Calabria

Lore & Background

Calabria's name originally referred to the Adriatic coast of the Salento peninsula in modern Apulia from the third century BCE. Under Emperor Augustus, the name extended to all of Salento, while modern Calabria was known as Bruttium. In the seventh century AD, the Byzantine Empire created the Duchy of Calabria from Salento and the Ionian part of Bruttium; after Lombard conquests, the Byzantines retained the name for their remaining territory in Bruttium. The Greeks originally used 'Italoi' for the native population of modern Calabria, derived from a legendary king of the Oenotri, Italus, and later extended the term to the rest of southern Italy and eventually the entire peninsula.

Reader's Guide

Calabria's significance lies in its role as the cradle of the name 'Italy' and as a core region of Magna Graecia, where Greek colonies flourished from the 8th century BCE. Its Byzantine period, lasting five centuries, preserved Greek culture and made it Europe's leading silk producer. The region's linguistic diversity—with Grecanici, Arbëreshë, and Occitan minorities—makes it a focus for linguists. Geographically, Calabria features three national parks, including Italy's largest, the Pollino National Park, and is known for its crystal clear seas, ancient villages, castles, and archaeological parks. The etymology of its name reflects a complex historical shift from Apulia to its current location, illustrating the region's layered past.

Did You Know?

• Calabria is the birthplace of the name of Italy, given by the Ancient Greeks.
• The region was a Byzantine dominion for five centuries and became the main silk production area in Europe.
• Calabria has three historical ethnolinguistic minorities: Grecanici, Arbëreshë, and Occitans.
• The Pollino National Park in Calabria is the largest national park in Italy.

The Name That Named a Nation

The story of how Calabria gave its name to all of Italy is one of the most remarkable linguistic journeys in European history. Beginning in the third century BCE, the term Calabria was actually applied to the Adriatic coast of the Salento peninsula in what is now Apulia. It was not until the late first century BCE, when Emperor Augustus reorganized Italy into administrative regions, that the name stretched to cover the entire Salento area, creating Regio II Apulia et Calabria. Meanwhile, the land we now call Calabria was still known as Bruttium, named after the Bruttians who inhabited it. The Byzantines, in the seventh century AD, created a Duchy of Calabria from the Salento and the Ionian portion of Bruttium. Even after the Lombards took the Calabrian portion of that duchy in the eighth and ninth centuries, the Byzantines kept using the name for their remaining territory. The Greeks originally used Italoi for the native Calabrian population, a word possibly derived from a legendary king Italus of the Oenotri. Over time, that term expanded to cover the whole southern peninsula, then the entire Italian peninsula, and eventually the Alpine regions as well.

A Landscape of Peaks and Pines

Calabria forms the toe of the Italian Peninsula, a long, narrow strip stretching about 248 kilometres from north to south with a maximum width of just 110 kilometres. The terrain is rugged: mountains claim about 42 percent of the region's area, hills another 49 percent, leaving only a slim 9 percent for plains. Three major ranges define the landscape. The Pollino Mountains in the north act as a natural barrier separating Calabria from the rest of Italy, hosting a rare Bosnian Pine variety and encompassing the Pollino National Park, Italy's largest at nearly 1,926 square kilometres. La Sila, often called the Great Wood of Italy, is a vast plateau sitting around 1,200 metres above sea level, stretching nearly 2,000 square kilometres through the central region. Its highest point, Botte Donato, rises to 1,928 metres. The area is home to some of Italy's tallest trees, the Giants of the Sila, which can tower to 40 metres, and its Sila National Park is reputed to hold the purest air in Europe. At the southern tip, the Aspromonte massif, bordered by sea on three sides, peaks at Montalto, 1,995 metres, and is covered in wide man-made terraces sloping toward the water.

Five Centuries of Byzantine Light

After the Gothic War, Calabria entered a remarkable five-century period under Byzantine rule, during which it fully recovered its Greek character. This era saw the flourishing of cenobitism, as Basilian monks established churches, hermitages, and monasteries throughout the peninsula, dedicating themselves to the careful transcription of texts. The Byzantines also introduced the art of silk production to Calabria, making it the principal silk-producing area in all of Europe. Before this Byzantine chapter, the region had already been the heart of Magna Graecia. Starting in the eighth century BCE, Ancient Greeks settled the coast and founded the first cities as colonies, producing key figures in history such as Pythagoras, Herodotus, and Milo. In Roman times, the territory was incorporated into Regio III Lucania et Bruttii within Augustan Italy. The Norman conquest of the eleventh century then set in motion a slow process of Latinization that gradually reshaped the region's cultural and linguistic identity.

Three Languages, One Peninsula

Few regions in Europe can claim the extraordinary linguistic tapestry that Calabria harbours. The region is home to three distinct historical ethnolinguistic minorities, each preserving a language that stands apart from the surrounding Italian. The Grecanici people speak Calabrian Greek, a living remnant of the region's deep Greek heritage. The Arbëreshë community carries the Albanian language, a distinctive presence in the southern Italian landscape. And in the small town of Guardia Piemontese, a pocket of Occitans maintains its own linguistic heritage. This remarkable concentration of diverse languages in a single peninsula makes Calabria an object of study for linguists from all over the world. The coexistence of Greek, Albanian, and Occitan alongside Italian within a few hundred kilometres of coastline and mountain is a phenomenon that draws scholarly attention and underscores the depth of Calabria's layered history.