A visit to an ancestral home – San Giovanni in Fiore (part 3) Museo Demologico dell’Economia, del Lavoro e della storia Sociale

The Museum of Sila Economy, Labor and Social History depicts life in San Giovanni and the surrounding area. It was and is a life of hard work in beautiful but difficult terrain. When emigrants from SGiF arrived in the United States in West Virginia and Central Pennsylvania, they must have felt somewhat at home as the terrain is remarkably similar.

Extractive industries such as mining, quarrying and logging were the heaviest forms of industry in the region.

Agriculture was typically smaller in scale with small plots of land for olives, some feedstock grains and the raising of sheep, hogs and some cattle.

As this region was in ancient times part of “Magna Grecca” (Greater Greece) weaving was a fairly active home based industry in the Sila as shown in the photos below:

Which lead to the creation of some very attractive and intricate weavings.

One of the more interesting items we saw was a baby walker from the late 19th, early 20th century.

Wine making was also important in the region.

A fascinating glimpse of life in Calabria in the early 20th century was in an exhibition of photos by Saverio Marra depicting the life and folklore of Calabrese people from 1914 to 1946. There are over 190 photos so, needless to say, I am going only show a small sample here.

We left the museum and went into the original town center of SGiF

After we enjoyed some delicious gelato at a local shop, Signore Martino parted ways with us but suggested that we go a little further into the Sila to the small town of Lorica near Lago Arvo. We went higher into the mountains and I realized this was a snow area when we passed through an open tunnel which is designed to break an avalanche and not block the road!

The foliage was very nice along our drive

The town of Lorica was picturesque

Lorica is a weekend get away spot in the Sila very popular with folks from both coasts who want to come to the mountains. Well, after a very busy day we drove back to Crotone for a lovely evening of dining on Pizza ala Napoli al fresco with some lovely wine, a grappa nightcap and a good night’s sleep. As I wrap up our trip to San Giovanni in Fiore I do want to thank again Sindaco Rosario Succurro, Signore Martino, and all of the staff at the museum and City hall for making this a truly memorable visit. Good Lord willing, my path may lead back to San Giovanni in Fiore sometime in the future. The final dispatch on Crotone and the open air market will be upcoming. Till then arrivederci!