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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

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:400 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:5000 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 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1861 from: 0 till:1536 bar:1871 from: 0 till:1628 bar:1881 from: 0 till:1767 bar:1901 from: 0 till:2029 bar:1911 from: 0 till:2169 bar:1921 from: 0 till:2288 bar:1931 from: 0 till:2657 bar:1936 from: 0 till:2916 bar:1951 from: 0 till:2728 bar:1961 from: 0 till:4072 bar:1971 from: 0 till:4300 bar:1981 from: 0 till:4400 bar:1991 from: 0 till:4413 bar:2001 from: 0 till:4106 PlotData= bar:1861 at: 1536 fontsize:XS text: 1536 shift:(-8,5) bar:1871 at: 1628 fontsize:XS text: 1628 shift:(-8,5) bar:1881 at: 1767 fontsize:XS text: 1767 shift:(-8,5) bar:1901 at: 2029 fontsize:XS text: 2029 shift:(-8,5) bar:1911 at: 2169 fontsize:XS text: 2169 shift:(-8,5) bar:1921 at: 2288 fontsize:XS text: 2288 shift:(-8,5) bar:1931 at: 2657 fontsize:XS text: 2657 shift:(-8,5) bar:1936 at: 2916 fontsize:XS text: 2916 shift:(-8,5) bar:1951 at: 2728 fontsize:XS text: 2728 shift:(-8,5) bar:1961 at: 4072 fontsize:XS text: 4072 shift:(-8,5) bar:1971 at: 4300 fontsize:XS text: 4300 shift:(-8,5) bar:1981 at: 4400 fontsize:XS text: 4400 shift:(-8,5) bar:1991 at: 4413 fontsize:XS text: 4413 shift:(-8,5) bar:2001 at: 4106 fontsize:XS text: 4106 shift:(-8,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from ISTAT


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