The abandoned village at the foot of a hand-shaped rock
In the hinterland of Melito di Porto Salvo, in the far south of Calabria, a few kilometres from the sea, one of the most evocative and mysterious sights of southern Italy appears: the abandoned village of Pentedattilo, built at the foot of a huge rock of reddish sandstone, whose peaks, eroded by wind and rain, look like the five fingers of a giant hand raised towards the sky, from which the name derives, from the Greek "pente daktylos", five fingers. The stone houses, many of them in ruins, cling to the base of the rock, among cacti, agaves and wild plants, in a landscape of great beauty.
The village is linked to a bloody legend, the "Strage degli Alberti": on Easter night of 1686, Baron Bernardino Abenavoli, lord of a nearby village, in love with Antonietta Alberti, daughter of the marquis of Pentedattilo, who had been promised to another, entered the castle with his men and massacred the family, kidnapping the young woman; according to legend, the rock is the hand of the murderer, and on stormy nights the screams of the victims can still be heard. After the earthquake of 1783, the village began to be abandoned, and in the 1960s the last inhabitants moved to the new village below. In recent years, associations and young people have brought it back to life, restoring some houses, opening craft workshops and organising the Pentedattilo Film Festival, an international short film festival. Walking through its silent lanes is an unforgettable experience.
Tip: visit at sunset, when the rock glows red; wear comfortable shoes, as the paths among the ruins are uneven.
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