La Calabria, harsh, wild and poignant in its Mediterranean beauty, on which it stands out Belmonte Calabro, which due to some archaeological findings would have been born as a settlement of Magna Graecia, which later became part of a caliphate related to Amantea for a period, today is experiencing a completely new season.
Small, placid and enchanting, perched on a spur of rock a stone's throw from the Mediterranean, this village has about two thousand five hundred inhabitants in the Calabrian hinterland. From a gentle hill, with a mild climate, it lives on the vestiges of the ancient Bellimontum, founded by the Angevins in the second half of the thirteenth century. Unfortunately, this splendid jewel was slowly dying due to the depopulation towards the big cities in search of work and fortune, but a project has completely arrested this decline.
In the heart of Calabria, a project relaunches a village
An innovative relaunch idea changed the fate of this one village, uniting minds, resources, and promoting green building and attracting tourism. This was possible thanks to seven young people who revived the abandoned village, creating a widespread hotel that is attracting many visitors, and without a euro of public funding.
The spark was born from two brothers originally from the area, with whom others have joined by investing their resources, buying semi-dilapidated houses, renovating them using criteria of green building and restoring the place to its ancient splendor. The initial idea took off with the progressive support of other fellow villagers, but also of many guests and tourists who asked to join, offering their work in the most varied ways. From the ten initial members, it has reached sixty-three, managing to obtain the recognition of the national widespread hotel for the village, the first in the region, with thirty rooms. The project is called "to 'praca”, Since the country is located right on a rock. There was no shortage of difficulties, especially for the cadastral reconstruction, to find the heirs, a necessary step to be able to acquire many of the abandoned houses that are now renovated and decorated for the party! Thanks to a great cohesive work, today nine out of ten tourists are foreigners: many from Northern Europe, attracted by the idea of eco holidays.
Calabrian tourism, not only sea
The village, completely pedestrianized, has colored walls, stairways, flowered balconies, gardens, and intersecting alleys. Cars can be left comfortably in two parking lots on opposite sides of the town, and in the center there is a small square as a meeting point, with a bar-restaurant where you can find the real typical local cuisine. You can taste the local giant tomato, native, unique in the world, the pride of Calabria, or the typical spaghetti or bucatini with sheep sauce, bread, giant capers and local cheeses.
The pure air, the hospitable people, the contact with the surrounding nature, an uncontaminated and wild friend at the same time, with a corollary of hills where you can still meet shepherds and farmers who use ancient working methods, constitute the real wealth of this paese. With guided tours you can learn about the ancient methods with which goat cheese is still produced, see how spicy cured meats are seasoned, or the soppressate that can be bought easily.
The number one founder of the "A 'Praca" social enterprise, Giuseppe Suriano, a Belmontese who left the country to work as an accountant in a distant city, is proud of the great success born of that initial spark, because the widespread hotel project "Ecoholidays ”, Is an important reality that attracts tourism even in the low season due to the mild climate, since its location in the hills a stone's throw from the sea makes this village ideal for most of the year. The hotel widespread therefore it acts as a driving force for a small but very important local economy, and some artisan skills that would otherwise be destined to disappear, such as those of those who make small wooden works, processes that have now almost fallen into disuse, would otherwise have completely disappeared and with them a great cultural heritage of the region.