Griko people


The Griko people, also known as Grecanici in Calabria, are an ethnic Greek community of Southern Italy. They are found principally in regions of Calabria and Apulia. The Griko are believed to be remnants of the once large Ancient and Medieval Greek communities of southern Italy, although there is dispute among scholars as to whether the Griko community is directly descended from Ancient Greeks or from more recent medieval migrations during the Byzantine domination. Greek people have been living in Southern Italy for millennia, initially arriving in Southern Italy in numerous waves of migrations, from the ancient Greek colonisation of Southern Italy and Sicily in the 8th century BC through to the Byzantine Greek migrations of the 15th century caused by the Ottoman conquest. In the Middle Ages, Greek regional communities were reduced to isolated enclaves. Although most Greek inhabitants of Southern Italy have become entirely Italianized over the centuries, the Griko community has been able to preserve their original Greek identity, heritage, language and distinct culture, although exposure to mass media has progressively eroded their culture and language.
The Griko people traditionally spoke Italiot Greek, which is a form of the Greek language. In recent years, the number of Griko who speak the Griko language has been greatly reduced; the younger Griko have rapidly shifted to Italian. Today, the Griko are Catholics.

Name

The name Griko derives from the traditional name for Greeks on the Italian peninsula, it is believed to derive from the Graecians, an ancient Hellenic tribe which according to legend took their name from Graecus. They were one of the first Greek tribes to colonize Italy. The area that came to be known as Magna Graecia took its name after them. The Latins used this term in reference to all Hellenic people because the first Hellenes they came into contact with were the Graecians, hence the name Greeks. Another opinion is that the ethnonym Γρῆκος/-α does not derive linguistically from either Latin Graecus or Greek Graikos; it may have been the term their ancient Italic neighbors used for local Greek speakers in pre-Roman times, although this is only one linguistic hypothesis among many.

Distribution

The Greek-speaking territory of Bovesia lies in very mountainous terrain and is not easily accessible. In recent times, many descendants of the early inhabitants of the area have left the mountains to set up home by the coast. The Griko-speakers of Calabria live in the villages of Bova Superiore, Bova Marina, Roccaforte del Greco, Condofuri, Palizzi, Gallicianò and Mélito di Porto Salvo. In 1999 the Italian Parliament extended the historical Griko territories by Act 482 to include the towns of Palizzi, San Lorenzo, Staiti, Samo, Montebello Jonico, Bagaladi, Motta San Giovanni, Brancaleone and parts of Reggio. In the Grecia Salentina region of Apulia, the Griko-speakers are to be found in the villages of Calimera, Martignano, Martano, Sternatia, Zollino, Corigliano d'Otranto, Soleto, Melpignano and Castrignano dei Greci, although Grico seems to be disappearing from Martignano, Soleto and Melpignano. Towns populated by the Griko people outside the Bovesia and Grecia Salentina regions have almost entirely lost the knowledge of their Griko language; this occurred largely in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Some towns that have lost the knowledge of the Griko tongue include the cities of Cardeto, Montebello, San Pantaleone and Santa Caterina in Calabria. At the beginning of the nineteenth century today's nine Greek-speaking cities of the Grecía Salentina area along with Sogliano Cavour, Cursi, Cannole and Cutrofiano formed part of the Decatría Choría the thirteen cities of Terra d'Otranto who preserved the Greek language and traditions. At a more remote period Greek was also spoken by a prevalent Greek population in Galatina, Galatone, Gallipoli and many other localities of Apulia, and at Catanzaro and Cosenza in Calabria.

Villages in Italy

The Griko villages usually have two names, an Italian one as well as a native Griko name by which villagers refer to the town. The Griko villages are typically divided into small "islands" in the areas of southern Italy:
By Law no. 482 of 1999, the Italian parliament recognized the Griko communities of Reggio Calabria and Salento as a Greek ethnic and linguistic minority. This states that the Republic protects the language and culture of its Albanian, Catalan, Germanic, Greek, Slovene, and Croat populations, and of those who speak French, Provençal, Friulian, Ladin, Occitan, and Sardinian.

