian villages such as

San Demetrio Corone San Demetrio Corone (Arbëreshë: ''Shën Mitri'') is a town and municipality in the Calabria region of Italy, at an altitude of 521 meters and with 3,387 inhabitants. The town is among the most important cultural centers of the Albanian communit ...

sprang up when

Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Ser ...

were fleeing the wrath of Muslim invaders. The Sila houses the eponymous national park, the Parco Nazionale della Sila, formerly called National Park of Calabria; it was created in 2002. The pine tree Pinus nigra ssp. laricio, commonly called ''Corsican pine'' is native to the Sila.

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

Tucidides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scientif ...

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senator'' ...

report the vast expanses of pines in the Sila.

History

The first known settlers of the Sila plateau were the

Bruttii 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 corr ...

, an ancient tribe of shepherds and farmers.

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

began to extend its sphere of influence over Calabria, Sila included, to the extent that any outside rule affected these mountains. Later it was nominally occupied in turn by the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...

, the Byzantines and, from the 11th century, the

Italo-Normans The Italo-Normans ( it, Italo-Normanni), or Siculo-Normans (''Siculo-Normanni'') when referring to Sicily and Southern Italy, are the Italian-born descendants of the first Norman conquerors to travel to southern Italy in the first half of ...

. The last favoured the creation of several monasteries, such as

Santa Maria della Matina Santa Maria della Matina was a monastery near San Marco Argentano in Calabria. It was originally Benedictine, but later became Cistercian. In 1065, at the urging of Pope Nicholas II, a monastery was founded at Matina by Robert Guiscard, duke of A ...

of San Marco Argentano,

Sambucina ''Sambucina'' is a genus of fungi in the Helotiales order. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the order is unknown (''incertae sedis''), and it has not yet been placed with certainty into any family. This is a monotypic In bi ...

Luzzi Luzzi ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = ...

and Florense Abbey at San Giovanni in Fiore, founded by Joachim of Fiore. In 1448-1535 immigrants from

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

settled the area towards 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 ...

, creating the communities of ''Sila Greca'' ("Greek Sila"). After the annexation to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

(late 19th century), Sila remained a base of

brigandage Brigandage is the life and practice of highway robbery and plunder. It is practiced by a brigand, a person who usually lives in a gang and lives by pillage and robbery.Oxford English Dictionary second edition, 1989. "Brigand.2" first recorded u ...

. New routes were opened to reduce the isolation of the mountain centres, which was dramatic especially in winter: these included the

Paola Paola is a female given name, the Italian form of the name Paula. Notable people with the name include: People In arts and entertainment *Paola Del Medico (born 1950), Swiss singer * Paola e Chiara, pop music duo consisting of two sisters born ...

road, and specialised mountain railways such as the

- Camigliatello Silano- San Giovanni in Fiore narrow-gauge line (now operating only for tourist special excursions), operated by the Ferrovie Calabro Lucane, and the

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with t ...

, operated by

Ferrovie dello Stato Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A. ( "Italian Railways of the State"; previously only Ferrovie dello Stato, hence the abbreviation FS) is Italy's national state-owned railway holding company that manages transport, infrastructure, real estat ...

. In 1915, the British traveller Norman Douglas, author of the travelogue "Old Calabria", wrote about the Sila as "... a venerable granite plateau, which stood here when the proud

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

were still dozing on the oozy bed of the ocean...". The 1949 film ''

The Wolf of the Sila ''The Wolf of the Sila'' (Italian: ''Il lupo della Sila'') is a 1949 Italian drama film directed by Duilio Coletti and starring Silvana Mangano, Amedeo Nazzari and Vittorio Gassman.Forgacs & Gundle p.166 Much of the film was shot on location arou ...

'' was set in the area, and much of it was shot on location. Today several centres, such as Camigliatello and Palumbo Sila, are becoming tourist resorts.

References

External links

Sila National Park

Portal of Sila Calabria

Sila WEB TV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sila Landforms of Calabria Plateaus of Italy Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy Historical regions