Papasidero
Encyclopedia
Papasidero is a town and comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in the province of Cosenza
Province of Cosenza
The Province of Cosenza is a province in the Calabria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Cosenza.It has an area of 6,650 km², and a total population of 733,797 . It is the biggest Calabrian Province...

 in the Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

 region of southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It is part of the Pollino National Park
Pollino National Park
The Pollino National Park is a national park in Basilicata and Calabria, southern Italy. Comprised within the provinces of Cosenza, Matera and Potenza, with its 1,820 square kilometres it is the largest natural park in the country...

.

Geography

It lies on a rocky spur 210 metres above sea level. It covers an area of 54 square kilometres and crossed the river and the river Lao S. Nocaio. Is 18 km from the SA-RC & 23 km from mare. Papasidero and nature reserve and is part of the Parco Nazionale del Pollino.

Origin of the name

The name Papasidero derives from the name of am abbot (Papas-Isidoros, father or priest Isidore) head of a monastery in the region mercuriense, home of the Basilian monasticism.

History

The human occupancy in the area since prehistoric times and witnessed by an important archaeological site: the LaGrotta Romito, discovered in 1961. The historic center of the country shows a typical urban mediaval, was made up roughly the XI the 13th century from taking startup Lombard became a fortress castle in age-Sveva Norman (1190–1250) expanded nal period Angioino (1300) and Aragon (from 1400 to 1500).

The church of S. Constantine became a parish in 1510. The place was in possession of the descendants of Norman Alitto of Sanseverino and Spinelli di Scalea appertenne that up to 1806. Since 1593 a Monte di Pietà has operated, set up by Owen Lewis
Owen Lewis (bishop)
Owen Lewis, also known as Lewis Owen was a Welsh Roman Catholic priest, jurist, administrator and diplomat, who became bishop of Cassano.-Early life:...

 (Ludovico Audoeno) who was bishop of Cassano; and starting from the 17th century the Brotherhood of the Assumption. Charles Paolino (1723–1803) humanist, Francesco Mastrot (1777–1847) teacher, and Mary Angelica Mastrot (1851–1891), mystic, were born here.

Main sights

  • The dishabited village of Avena. The Mother Church has a Byzantine fresco from the early 11th century.
  • Grotto of the Romito, 13 km otuside Papasidero, discovered in 1961 and housing pre-historic graffities
  • Sanctuary of Constantinople (17th-18th centuries)

Sanctuary of Constantinople

Of particular interest a Byzantine church dating from the year one thousand Mother Shrine of Constantinople XVII Century was built in the middle of 600 was extended to the end of 700 and in the first half of the 19th century. Has a T plan with three naves, a large fresco depicting the Virgin and Child and a bishop kneeling in the high Archangel Michele that pierces Satan in flames, its execution and took place between 700 and 800.

Romito Cave

The important discovery, which occurred in 1961 in the territory of Papasidero, has shed a light on the extraordinary events of the prehistoric northern Calabria, and showed that it was inhabited by at least 20,000 years ago. The man was Romito of cro-Magnon race, he did not know to keep the cattle and did not know agriculture and processing of ceramics. The cave is divided into two distinct: the real, about twenty metres deep, which goes into the limestone formation with a narrow and dark tunnel and the guard that extends for about 34 metres to the east-west.

For the Neolithic analysis of carbon 14 has since 4470 BC while for the layers of the upper Paleolithic, the oldest dating back so far, dating back to around 16,800 years BC Homo sapiens lived very intensely grotta leaving countless testimonies of its passage through bone and stone tools, in the wonderful graffiti and the remains of their skeletons. The figure of a bull, about 1.20 metres long, is engraved on a boulder of about 2.30 metres in length and angle of 45 °. The design of perfect proportions, is made with stretch safely.

Horns, two side views are projected forward and have a closed profile. Are represented with some care, such as the nostrils, mouth, the eye just mentioned, the ear. Clear in the skin folds of the neck and very accurately describes the slotted foot. Through a segment of the figure in relation to the kidneys. Below the great figure of a bull is cut, much more subtly, another figure of bovine animals to which they are executed only the chest, his head and part of the back. In front of the rock with the bovine animals there is another of about 3.50 metres long, with a linear cut of meaning apparently incomprehensible. The attendance of the Neolithic cave of Romito is documented by the detection of fifty ceramic pieces that reveal the existence of the transit trade of obsidian from the Aeolian Islands. In the cave, visited by many tourists, you can see, the place of their discovery, the reproductions of tomb dated around 9200 years BC, Each containing a pair of individuals arranged in a well-defined ritual.
One of these pairs of burial was found in the cave and two other couples in the shelter, not far from the rock with the figure of the bull. Of these pairs of skeletons, the first is kept in the National Museum of Reggio Calabria, the second is located in the Florentine Museum of Prehistory, together with policies chips (about 300) are examined in the different layers in the shelter and the cave, the third is still subject of study by the Institute of Prehistory of Florence. Recent excavations have unearthed the remains of a fourth burial of even more ancient past, clear evidence of an intense attendance Romito of the shelter by prehistoric man.

The area consists in the Archaeological Park features a small museum with teaching all the essential information.

Lao River

Lao river, is a short but important perennial river in the course of the Tyrrhenian side of Calabria. It takes its name from the town Laos, a city of Magna Grecia.

Over 50 km long, was born in Basilicata from Monte Serra del Prete on Massif Pollino to over 2000 m. share, in the territory of Viggianello (PZ), with the name of Mercure. Here the river has to be the prevailing trend E-W to NE-SW. Came after a few km in area at calabrese centers and Laino Borgo Laino Castello welcomes the waters of the tributaries and Battendiero Jannelli changing the name in Lao. From this point, abundant water throughout the year, enters into a spectacular gorge flowing extremely recessed for several km. Come close to receiving Orsomarso left the river Argentino, its main tributary, and exits from the Ingoli enlarging considerably in their bed, which branches off a mo 'in a variety of delta wings in order to lead in the Tirreno in the town of Scalea.

Although a distinctly torrential variations with very large scale (especially in autumn when it can lead to massive flooding), the Lao clearly distinguishable from the other rivers of the region for its abundant flow of medium (about 10 mc / sec ) and minimum (even in summer hardly drops below 4 m / sec), thanks to the remarkable permeability of a large part of his pelvis, making it the most important watercourse of Calabria Tyrrhenian per volume of water and the most important the minimum region for the summer. Precisely because of these unique characteristics and also for the purity of its waters, the beauty and the length of his Ingoli stretch, the river is a famous popular by fans of rafting and canoeing. The Lao also gives its name to the Riserva Statale Valle del Fiume Lao, established in 1987 within the National Park of Pollino.
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