Tropea

Still going South I hurry through bandit country. Well, that's what everybody told me but I had no problems with the Calabrese who were friendly, hospitable and waiting to join their relos in Melbourne. As a young guy and his sister told me, there is nothing for them in this part of Italy.
Perhaps it is Stromboli always lurking on the horizon that casts a shadow: what's the point of doing anything if we are just going to be blown up? In fact, it is dormant, unlike Vesuvious which could go at any minute.
But it is impossible to escape the incredible filth. Check out the dead cat.
People blame the 'Ndràngheta, one of the largest criminal organisations in the world, for the corruption and incompetent politicians. Undoubtedly they have had a detrimental effect, skimming public contracts and buying politicians, not to mention "owning" the container port ( see all the cranes.)
But it seems to me that the people themselves are also to blame: they could start by putting their waste in a bag instead of chucking it out of their car window.
They also blame the Arbëreshë, an Albanian ethnolinguistic group scattered in the mountains. They descend from Tosk Albanian refugees, who fled from Albania between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries in consequence of the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans. But they have always been too isolated to cause a problem. I'll have to find them on my way to Bari in the Spring!
I took a shot of Reggio Calabria from Sicily, and this is as close as one would want to go.Read more