The Grotto of Prastarà
Descrizione
In the valley of the S. Elia River, in the Municipality of Montebello Jonico in the Provincia of Reggio Calabria, facing the “five-fingered” outcrop of Pentedattilo, stands the Prastarà rock.
Inside, is an enormous cave known in the vernacular as La Caverna dei Ladri [The Thieves’ Cavern]. It is a known fact that kitchen utensils and other implements from ancient times have been found in it.
According to popular tradition, from the Prastarà cave an ancient passageway led to the sea, but surveys of the place disprove these popular tales. Inside, in actual fact, archaeologists have unearthed items from the Bronze Age, belonging to the period between 2200 and 900 BC.
The finds include pieces of earthenware vases engraved using the so-called “dog- tooth” pattern, fragments of obsidian spearheads used to hunt animals and shards of other artefacts in obsidian used to skin animals.
The ancient inhabitants of Prastarà made clay vessels, engaged in commercial exchange (the obsidian came from Lipari, the largest of the Eolian Islands, off Sicily). Later on, a monk from Sicily, S. Elia il Giovane [Saint Elia the Younger] arrived here and chose the Prastarà locality as the site of the monastery which was built in about 880 AD and bears his name.
The rock and grotto of Prastarà are a precious natural treasure belonging to the municipality of Montebello Jonico and well worth a visit.
Sources
www.dattola.com
www.montebellojonico.it