HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Africo ( Calabrian: ; ) is a ''
comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...
'' in the
province of Reggio Calabria The province of Reggio Calabria () was a province in the Calabria region of Italy. It was the southernmost province in mainland Italy and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. The capital was the city of Reggio. It w ...
, in the Southern Italian region of
Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...
located from
Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...
. Africo consists of two main centers. The first, Africo Vecchio (Old Africo), is located some in the mainland at the feet of the
Aspromonte The Aspromonte is a mountain massif in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Calabria, southern Italy). In Italian aspro means "rough" whereas in Greek it means "white" (wikt:άσπρος, Άσπρος), therefore the name literally translat ...
. The old town was destroyed by disastrous floods and landslides in October 1951 and abandoned. The second, Africo Nuovo (New Africo), was reconstructed around away, on the Ionian coast near Bianco. The remnants of the old town are situated in the Aspromonte National Park.Ricerche Storiche
Africo.net (''Retrieved January 17, 2010'')


History

The origin of the name is unclear. According to some scholars, the name may have derived from the Latin name ' (airy and sunny) which is from the Greek '. Others believe it comes from the Latin ''africus'' (''ventus''), winds from Africa. Άφρικο (Aphriko) in Greek means deriving from Africa, possibly meaning the South-Westernly wind coming to the region from the
Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the northeastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval m ...
. The village of Africo was inhabitted by
Griko people The Griko people (), also known as Grecanici in Calabria, are an ethnic Greek community of Southern Italy. They are found principally in the regions of Calabria and Apulia (peninsula of Salento). The Griko are believed to be remnants of the once ...
, known as Grecanici in Calabria. The Grecanici are a Greek ethnic and linguistic minority in the Calabria region of Italy, remnants of a population that has resided there since late antiquity. The Grecanic language was lost in Africo during the late 19th century and was replaced by Calabrian. In 1571 Gabriele Barrio writes that in Africo the Sacred Rites were celebrated in Greek and that the population also used Greek in family relationships, together with Italo-Romance languages. At the end of the 18th century, the Greek
Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Chri ...
was still observed there. In the 19th century the inhabitants of Africo abandoned the Greek Rite as well as the Greek language. The dialect of Africo is of the neo-Latin type, but with several words of Greek origin: for example the name of the stream Aposcipo derives from the Greek Απόσχεπος (Apòskepos = "not protected"). However, Africo is not currently part of the Grecanic speaking area. Its inhabitants are called Africesi or Africoti.


Africo Vecchio

The old centre was founded around the 9th century by inhabitants from Delia or Deri. In 1195 the town became a
fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
of the Archbishop of Reggio Calabria granted by the
king of Sicily The monarchs of Sicily ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130 until the "perfect fusion" in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1816. The origins of the Sicilian monarchy lie in the Norman conquest of southern Italy which oc ...
, Henry VI. It remained so until the end of
feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
in Calabria in 1806. An earthquake in 1783, partially destroyed the town, killing six people. Earthquakes in 1905 and 1908 again hit the town. Africo has become the symbol of hunger, floods, wandering and the dispersion of the inhabitants of inland Calabria. In 1931 the Calabrian writer Corrado Alvaro described a famine which had afflicted Africo. In 1946, Umberto Zanotti Bianco published a book on the people of Africo, ''Tra la perduta gente'' (Amongst the lost peoples) describing the dire conditions and hunger. At the time the village could only be reached by a 6/7 hour ride on a mule.Africo, emblema della disperazione
by Tommaso Besozzi, L’Europeo Nr. 12, March 1948
In 1948 the journalist Tommaso Besozzi and photographer
Tino Petrelli Valentino Petrelli (August 6, 1922 – September 8, 2001), better known as Tino, was an Italian photographer, well known for his documentary photography. He covered Italy under fascist rule, the war and reconstruction, as well as the economic boo ...
published a report in the magazine L’Europeo, showing the misery and hunger of the people of Africo.Africo 1948, fra la perduta gente
Biblioteca Pubblica Davoli, 10 February 2023
The article, entitled ''Africo, symbol of disparity'', and the series of documentary photographs produced an outrage from national public opinion which, at the time, was rediscovering the dramatic situation of the " southern question". The inhabitants of Africo left their village from 1949 onwards and moved to new houses built along the Ionian coast, to New Africo.''Food and Fatness in Calabria'', by Vito Teti, in
Social Aspects of Obesity
edited by I. de Garine and Nancy J. Pollock, Routledge, 1995,


