Thursday, May 23 Reggio De Calabria

We began our morning again with breakfast with the lovely Kala, our last, since we will be leaving before breakfast tomorrow.  While we were eating I was blessed to get a video WhatsApp call from Corrado Ciulla and Salvatore DiCarlo from Sicily.  Thy are the leadership of The Way Ministry (my Bible fellowship) work in Italy.  I had let them know we would be in Italy, and they wanted to say hi.  That was such a blessing.  Corrado definitely wanted me to give his love to Donna.  He said it over and over again.  So here is my love from Corrado to Donna.

Then we were also to have our one last day with Domenico.  He arrived at 9:30 a.m. and we took off for the south to Reggio Calabria.  He brought us zeppola (I would call it a cream puff) and coffee soda!

A tunnel?

We drove approximately an hour south to Reggio.  I believe we were on either the A3 or the A2, which is quite an engineering feat.  The road basically follows the Tyrrhenian Sea and has many tunnels and bridges.  There is a mountain range in the south of Italy, and Domenico told me that there you can actually ski there while looking at the sea!  I thought Marcia would like that.  Domenico is a ski instructor in Calabria and France and maybe Spain?  He is a man for all seasons.

Vibo Valentia is where Pizzo is and then Reggio is down at the bottom

After this beautiful drive, can you guess what our first stop in Reggio was for?  Just try.  It's the best in the region.  Yes, for gelato!!  The shop was across the street from the lungomare, which we might compare to a "river walk" only it's on the sea.  It's also translated as a promenade or seafront. It's a long walk way with different sections being cared for by various civic groups.  It's beautiful.  My vocabulary finds it hard to describe some of these sights.

We took our gelato and walked along the lungomare.  From the lungomare, you can walk down a few steps to different restaurants and such.  Looking across the sea, we see Sicily.

The next stop was the Museum of Calabria where the main attraction is the ancient bronze statues that were that were found in the 1970s by a fisherman.  This part of Italy once belonged (?) to Greece and these are two Greek sculptures.

But before entering, right outside the musem was an exhibit by the Science Polizia (I would compare them to forensic scientists or CSI types) called "Fragments of History." This was going on from May 21-26. Per a Google translation from a Web site on the exhibit:  "It is a traveling exhibit showing fragments of the history of Italy through the footprints, images, and inspections of the Scientific Police.  It is a photographic exhibition on the techniques and activities of the scientific police, which tells the highlights of the work of those who are at the forefront of fielding the most advanced technologies for order and public safety. Starting from the beginning of the twentieth century, one of the main activities was to crystallize the crime scene, and here, almost in the same way, the exhibition focuses on documents and photographs to stop the time on some dramatic moments in Italian history: the arrest of Sandro Pertini, the murder of Matteotti, the monster of Florence, the massacres of the mafia and so on."

There is a whole history there that Domenico explained to us, but it will take more reading and Googling on my part for me to understand and explain.  We just "happened" on this exhibit on our way to the statues.

Then came the Bronze statues, the Riaci Bronzes.  Again, Domenico knew so much about them.  (See below for a description.)  They are really marvelous.  We stood/sat and stared at them for close to an hour.

The Riace bronzes, also called the Riace Warriors, are two full-sized Greek bronzes of naked bearded warriors, cast about 460–450 BC that were found in the sea near Riace (a municipality in Reggio Calabria) in 1972. They are two of the few surviving full-size ancient Greek bronzes (which were usually melted down in later times), and as such demonstrate the superb technical craftsmanship and exquisite artistic features that were achieved at this time.

The bronzes are on display inside a microclimate room on top of an anti-seismic Carrara marbled platform. Although the bronzes were rediscovered in 1972, they did not emerge from conservation until 1981. Their public display in Florence and Rome was the cultural event of that year in Italy, providing the cover story for numerous magazines. Now considered one of the symbols of Calabria, the bronzes were commemorated by a pair of Italian postage stamps and have also been widely reproduced.

The two bronze sculptures are simply known as “Statue A,” referring to the one portraying a younger warrior, and “Statue B”, indicating the more mature-looking of the two. Statue A is 198 centimeters tall while Statue B stands 197 centimeters tall (approximately 6.5 feet).

Stefano Mariottini, then a chemist from Rome, chanced upon the bronzes while snorkeling near the end of a vacation at Monasterace on August 16, 1972. While diving some 200 meters (219 yards) from the coast of Riace, at a depth of six to eight meters (20-26 feet), Mariottini noticed the left arm of statue A emerging from the sand. At first he thought he had found a dead human body, but on touching the arm he realized it was a bronze arm. Mariottini began to push the sand away from the rest of statue A. Later, he noticed the presence of another bronze nearby and decided to call the police. One week later, on August 21, statue B was taken out of the water, and two days after that it was the turn of statue A. No associated wreck site has been identified, but in the immediate locality, which is a subsiding coast, architectural remains have also been found.

The bronzes and the story of their discovery were featured in the first episode of the 2005 BBC television documentary series How Art Made the World.  I found this web site that had this episode:  The bronzes are discussed in the last ten minutes or so.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2pztmx

There is indication that Statue A was holding a shield, and Domenico told us that the diver said he found a shield at the same time.  It was part of his original statement, but that was not "recovered."  Here is an article I found on the Bronzes that includes that piece of info.

http://www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com/the-bronzes-of-riace.php

There were lots of other Greek "artifacts" in this museum which were very interesting to look at.  I'm not much of a museum person so I had to keep reminding myself to "stay in the moment" and try to grasp how truly remarkable were the things I was seeing.

After we left the museum, we drove to Scilla.  Miriam (from the silkworm coop) had told us that we would love Scilla.  I later asked Domenica, "Who is Sheila? I don't remember hearing about her."  He told me that Miriam was saying "Scilla."  Oh!  

He parked along a narrow street (they're all narrow streets here)

and we walked to our restaurant for lunch.  It reminded me of one of the restaurants where Marcia and I ate in El Salvador that was so beautiful right on the sea.  From the restaurant we could see all the fishermen out there fishing for swordfish.

Here is a wonderful description of this area on the web site of the woman who arranged our trip for us.  https://mybellavita.com/2016/03/hunting-swordfish-in-chianalea-in-scilla/

Patty's photo of swordfish boat

I could have sat there all day!

antipasto

Patty & Domenico

Nearby houses

Excellent tiramasu

Our waitress took this.  Isn't it lovely?  If I'd had a son, I'd want him to be just like Domenico!!

One of my favorite pictures.  Over lunch Domenico helped me translate the birth certificates of our great grandmother and great aunt and uncle.  At some point, I'll try to share that.  Still have to type it up!

After our leisurely meal, we drove to meet "Sheila" (or Scylla, a goddess in Greek mythology, who made her first appearance in Homer's Odyssey.)

Here's my shirt; it says "Love Your Life"

When we got back to Pizzo, we said a heartfelt goodbye to Domenico that evoked a few tears from me.  Our trip would not have been the same without him.  He is a man of intelligence, kindness, humor, ability.  He thought of us at all times and shared his life, his knowledge, and his views freely.  I mean, c'mon, he arranged a meeting with the mayor of the town our great grandma was born in!! Who does that?  I was so sad to say goodbye.

To ease my "mourning," we walked down to the Pizzo piazza for our final tartufo.  Bur before that, we walked to the end of the piazza overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and watched the sunset, and in this video you will hear the bells of a local church.  (Very close to us was a group of young people just enjoying their evening, obviously not quite as enthralled with the arrivederci majestic moment were were experiencing.😊)

What a perfect ending to our stay here.