San Luca 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 ...
'' (municipality) in the
Province of Reggio Calabria in Italy, located about southwest of
Catanzaro and about east of
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 ...
. The town is situated on the eastern slopes of the
Aspromonte mountains and in the valley of the
Bonamico river. The village has long been known as a stronghold of 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, with an ongoing clan based power struggle dubbed the
San Luca feud.
The
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi is located from San Luca. It has long been the 'Ndrangheta's meeting place.
History
San Luca was founded on October 18, 1592, by Prince Sigismund Loffredo and named after Saint
Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist was one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of the canonical gospels. The Early Church Fathers ascribed to him authorship of both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Prominent figu ...
, who became the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of the town. It was populated by refugees from the old town of Potamia, which was destroyed by landslides.
[Storia]
, Fondazione Corrado Alvaro San Luca became a ''comune'' in 1811, and was hit by floods and landslides in 1951, 1953, and December 1972.
Journalist and author
Corrado Alvaro grew up in San Luca in the early 1900s, a time when illiteracy was near 100 percent and the town had no drinking water. The women went to fetch water with the casks on their heads at a well nearby. The town was fairly isolated; there was no road to the coast and the only way was on foot. Many inhabitants joined the
Italian diaspora
The Italian diaspora (, ) is the large-scale emigration of Italians from Italy.
There were two major Italian diasporas in Italian history. The first diaspora began around 1880, two decades after the Risorgimento, Unification of Italy, and ended ...
to escape the extreme poverty.
[Il paese di Alvaro]
Fondazione Corrado Alvaro
Stronghold of the 'Ndrangheta
San Luca is considered to be the stronghold of 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. According to a former '' 'ndranghetista'', "almost all the male inhabitants belong to the 'Ndrangheta, and the
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi has long been the meeting place of the affiliates, known as the
Crimine."
[Paoli. ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', p. 29] At least since the 1950s, the chiefs of the 'Ndrangheta ''
locali'' have met regularly near the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi during the September Feast. In 1969 the police raided a meeting near the sanctuary and captured more than 70 '' 'ndranghetisti'', while others managed to escape.
[Paoli. ''Mafia Brotherhoods'', p. 59]
The historical preeminence of the San Luca family is such that every new group or ''locale'' must obtain its authorization to operate and every group belonging to the 'Ndrangheta "has to deposit a small percentage of illicit proceeds to the ''principale'' of San Luca in recognition of the latter’s primordial supremacy." San Luca, in the words of a study published in 2005 by Italy's domestic intelligence service, is "the cradle of
he 'Ndranghetaand its epicentre".
In 1991, the
San Luca feud, a war between the
Pelle-Vottari-Romeo and
Strangio-Nirta clans began and resulted in several deaths. It carried into Germany in August 2007 when six Italian men were shot to death in front of an Italian restaurant in
Duisburg
Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...
.
In May 2023, the Italian police made numerous arrests in San Luca as part of an international razzia against the 'Ndrangheta.
Demographic evolution
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Notable people
*
Corrado Alvaro (1895–1956), journalist and writer, born in San Luca in 1895. His hand-written notes and other personal belongings are now kept in the house where he was born by the Corrado Alvaro Foundation.
[San Luca: the story and traditions]
, Movimento Donne San Luca e della Locride
*
Antonio Pelle (1932–2009), also known as Ntoni Gambazza, a historically significant 'Ndrangheta boss
*
Antonio Nirta (1919–2015), a historically significant 'Ndrangheta boss
References
External links
All In The Famiglia: Cracking omertà in Calabria by Bruce Livesey,'' The Walrus Magazine'', May 2008.
*
{{Authority control
Cities and towns in Calabria
History of the 'Ndrangheta