History

Early migrations

The first Greek contacts with Italy are attested since prehistoric period, when Mycenaean Greeks established settlements in Central and Southern Italy and Sicily. In ancient times the Italian Peninsula south of Naples including the coasts of Calabria, Lucania, Apulia, Campania and Sicily were colonized by the Ancient Greeks beginning in the 8th century BC. The Greek settlements were so densely collected there that during the Classical period the region came to be called Magna Graecia. Greeks continued to migrate to these regions in many waves from antiquity until as late as the Byzantine migrations of the 15th century.

Later migrations

During the Early Middle Ages, following the disastrous Gothic War, new waves of Greeks came to Magna Graecia from Greece and Asia Minor, as Southern Italy remained loosely governed by the Byzantine Empire. The iconoclast emperor Leo III appropriated lands in southern Italy that had been granted to the Papacy, and the Eastern Emperor loosely governed the area until the advent of the Lombards; then, in the form of the Catapanate of Italy, they were superseded by the Normans. Moreover, the Byzantines would have found in Southern Italy people of common cultural roots, the Greek-speaking eredi ellenofoni of Magna Graecia. The Greek language never died out entirely in southern Italy, although the area in which it was spoken was significantly reduced by the progression of Latin. Records of Magna Graecia being predominantly Greek-speaking, date as late as the eleventh century .
Around the end of the Middle Ages, large parts of Calabria, Lucania, Apulia, and Sicily continued to speak Greek as their mother tongue. During the 13th century a French chronicler passing through the whole of Calabria stated that “the peasants of Calabria spoke nothing but Greek”. In 1368 the Italian scholar Petrarch recommended a stay in Calabria to a student who needed to improve his knowledge of Greek. The Griko people were the dominant population element of some regions of Calabria and the Salento until the 16th century. a Greek native to Apulia. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a slow process of Catholicization and Latinization of the Greek populations of southern Italy and Sicily would reduce the Greek language and culture further. Antonio de Ferraris, a Greek born in Galatone in 1444, observed how the inhabitants of Kallipoli as still conversing in their original Greek mother tongue, he indicated that the Greek classical tradition had remained alive in this region of Italy and that the population is probably of Lacedaemonian stock. The Greek of Southern Italy, although greatly reduced, remained active in isolated enclaves in Calabria and Puglia. Even after the Middle Ages there were sporadic migrations from mainland Greece. Thus, considerable numbers of refugees entered the region in the 16th and 17th centuries. This happened in reaction to the conquest of the Peloponnese by the Ottomans.
During the 20th century the use of the Griko language was considered, even by many of the Griko themselves, as a symbol of backwardness and an obstacle to their progress, parents would discourage their children from speaking the dialect and students who were caught talking Griko in class were chastised. For many years the Griko of Calabria and Apulia have been forgotten. Even in Greece, Greeks were unaware of their existence.

Griko national awakening

The Griko national awakening began in Grecia Salentina through the labors of Vito Domenico Palumbo, a Griko native of the town of Calimera. Palumbo embarked on to re-establishing cultural contacts with mainland Greece. He studied the folklore, mythology, tales and popular songs of the Griko of Magna Graecia. The revival of attention is also due to the pioneering work of the German linguist and philologist Gerhard Rohlfs, who contributed much to the documentation and preservation of the Griko language. Professor Ernesto Aprile of Calimera viewed his community support for preservation and growth of Griko poetry, history, and performance as a civic responsibility until his death in 2008, and published multiple monographs on the subject for local and national dissemination, acting as recognized—but unofficial—ambassador to visitors and dignitaries to Calimera and the sea-side sections of Melendugno nearby.

