The Palermiti Caves: a journey into the bowels of Calabria

If you love cave villages and stories that combine archaeology and nature, you must visit the Palermiti Caves in the province of Catanzaro.

Among the various rock settlements in Calabria, the discovery of the Palermiti Caves, on the Ionian hills overlooking the Gulf of Squillace, sheds new light on the so-called "Cassiodorean places" and the arrival of Greek-Byzantine monks.

Let's venture into these fascinating rock cavities to discover an ancestral world.

It was 2021 when Renzo Peronaci, a lover of archaeology and local history, explored the mountainous area around Palermiti for the first time, discovering the mysterious underground cavities. He was inspired by an old film, the parish priest's theories about the place names that identify the area ('pàlaios erimìtes', meaning 'place of hermitage') and a series of rumours about the presence of 'old shelters' linked to the events of the Second World War and the alleged hideouts of brigands. Searching in the undergrowth, however, the scholar came across a rock site much older than he had believed: the Palermiti Caves are much more than a 20th-century refuge!  

Over the course of a year, from one exploration to the next, the caves multiply to over 50 (and there may be many more!): the interior of each one bears engraved religious symbols, Eastern and Latin crosses, niches, benches and stone altars. All these elements point the discoverer and the scholars who follow him towards ancient Italo-Greek and Byzantine monasticism, i.e. the 6th century, when the first communities of hermits created real settlements and rock-cut places of worship in this area, in the Eastern manner. The most widely accepted interpretation? That the Palermiti Caves are somehow connected to the sites of Cassiodorus and the ancient Vivarium of Squillace.

The Serre Nature Reserve, where the Palermiti Caves are located, is fascinating in many ways and well worth a trek to discover its hidden treasures. In addition to the cave dwellings, a series of architectural remains from the agropastoral life of the past reflect the identity of the place: old mills, wine presses, paths used to gather raw materials and everything related to the history and ancient customs of this part of Calabria.

Palermiti is also linked to the miracle of "Murorotto". Legend has it that in 1720, two farmers saw a mysterious light coming from a painting on an old abandoned wall, depicting the Madonna dressed in red and blue. Since then, the Madonna della Luce, patron saint of Palermiti, has been celebrated every year on 2 July with a small festival, and on the last Sunday in August with a large festival. Today, the fresco is preserved in the Mother Church, which appears to have been built on the exact spot of the miraculous apparition.