Pentedattilo: The Ghost Town

Pentedattilo

       My last Sunday, before coming back to the states, we went to see an old abandoned town called Pentedattilo. It was founded way B.C. by the Greeks. Then the Byzantines took over. In fact, the name derives from the Byzantine word Penteda'ktilos meaning five fingers, because of the rock formations.

A gated stairway leading to the old castle.

        It was raining when we first got there. Thank God there was no thunder because there is kind of a spooky and tragic story to the town. In the 1600's a very rich family built a huge castle up between the rocks. (It no longer exists, just a few walls, because of an earthquake in 1783.) This family was feuding with another rich family from one of the other hill towns nearby. Well, of course, the beautiful daughter from this family fell in the love with the son from that family and they wanted to marry, but her parents would not hear of it, they had already arranged a married for her with a Count from Naples.
        So, boyfriend and followers snuck into the castle on the night of April 16, 1686 and murdered the entire family by slitting their throats (except for the daughter).(Oh, and one of the sisters got away through a secret passageway.) Including servants and visiting guests! They took the daughter and, at this point, reluctantly, she was "convinced" to marry the boyfriend. It didn't last long, after a year of feeling guilty for killing her whole family (nag, nag, nag), he took off and joined the Turkish army and was killed. She ended up having his kid and living in a convent, but both she and the child died two years later.

Wildflowers growing all around.

Oh, yikes, it's just Nuccio!

The main drag.

Overgrown cactus below the rocky fingers.

Our friend Katherine, from one" Kat" to the other.

 After the earthquake ruined the castle, the towns people used the stones to build the town below. Our friend Katherine said that when she was teen, the community organized concert/festivals for the young people at night and it was all lite up with candles and lanterns. Very cool! While we were there a bus load of French high schoolers on their spring break came for a visit. We could hear them giggling and kidding around amongst the ruins.

Looking down at the town from above.

Inside one of the abandoned houses, made with stones from the demolished castle.

Looking up through the rafters.

Ah, yeah right, after you!

          It's been abandoned for years now because of the economy and the young moving away. But some say the spirits of the murdered still wander the empty streets.(Hope I don't run into any of them!) I took tons of pictures. Everywhere you turned was a photo opportunity. These are some of the better ones of the abandoned town. I need to get a better camera!

On our way back down to the parking lot.

A view of the other town across the way.

 As we were driving back down the mountain, a traffic cop made us pull over and wait for the procession to pass by.  They were carrying the Madonna and Child up the mountain to the church there for Easter. They'll carry her back down after. For the love of......now that's faith! Who knows where they started from!

         

The procession, walking the Madonna up to the church for Easter.


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Here's a link with a little more detail about the town: