CALABRIA

Even though it is best known for its coasts and for beach vacations, Calabria is a prevalently mountainous and hilly region. In its interiors it hosts the Massiccio del Pollino area, Aspromonte and the Sila high plateau, which are protected national and regional park areas.

The tourist reception is a mostly classic one, especially in the coastal lands, even though Calabria has been working to also promote the inland areas as tourist destinations.  As a consequence it is beginning to make headway in the area of rural tourism with antique masserie farmsteads that have been transformed and commercial farms.

DON’T MISS THE FESTIVAL

The rite of the Vattienti in Nocera Terinese (CZ)

In Nocera Terinese, the traditional holy week rituals culminate in the enthralling Rite of the Vattienti that takes place on Holy Saturday. The origin of the ritual of flagellation is enshrouded in mystery in this town. Historic documents attest to the existence of groups of flagellants in various towns in Southern Italy since the fourteenth or fifteenth century. This practice could also derive from the cult of the god of Attis, which was imported to Rome from Phrygia. The god was celebrated on March 24 with “the day of blood”: the head priest would cut his arm offering blood to the god and at that point the other priests would break into a wild dance whipping themselves and cutting themselves with knives. On March 25 the sadness turned into joy for the resurrection of the god. The same rituals with the Christian Easter are really quite shocking.

THE FESTIVAL TODAY. The Ritual of the Vattienti takes place during a procession with the statue of Madonna dell'Addolorata (Our Lady of Suffering). The Vattienti run around the streets of the city with their arms and legs bare, bound by a rope to a companion who portrays Ecce homo. They whip themselves publicly striking themselves violently with a thistle or even a cork with pieces of glass stuck in it. Then they dip a rose in their own blood and paint it across the ribs of Ecce homo. Another companion follows and occasionally wine is poured on the wound to keep it from closing. In front of the Madonna, the sacrificial rite reaches its height: the Vattienti beat themselves furiously until their blood runs at the feet of the statue of Our Lady of Suffering. It is tied to a sad legend which says that the statue was sculpted by a shepherd who was amazed to have been the artifice of such beauty and the statue spoke to him saying: si davèru mi vidie, chiu pietusa e chiu beddha mi facie, after which the shepherd became blind and was no longer able to create a statue so beautiful.

THE WINES IN CALABRIA

The sea in Calabria has always attracted the attention of tourists more than any other resource in this territory. And yet, the sea is not the only part of this area that was the cradle of the so-called Magna Graecia.

To the north, at the border between Campania and Basilicata, rises the savage Massiccio del Pollino mountain range, which offers great hiking paths for pleasant excursions on foot. The wines are definitely worth note: Pollino is a red with a base of Gaglioppo, with an intense and characteristic aroma that is perfect for roast meat and game. San Vito di Luzzi is available in white, rosé and red, and Verbicaro is a particularly fine red for hearty Calabrian specialties.

A little to the south in the Sila and Piccola Sila areas we find a truly  mountainous landscape, with mountaintops that reach 2000 m above sea level. This area also contains wide and varied agricultural productions. Regarding wines, you should be able to find Savuto, a dry wine that is bright red, which reaches its maximum flavour after around 7 years of aging, and Lacrima di Castrovillari, which has a slight hint of nutmeg.
In the province of Catanzaro you can try the Sant’Anna di Isola Capo Rizzuto, a dark ruby red. The Greco rosso is a fine table wine and Cirò red, rosé or white, are all optimum table wines that also age well with a high alcohol level (the Superior red and Reserve reach 13.5 percent and they are superb for accompanying sharp aged cheeses).

Head to the south and you will reach the province of Reggio Calabria. Here there is no adjective that is sufficient to describe the beauty and the variety of the landscape. When visiting this varied and enchanting place you will have a chance to taste wines from the many commercial farms that are located in the hilly zones. You will find Greco di Bianco with amber reflections, which is a great after dinner wine, Bivongi white, rosé and red, Cerasolo di Scilla and Pellaro, a red wine with elevated alcohol content.

THE FLAVOURS OF CALABRIA

With around 90% of the area made up of mountainous terrain and 700 kilometres of coastland, Calabria is rich in contrasts. Though it is a difficult place to live, it is very charming. There are some common elements in basic production of pasta, wine and oil as well as in the arts of storing food. These developed due to the difficult socio-economic conditions in Calabria. The area has above all retained the strong and dry character of a prevalently mountain people that is reflected in the Calabrian food, of which we will provide many interesting examples.

FIRST COURSES. The origins of macco di fave go back to the times of classic antiquity. This soup of dried fava beans, basil and hot pepper is cooked until the legumes form a paste and then it is served with olive oil and pecorino cheese.

With not quite as ancient origins, cappelli dei preti are squares of egg pasta that are folded into small tricorns (the hat worn by priests in past times) giving rise to the name, which literally means priest’s hats. They are boiled and topped with tomato sauce or a meat sauce made from lamb or pork with grated pecorino cheese. Riggidanella is short dry pasta that is boiled and laid in strips in a dish with fried eggplant. It is then covered with besciamella sauce mixed with tomato sauce and baked in the oven. An easier and quicker combination spaghetti alla jonica is made from vegetables that are boiled and topped with a sauce made of olive oil, pork jowl cut into cubes, tomatoes and bell peppers run through a sieve, basil and a dusting of pecorino cheese. Legumes in large quantities including lentils, chick peas, cicerchia (a traditional Italian legume) and beans as well as mushrooms, Savoy cabbage, onion and celery are boiled slowly until they form a dense gravy that is then used to top rigatoni in Millecosedde. To finish, a seafood based first course with spaghetti with squid ragout (or sepia or calamari), is made by braising it in olive oil, garlic, onion, tomato and basil.

SEAFOOD AND MEAT SECOND COURSES Among the second seafood courses, the tonno alla calabrese offers slices of tuna that have been breaded, fried and then braised in a sauce of olive oil, garlic, onion, bacon, parsley, anchovy and tomato. Even dried cod (stoccu in Calabrian dialect) takes on a new flavour with the stoccu ammudicatu, which is boiled and then braised in a pan with hot oil, bread crumbs, capers and oregano.

The meats of the more characteristic dishes are tied to the mountain areas, and they begin with cinghiale d’Aspromonte, in which wild boar is aged for a week before being cooked on a spit, skinless and covered with a paste of garlic, parsley and bay. The tiella alla silana is a stew of pork, porcini mushrooms, potatoes, olive oil, garlic parsley, rosemary and hot pepper. Goat herders are common in the Crotone area and they have given rise to dishes like marro, the offal of kid goats cut into pieces and wrapped in squares of casing made from the goat together with small squares of cheese and bacon to form rolls that are then cooked in a baking dish. An unusual dish is capretto arrosto ripieno di pasta (roasted goat with pasta stuffing – frequently vermicelli pasta) topped with a gravy made from goat entrails of a milk fed goat, which, is flavoured with bay, rosemary and basil.

THE DESSERTS.  Desserts could begin nowhere except with sanguinaccio al cioccolato , which is a cream made from pig blood, milk, bitter chocolate, almonds, cinnamon, raisins and candied citron. It is cooked over a low heat and served with toasted almonds crumbled on top. Another characteristic dish is chocolate filled figs, which are dried in the sun and filled with nuts, cloves and candied citron and then dipped in chocolate aromatized with cinnamon. One of the Christmas treats are zeppole calabresi, which are fritters made from a dough of durum flour, sugar, egg and white wine, that is fried in lard and topped with powdered vanilla sugar.