Grotteria

Grotteria has 3,274 inhabitants in the Torbido valley, in the Locride. Its name has been argued over for centuries: in thirteenth-century documents, written in Greek, the place is Agriotèra, and some derive it from the Greek krupterìa, the hiding place. But the finest explanation is another one, and it calls in the Latin crypta aurea, the "golden cave": near the village there was indeed a mine from which minerals were taken, gold and silver among them. A town that may carry the name of its own mine.

It should also be remembered that Grotteria used to be the capital. In 1458 it stood at the head of a county with thirty-two casali under it, among them Siderno, Gioiosa Jonica, Mammola and Martone, and in 1507 its jurisdiction reached its greatest extent; today those are towns and Grotteria is a village of three thousand people. In the course of its history it came to have twenty-three places of worship: seven are left, and of the others only the names. And there is one date that is not an earthquake, which is rare in these parts: in November 1855 a tremendous storm destroyed the houses and flooded the fields, leaving many families in poverty.