Gioiosa Ionica

The name comes from Greek and means sunny land, city of the sun; the addition of Ionica is bureaucratic and recent instead, a royal decree of Victor Emmanuel II of 26 March 1863 meant to tell it apart from Gioiosa Marea, in Sicily. In the valley of the Torbido, which was then partly navigable, between the Greek cities of Caulonia and Locri, stood ancient Mystia; what remains of it is the theatre, still used for performances, and the Naniglio, in an area once called li Bagni. In 986 the Saracens destroyed it, and the few survivors moved a mile inland, onto an inaccessible spur of rock, where they founded Mocta Geliosa: from the sea up to the town they built a chain of towers, one every mile, to signal the enemy's arrival to each other in time.

For centuries the village had no autonomy at all: over it neighbouring Grotteria held territorial, political, administrative, judicial, fiscal and even religious jurisdiction. What is entirely its own, instead, is the way it celebrates San Rocco, three times a year: on 27 January in sober form, for the miracle of the statue's sweating; on 16 August without a procession; and on the last Sunday of August with thousands of people. That is when the ballo di San Rocco takes place, a collective dance to the rhythm of drums, tambourines and button accordions which accompanies the procession from dawn until shortly before sunset, and which on the night before goes round the streets and returns to the sanctuary after midnight.