4/25: Explore Archeology Museum, Visit Pentedatillo

 On the way to our first stop,  the Archeology Museum, we encountered a rally before the start of a foot race. Today is a national holiday in Italy, marking the announcement in the papers that fascism was over. There is another national holiday on May 1, so many people take the whole time off. Entry to the museum was free and we were smart to get there early. Even so, we had to adjust with competing tour groups looking at the same things. When we left around 11 or so, there was a long line of students waiting to get in. 

Much of the focus today was on the Greek heritage of this area. When Greece became overpopulated, the  land immediately to the west was this part of Italy with relatively open areas. Albanians also came. Even today there are villages where Greek and ancient Albanian are commonly spoken. 

Cave etching of an aurochs (ancient bull) that was a
totem for the inhabitants.

A woman and a smaller male were found buried together
with the woman's arm around the male, possibly mother
and son.

A collection of stone and bone tool heads with an
example of how they might have been used in the
upper left corner.

Fragment of a statue.

Drawing of what the fragment probably looked like

Typical clothing and adorments of the people.

Clay roof showing lions that functioned as drainage

 

Map showing the path of Greek emigration

Clay status of a knight on horseback supported by a
griffin. The statue is probably 4 feet or more wide.

Life sized representation of Castor and Pollox. The white
portions are reconstructions.

 

Ancient nutcracker!

 

 A primary focus of our visit were the Bronzes of Riace. Few bronze statues have survived as most of them were later melted down to make weapons. These are two of 5 that have been found in the sea. In 1972,  SCUBA divers found the two here about 650 feet from shore in 26 feet of water. We saw another of the 5 when we visited Sicily in 2017. There is no way of knowing who these statues represented, but our guide called them warriors.

Head detail of the upper statue

After our visit, Annunziata got us each a scoop of bergamot gelatto. Then we walked down to the promenade overlooking the Strait of Messina. 

Gelato selection

Sundial with 3 different faces.

The wire towers are an art installation not the frame work
for future actual pillars as I initially thought

View across the Strait of Messina to Sicily

Modern amphitheater in the Greek Style

I joined another couple for lunch at Annunziata's recommendation for authentic Neopolitan pizza. There was no option for a slice, so I thought I would store the leftovers in the mini fridge for a breakfast or two. The crust was VERY thin and  light, and I easily ate half without feeling stuffed. Then I decided to eat the rest of the best stuff (artichokes and ham) and forget the rest.

After another hour or so, we left for a tour and dinner at Pentedatillo, which means five fingers, and is based on the look of the rocky hills. It was described as a ghost town with only 5 residents, but it looks like it is trying hard to rejuvenate. A lot of towns along the coast are known as double towns. When the Arabs and Saracens started to attack, the coastal dwellers moved to the nearby hills for safety and thrived there, but often maintained connections with the remainder of the sea side towns. In some cases, the towns share a mayor. There were throngs of people there for the holiday and it didn't seem very ghostly. We took a short but steep and gravely path to the top where the castle used to be. I was glad for my hiking poles, especially coming down.

The 5 fingered rock the town is named for

This water area (laundry on left, potable on right) was a
primary meet-up spot for kids who would tell their parents
they would help with laundry or water collection. Reminded
me of the bar where I went to college called Andy's Library.

The home of a resident with 37 cats. He is a character
named Georgio who introduces himself as George
Washington or George Clooney. He has a souvenir shop
that has lots of awful paintings.

A late 18th century painting of the castle and village. The
300 room castle was ruined in a devastating 1783 earthquake

The light colored area was the back of the castle chapel

The arch on the left  led to some of the castle rooms

View from the castle

The original family had to sell when they couldn't pay the
taxes and the second family ran into similar problems.
There is also a convoluted legend about some of the
residents and a nefarious marriage scheme that was outed
by a jealous servant. It led to every one in the castle being
murdered and the red in the stone here is supposed to be
indicative of their bloodshed.

Bergamot

In the small world category, I discovered two connections to Milwaukee. We were walking past a home with an upper door open and Annunziata called up to the lady to ask if she lived there (nope - owns, only visits) and the owner invited us up. We learned that her son was a high school exchange student in Milwaukee and went to college at UC Berkeley. I said I used to live in Milwaukee and our guide said she had relatives in Milwaukee too. 

Notice the step and door position. This
is the room we visited in.

We went to dinner at the home of one of the remaining residents who was quite interesting and spoke reasonably good English. After we finished eating, she joined us. She had been a postal employee until meeting her husband and moving to Pentedatillo where she became a shepardess to 90 goats. She makes her own cheese and raises the veggies she served us. Even with a reduced herd of 13 goats, she needed help and hired an African migrant as she is no longer young. We had a nice discussion of the challenge in southern Italy with the continuous arrival of migrants and the tragedy of the frequent drownings. 

The rooftop dining area of our hostess. Fortunately, she
also has an inside dining room we used due to the chill.
She sometimes gets interns and the open roof structure
was built by a Japanese student.

We got back to the hotel around 9 and I pretty much cratered.