The traces of Magna Graecia and the subsequent Byzantine stratifications require different reading times. In the Aspromonte hinterland, the worked stone, the remains of settlements, and the masonry do not tell a single or continuous story: they show adaptations, reuses, and forms of territorial garrisoning. The rupestrian settlements respond to the morphology; the defensive structures interpret its access points and vistas. This dossier proposes a reconnaissance of the relationships between site, matter, and permanence, always distinguishing what is documented from what is interpretation.
The Bovesia and the valleys of the fiumare offer a field of research for rupestrian evidence and the Greek-Byzantine cult tradition. The Cattolica of Stilo is a monumental Calabrian comparison, not evidence of the Aspromonte hinterland nor dating proof for other sites. Before attributing a structure or a painting to a specific era or community, catalog records and studies referring to the individual site are required.
Research note: verify the censuses of the rupestrian sites of the Bovesia, the records related to the mentioned places, and the institutional bibliography on the Cattolica of Stilo; insert precise references before publication.
The following images are interpretive elaborations; they do not document identified artifacts or sites.