Culture

Music

The Griko have a rich folklore and oral tradition. Griko songs, music and poetry are popular in Italy and Greece and famous music groups from Salento include Ghetonia and Aramirè. Also, influential Greek artists such as George Dalaras, Dionysis Savvopoulos, Marinella, Haris Alexiou and Maria Farantouri have performed in the Griko language. Every summer in Melpignano, a small town of Salento, there is the famous Notte della Taranta festival, it is attended by thousands of young people dancing all night to the tune of Pizzica and Griko Salentino dialect. An increased exposure to mass media has increasingly eroded the Griko culture and language.
Other music groups of Griko music include, from Salento: Agrikò, Argalìo, Arakne Mediterranea, Astèria, Atanathon, Avleddha, Briganti di Terra d'Otranto, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Officina Zoè, Ghetonia; from Calabria: Astaki, Nistanimera, Stella del Sud, Ta scipòvlita; and from Greece: Encardia. Encardia was the subject of a documentary film called “Encardia, the Dancing Stone,” inspired by and celebrating the music of the Griko people.

Language

The Griko's ancestral mother-tongue forms two distinctive Greek dialects, which are collectively known as Katoitaliotika, Grecanika and/or Griko language, both mutually intelligible to some extent with Standard Modern Greek. The Griko people in Apulia speak the Griko dialect, as opposed to the Calabrian dialect spoken in Calabria. These dialects, survived far into the Middle Ages and even into these days, preserve features, sounds, grammar and vocabulary of Ancient Greek, spoken in Magna Graecia by the ancient Greek colonists, Koine Greek and medieval Byzantine Greek.
The Griko language is classified as severely endangered, as the number of speakers has diminished in recent decades due to language shift to Italian. Today it is roughly spoken by 20,000 predominantly elderly people, while the youngest speakers tend to be over thirty years old and only a few child speakers exist. The Griko language and the local romance languages heavily influenced each other throughout centuries.
The Ndrangheta which is the name of the Calabrian Mafia is a word of Calabrian Greek origin: andragathía, composed by "agathia" and "andròs".
The Italian government does little to protect the progressively eroding language and culture of the Griko people despite Article 6 of the Italian Constitution which authorizes the preservation of ethnic minorities. The use of the Italian language is compulsory in public schools, the Griko language, on the other hand, is not taught to Griko youth at all.

Religion

Before the East-West Schism, the Grikos were Catholics who adhered to the Byzantine Rite. Some Greeks of Southern Italy managed to rise to positions of power in the Church, like Pope John VII and Antipope John XVI. In the 11th century the Normans overran southern Italy, and soon Bari, the last Byzantine outpost, fell to them. They began a process of Latinization. The Greek clergy eventually adopted Latin for the Mass, although Greek resistance to the Latin rite was prolonged in Calabria. Latin prelates were not established at Cosenza, Bisignano and Squillace until 1093-6. In 1093 the Norman King Roger attempted to install a Latin archbishop over the overwhelmingly Greek population of Rossano, however this was a complete failure, a revolt took place in favour of restoring the Byzantine rite. At Crotone, Bova, and Gerace the clergy continued to use the Greek liturgy even though they were under Latin bishops. In Apulia, where the Normans took a less intense attitude to the Latinisation of the people, the Griko people continued to speak the Greek language and to celebrate the Byzantine rite. Some Griko in both Calabria and Apulia remained adherents to the Byzantine rite until the early 17th century. Today, the Griko people are mostly Catholics who adhere to the Latin Rite.

Literature

Early Griko literature

Contemporary literature

Cuisine

The traditional cuisine of Salento and Calabria has been heavily influenced by Griko culture. The Griko are traditionally producers of cereals, vegetables, olives and legumes. Local Griko cuisine does not differ greatly from the local Italian population, however there local regional variations. Many typical Griko dishes are still in use among them. Some of them are mentioned below.
A book about the cuisine of the Griko of Salento has been published, entitled Grecia Salentina la Cultura Gastronomica. It features many traditional recipes distinctive to the Grecia Salentina region of southern Apulia.

Notable people