High in the Aspromonte mountains in the toe of Italy’s boot lies the ancient Calabrian village of Bova. Over the last two millennia, a series of invaders and settlers have left their mark on the Aspromonte, including the ancient Greeks – influencing a way of life from farming to language.
Protected by the absence of roads until the mid-20th century, remnants of this Greek culture survive in Bova. The Greco-Calabro language, spoken day-to-day only by local goatherders and the elderly, includes words and phrases from ancient Greek. And for centuries, locals have created “Persephoni” – woven symbols of Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring, to celebrate the season’s arrival and invoke an abundant agricultural year.
Made from olive leaves woven onto canes and decorated with local wildflowers, fruit and goat’s cheese, these figures represent an important ritual to mountain people whose lives have depended on the land for centuries. Gradually, as Christianity was adopted by the Romans, these figures were absorbed into Catholic rituals by these local people.
