Discovering Templar sites in Calabria

Our tour following in the footsteps of the Knights Templar in Calabria starts from a village in the province of Cosenza that was an important Longobard and Norman outpost in the Middle Ages: Malvito, nestled in the Esaro Valley. What does this village have to do with the Knights Templar? It seems that under Robert of Altavilla (known as Guiscard) and especially under his son, Bohemond, Prince of Antioch and leader of the First Crusade, the site of Malvetum and its imposing Lombard-Norman Castle were a training centre for Calabrian knights leaving for the East. At least this is what has been assumed following an extraordinary archaeological discovery in Pauciuri, where a monumental tomb was found within a larger necropolis, containing a Templar Cross attributable to Bohemond, also known as the 'Prince-Monk'.

From Malvito to San Marco Argentano, it is only a short distance to another precious artefact that bears witness to the presence of the Knights Templar in Calabria: a silver-gilt reliquary cross, kept at the Diocesan Museum of the Church of San Giovanni degli Amalfitani. The link between the latter and the Order of St. John of Jerusalem is evident, as are other elements that can be appreciated by visiting the historic centre and its beauties, starting with the Norman Tower. Also known as the Tower of Drogone, named after the half-brother of Robert Guiscard, who chose it as a political and military outpost. In this same tower, Emperor Frederick II of Swabia imprisoned his rebellious son, Henry VII, known as "the Lame", for seven years. It seems that the building is connected to the Abbey of S. Maria della Matina (where the Templars' reliquary cross comes from) by a secret passage. Another emblematic monument is the Fountain of Sikelgaita, the mother princess of Bohemond, who is portrayed on the pediment.

The Federician Castle of Roseto Capo Spulico is another important link between the places associated with Frederick II and the Templars in Calabria. We are still in the province of Cosenza, but this time on the Ionian coast, along the Costa degli Achei. The castle is the subject of fascinating legends and stories, although not all of them have been proven from a historical and documentary point of view. It stands on the ruins of an ancient sacred building, erected in the 16th century by the Normans to defend the coast and passed, in 1229, into the ownership of Emperor Frederick of Swabia, who seems to have requisitioned it from the Order of the Knights Templar. Was this retaliation for their betrayal during the Sixth Crusade? Legend has it that the castle of Roseto was even the hiding place of the Holy Grail. Whether this is true or not, the place retains its magic, starting with its trapezoidal layout (a reference to the Temple of Jerusalem?) and the nearby place names that recall the River Jordan (Montegiordano, a neighbouring village) and the Knights of King Arthur (Piano d'Orlando).

The growing interest in the presence of the Knights Templar in Calabria has led to an important conference dedicated to the subject in Cirò Marina, a town on the Costa dei Saraceni in the province of Crotone. This is the headquarters of the Academy of the Templars, the first cultural association in Italy dedicated to exploring and promoting the subject through special events in the area. What is the link between Cirò Marina and the Templars in Calabria? There are various hypotheses, all of which take us back in time: let us not forget that, in ancient times, Cirò Marina was the ancient Magna Graecian city of Krimisa, the remains of which can be seen at the Archaeological Area of the Temple of Apollo Aleo, on the promontory of Punta Alice, and the Civic Archaeological Museum. While today this area is famous throughout the world for its prized Cirò DOP wine, at the time it was famous for the mystery cults linked to Demeter, goddess of rebirth. This is a good reason for fascination, especially when we consider one of the typical symbols of the goddess: the Cross of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

The tour following in the footsteps of the Knights Templar in Calabria continues in the province of Crotone, towards the ancient Byzantine "kastron" of Santa Severina, one of Italy's Most Beautiful Villages. Here, on the site where the Medieval Castle dominates the village, the history of the Order is intertwined with that of the territory. In the rooms and underground chambers of the castle, also known as the Stone Ship and built on the ruins of ancient Siberene, the Archaeological Museum displays weapons, armour, period clothing and an evocative Torture Chamber with original instruments of torture. But the real place where the legends of the Templars in Calabria linger is the famous Baptistery of Santa Severina, a jewel of Byzantine architecture. According to some documents of the time, the baptistery belonged for a period to the Knights Templar, at least until Pope Clement V suppressed the Order on charges of heresy.

The next stop on our itinerary following in the footsteps of the Knights Templar in Calabria takes us to the village of Belcastro, in the province of Catanzaro. Today, this delightful village in the Silan area is known as the "Fairytale Village" because of its murals, but in the past, when it was still called Genicocastro, its fame was linked to the presence of the Castle of the Counts of Aquino (the family of St. Thomas) and the well-documented presence of the Knights Hospitaller. The fertile hills between the Umbro and Nasari streams belonged to them, at least until the second half of the 13th century, when the ancient farmhouses were dedicated to St. John and St. Martin. In the 14th century, their grouping gave rise to an extensive grange (a large agricultural estate) at the foot of Belcastro, whose name today indicates the locality of Allegranza.

Much more than a legend is the presence of the Knights Templar in Calabria in the town of Rocca Angitola, between the municipalities of Maierato and Monterosso Calabro, on the shores of the WWF Oasis "Lake Angitola", in the province of Vibo Valentia. Although no tangible traces of the Order's presence in this area have survived, a walk among the medieval ruins of the ancient Rocca Angitola (or Rocca Niceforo) is enough to fuel beliefs about their passage, especially since the site was strategically located along the Via Popilia and coincided with the Phocaean city of Crissa, which in the Middle Ages was surrounded by walls and high towers and was home to more than a thousand people. Today, among the ruins, you can find the remains of the Castle and the Church of San Nicola, which some local scholars identify as a stopping place for the Templars in Calabria.

Not far from Rocca Angitola, confirming the hypotheses linking it to the knights, the episcopal city of Mileto is mentioned in an important written document relating to the presence of the Templars in Calabria: it is a deed of donation dated May 1210, which certifies the concession of the Estate of Santa Barbara in Mileto to Guglielmo d'Altavilla of Sicily, who, among other positions, also held that of Master of the Sicilian Templars, testifying to the existence of the Order's possessions and activities in this area of the Vibo Valentia province. Moreover, the centrality of Mileto as the "Norman Capital" and birthplace of the first Norman king of Sicily, Roger II, speaks volumes about the power relations between politics and the Church in the two regions during the Middle Ages.

The Templars' itinerary in Calabria ends in the province of Reggio Calabria, in the town of Seminara. Known for its wonderful artistic ceramics, which make it the "City of Ceramics", Seminara is mentioned in another authentic document relating to the Order, dated March 1273. A notary named Nicola da Seminara drew up a very special deed, which states that:

"Lieutenant Adymaro, Preceptor of the Houses of the Militia of the Temple of Jerusalem and of the Great House in the Kingdom of Sicily, forgives certain men for the damage they caused to the Great House, provided that they refrain from causing further damage in the future."

It is not known what "damage" the deed refers to. What is certain is that there is a documented link between Seminara and the Templar House of Jerusalem and that, in the Church of St Michael the Archangel, there is a monogram sacred to the Templars that also appears in other places around the world: the letter M surmounted by an A (or inverted V) and the letter R at the end.