What's in a Name?

Posted by: Paolo   Last updated: May 2, 2007

Some of you may have noticed that our blog page handle is “casacalitri”. Hard to spell and hard to get right when you attempt to access this yahoo page, huh?

But there is reason behind it ...

It stands for Casa Calitri and refers to a town in Campania called Calitri. There are about 6000 inhabitants in Calitri and we can claim to be a couple of them, that is, on those occasions when we can get over there.

First, a little ancient history (the test will be later):

In the first century AD, in a 37 book masterpiece, Historia Naturalis, considered the pinnacle of ancient encyclopedias, the author, Roman Pliny the Elder (23AD - 79AD) listed the Aletrini together with all the subjects of the Roman Empire in Book III. In this extensive work, the community is referred to as Aletrium. Aletrium was an ancient, important commercial center at the time of the Roman Empire. Much later the name was changed into Caletrum and finally Calitri. During the 11th century it was ruled by the Count of Conza, then for 3 centuries it was under the Gesualdo family. In 1636, Francesco Mirelli bought the fiefdom. Unfortunately on Sept 8, 1694, a ruinous earthquake destroyed a great part of Calitri, including the old castle, killing over 300 people. Nowadays it is renowned for its artistic ceramics.

(Mostly from http://www.italyworldclub.com/campania/avellino/calitri.htm)

We doubt if a future Pliny will be writing about us but we like it there. Its character, people and atmosphere are inviting for anyone looking to get off the “big three” (Roma, Firenze and Venezia) circuit and finding their personal corner of Italy, little changed from the past. In fact, we live in the medieval “borgo” there that runs down one side of the mountain from which Calitri commands the countryside. The views to the east reveal the beginnings of Basilicata, which puts us just about smack dab in the center of the peninsula called Italy and on the far right side of Campania. It’s one of those places where the streets are so narrow that cars can’t navigate them and stairways and alleys serve to connect the streets (one above the other), which run parallel to each other and sit sort of terrace-like as they spill down the mountainside.

Attached is a snapshot of Antico Borgo Calitri (the more modern part is on the other side of the mountain). Our little place is in there but more about that on another day.

Paolo