The name comes from the Greek kalyvites, which means «dwellers in a hut», and it is the same word that the patron saint carries in his name, John Calybita. It is no coincidence: the village was born in the ninth century, when a group of Acoemetae monks settled here and dug in the rock a series of caves, which served as a monastery in which to venerate their saint, as a church and also as a water supply for the people who soon came to live around them. In 1003 that monastery took in a boy of twelve, Bartholomew of Rossano, who stayed all the time needed to learn the sacred texts and the discipline of monastic life. The rite was Greek; in 1237 the Benedictines latinised it.
Near the cemetery there remain the traces of a road of Visigothic origin. The fief, on the other hand, changed master continually — Sangineto, Sant'Angelo, Ruffo di Montalto, Guindazzo, Cavaniglia, the Aragonese dukes of Montalto, the Mandatoriccio — to end with the Sambiase, princes of Campana, who held it until 1806. A comune by law from 1811, Caloveto was demoted to a hamlet of Cropalati in 1928 and reconstituted as an autonomous comune in 1934: six years as somebody else's village. In the old centre, besides the square and the ancient church, you go down towards the Pedale to see the cave of San Giovanni; and until a few years ago, on 15 May, the fair «of the bridge» was held, which was a cattle fair made in honour of the patron.
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📅 Every year, on 15 January and 16 July
Caloveto celebrates its patron Saint John Calybites on 15 January and 16 July with a procession through the streets; local dishes include the "sozizza" sausage and "maccarruni a ferretti" pasta.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Caloveto, but an easy day trip away.