Africo Nuovo

On October 15–18, 1951, floods and landslides destroyed the old Africo and the nearby hamlet Casalinuovo. People were evacuated to Bova Marina,
Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...
and Fiumara di Muro. Africo Nuovo has been constructed around away from the old town, on the Ionian coast, near Bianco. The town is home to the
'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a mafia-type organized crime, criminal syndicate originating from the Calabria region of Italy. Gratteri & Nicaso, ''Fratelli di Sangue'', pp. 65–68 This body, also referred to as the Commission in reference to the ...
, a
Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...
-type criminal organisation based in Calabria. Several of the criminal clans are sometimes involved in bloody feuds.Africa Nuovo Journal: On the Toe Of Italy, the Shotgun Settles Old Scores
The New York Times, May 5, 1987


Economy

In Africo Vecchio (Old Africo), the economy of the village was mainly sheep farming, also practiced was the breeding of silkworms, reflecting the Greek origin of the village. In Africo Nuovo (New Africo), the economy is based on agriculture and greenhouses for the cultivation of fruits, the production of cement, and forestry. Tourism is, to date, poorly exploited even though it has enormous potential.


Demographic evolution

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:500 height:300 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:4000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:1000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:200 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1861 text:1861 bar:1871 text:1871 bar:1881 text:1881 bar:1901 text:1901 bar:1911 text:1911 bar:1921 text:1921 bar:1931 text:1931 bar:1936 text:1936 bar:1951 text:1951 bar:1961 text:1961 bar:1971 text:1971 bar:1981 text:1981 bar:1991 text:1991 bar:2001 text:2001 bar:2009 text:2009 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1861 from: 0 till:1346 bar:1871 from: 0 till:1431 bar:1881 from: 0 till:1780 bar:1901 from: 0 till:1812 bar:1911 from: 0 till:1819 bar:1921 from: 0 till:1868 bar:1931 from: 0 till:2008 bar:1936 from: 0 till:2189 bar:1951 from: 0 till:2542 bar:1961 from: 0 till:3304 bar:1971 from: 0 till:3518 bar:1981 from: 0 till:3543 bar:1991 from: 0 till:3223 bar:2001 from: 0 till:3465 bar:2009 from: 0 till:3339 PlotData= bar:1861 at:1346 fontsize:XS text: 1346 shift:(-8,5) bar:1871 at:1431 fontsize:XS text: 1431 shift:(-8,5) bar:1881 at:1780 fontsize:XS text: 1780 shift:(-8,5) bar:1901 at:1812 fontsize:XS text: 1812 shift:(-8,5) bar:1911 at:1819 fontsize:XS text: 1819 shift:(-8,5) bar:1921 at:1868 fontsize:XS text: 1868 shift:(-8,5) bar:1931 at:2008 fontsize:XS text: 2008 shift:(-8,5) bar:1936 at:2189 fontsize:XS text: 2189 shift:(-8,5) bar:1951 at:2542 fontsize:XS text: 2542 shift:(-8,5) bar:1961 at:3304 fontsize:XS text: 3304 shift:(-8,5) bar:1971 at:3518 fontsize:XS text: 3518 shift:(-8,5) bar:1981 at:3543 fontsize:XS text: 3543 shift:(-8,5) bar:1991 at:3223 fontsize:XS text: 3223 shift:(-8,5) bar:2001 at:3465 fontsize:XS text: 3465 shift:(-8,5) bar:2009 at:3339 fontsize:XS text: 3339 shift:(-8,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from ISTAT


Notable people

* Giuseppe Morabito (born 1934), a notorious 'Ndrangheta boss * Rocco Morabito (born 1966), a notorious Italian mobster and the boss of
'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a mafia-type organized crime, criminal syndicate originating from the Calabria region of Italy. Gratteri & Nicaso, ''Fratelli di Sangue'', pp. 65–68 This body, also referred to as the Commission in reference to the ...
in Africo


References


External links


Africo, Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy
- Civil Records 1866 to 1910.
Nella tana del brigante Musolino in mezzo ai picchi dell’Aspromonte
by Paolo Rumiz, La Repubblica / L'Espresso, August 6, 2011 {{Authority control Cities and towns in Calabria Articles which contain graphical timelines