[ July, 2015 ] The highlight of Stilo, in Calabria in southern Italy, is Cattolica, a small chapel.
The shape looked like one of those Orthodox churches we saw in Macedonia or somewhere.
The curator told us many things.
This place was built as an Orthodox chapel for the monks living in the caves around here in the 10th century.
In the 16th century, it became a Catholic church and the bell and some other things were added.
Now, it is not used as a chapel, though for Orthodox believers, this is still a shrine.
There are 4 pillars inside and each one is different.
One is made of Greek marble, one is Italian marble, one is local granite, and so on.
When the scholars were looking into the Greek Corinthian pillar, they found some writings in Arabic.
Apparently, it was the beginning of the Koran.
They do not know if they were already there when this pillar was brought from Greece.
It may be that when Orthodox believers and Muslims got together to fight against the Normans in the 11th-12th century, this chapel could have been used as a mosque and these letters could have been carved then.
This curator, as well as the curator we met in Locri, was not happy about how the cultural institutions were managed in Calabria.
He asked us to sign in a simple notebook.
The more visitors that come, the more funding he gets apparently, so this notebook was important for him to show how many visitors from all over the world he receives.
