Copanello or Copanello de Stalettì is a frazione (a hamlet, in Italy) of the municipality of Stalettì in the province of Catanzaro. It's a seaside resort on the Ionian coast nicknamed la perla dello Jonio catanzarese, i.e. the Pearl of the Ionian Sea of Catanzaro. It is bounded to the north by the Alessi river and to the south by the Lamia torrent. Copanello itself is divided into two hamlets: Copanello Alto and Copanello Lido.
In the 14th century, Copanello was part of the estate of the Latin politician and writer Cassiodorus (485–580). Around 555, he built the Vivarium monastery (now in Copanello Alto) and the Chapel of San Martino. Under the name of Coscia, it was a dependency of the town of Squillace until the early 19th century, when it became part of the municipality of Stalettì.
From the 17th to the 19th century, Copanello belonged to the Pepe family, before becoming the property of various Italian patriots (Guglielmo Pepe, Enrico Cosenz, Damiano Assanti, Francesco Carrano, Girolamo Calà Ulloa and Camillo Boldoni), who sold it to Baron Scoppa. The territory of Copanello Lido was then inherited by the Lucifero family, whose last owner was Francesco Lucifero, while that of Copanello Alto was sold to Achille Fazzari, then to the Falcone family and finally to the Gatti family.
The first house on Copanello Lido was built in 1954, and the Villagio Guglielmo Vacation Village was inaugurated in 1969.
In 1957, Giovanni Gatti opened the Motel Copanello in Copanello Alto. From the mid-1960s onwards, Copanello was home to celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Renato Rascel, Totò, Bobby Solo, Rita Pavone, Gloria Gaynor, Gino Paoli, Raf Vallone and Peppino di Capri.
Toponymy Until the mid-19th century, the western part of Copanello Lido was occupied by the Casino Pepe estate, while Copanello Alto and the Copanello Lido coastline were known as La Coscia (due to their proximity to the Coscia de Stalettì mountain range, at the foot of which Copanello Lido was situated and on which Copanello Alto was built). La Coscia territory was located in the Marina de Squillace. The name Copanello only appeared in the early 20th century, replacing La Coscia.
Geography
Location
Copanello lies at the eastern end of the isthmus of Catanzaro, in the center of the Gulf of Squillace, in the area known as Costa dei Aranci (Orange Coast) or Costa dei Saraceni (Saracen Coast). The locality's northern boundary with Squillace Lido (a frazione of the municipality of Squillace) is the River Alessi, whose mouth is near the Hotel Club Poséidon, in Copanello Lido. Copanello's southern boundary with Santa Maria del Mare (frazione of the commune of Stalettì) is the Lamia torrent. To the southwest, it borders the village of Stalettì, while to the west, it borders the municipality of Squillace.
Copanello Lido lies on the coast of the Gulf of Squillace, almost at sea level, at the foot of the Coscia di Stalettì or Coscia de Squillace (a Calabrian mountain also known as Mons Moscius in the time of Cassiodorus and later as Coscia della baronessa), while Copanello Alto lies on the Coscia di Stalettì, overlooking the Gulf of Squillace at around 100 m above sea level.
Hydrography
The River Alessi (known as Amnis Pellena in the 17th century) rises in the center of the isthmus of Catanzaro, in the municipality of Girifalco, at the foot of Mount Covello, part of the Serre Calabresi. It then flows through the municipality of Vallefiorita and on to the old town of Squillace, where it flows around the promontory before joining the Ghetterello to the south of the town. The torrent then crosses the northern part of the municipality of Stalettì before emptying into the Ionian Sea in the Gulf of Squillace. Its mouth forms the boundary between the frazione of Copanello, in the commune of Stalettì, and the frazione of Squillace Lido, in the commune of Squillace. It was here that Ulysses is said to have met Nausicaa on his voyage to the land of the Phaeacians. The Alessi torrent runs for a total of 18 kilometers from its source to its mouth. In addition to the Alessi river, two other torrents run through Copanello Lido. These are the Fosso della Coscia (a tributary of the Alessi that flows between Villagio Guglielmo and the Guglielmo Caffè roasting plant) and the Fosso Gullà (a tributary of the Alessi that flows north of Casino Pepe). The Fosso della Coscia rises north of the town of Stalettì, while the Fosso Gullà begins in the area between the Casino Pepe and the town of Stalettì.
Climate
Fire risk Fires are fairly frequent in the Coscia de Stalettì area between Copanello and the village of Stalettì.
In 2009, in the Coscia de Stalettì area between Copanello Lido and Stalettì, a fire threatened some homes, but was extinguished by the national fire department.
In July 2012, the Copanello Lido pine forest, which roughly corresponds to the lower western part of the Coscia de Stalettì, caught fire. An investigation followed, giving credence to the theory of arson.
Urban planning
Copanello Alto Copanello Alto can be reached via state highway 106 Jonica (the SS 106 Jonica), which crosses the frazione with Copanello Lido (in this case passing under Galleria de Stalettì) to the north and Santa Maria del Mare, then Caminia to the south. The other possible access route is the Strada Provinciale 52 (Provincial Route 52), which leads from the village of Stalettì to the north of Copanello Alto, and runs alongside the neighboring frazione of Torre Elena and Lucerta.
To the west of Copanello Alto, almost at the top of the Coscia di Stalettì, was another frazione now incorporated into that of Copanello, the Contrada di San Martino, so named because of its proximity to the Chapel of San Martino, built by Cassiodorus, although it is not directly located in the contrada. In fact, the Chapel of San Martino is located in the Lopilato locality, in the eastern part of Copanello Alto, almost at the foot of the Coscia di Stalettì.
Copanello Lido
The Copanello Lido frazione can be reached via two roads. The first is an exit from European route E90 which, at the frazione, passes under an old railroad line and leads to piazza Antonio Susanna in the southern part of Copanello. From piazza Susanna, three parallel streets rise in a straight line to the north, forming the center of the hamlet. These three streets are (from west to east): via Lucifero, via Cassiodoro and via Lido, which runs alongside the beach. After 200 meters, via Lucifero and via Lido come to an end, giving way to the new residential area built since the 1990s.
The second access road to Copanello lies to the north of the frazione, following on from via Cassiodoro. It crosses a bridge over the Alessi torrent, just before its mouth, and arrives in the municipality of Squillace, from where it is possible to take the state highway 106 Jonica.
The average altitude of Copanello Lido is 9 meters.
Crime On 13 June 2014, at 1:30 am, a bomb exploded outside the entrance to the Villagio Guglielmo restaurant in Piazza Susanna. The bomb was home-made using gunpowder and a fuse. Although the explosion caused no injuries, as the 300 Russian tourists dining there had left a few hours earlier, it did cause extensive material damage to the restaurant's facade (the iron curtain, windows and lampposts were destroyed).
The explosion was part of a series of Mafia intimidations directed at Daniele Rossi and Matteo Tubertini, co-presidents of Guglielmo Caffè and owners of Villagio Guglielmo. In August 2012, two of the company's trucks were deliberately set on fire in the parking lot of the roasting plant west of Copanello.
The Carabinieri of the nearby town of Soverato were initially in charge of the investigation, before it was transferred to the Anti-Mafia Investigation Department of the Province of Catanzaro. At the same time, Daniele Rossi hired a large number of workers, and the restaurant was completely repaired in less than a morning.
Reactions to the incident were numerous, mainly from Italian center-left political figures (almost all affiliated to the Democratic Party): Ernesto Magorno (MP and mayor of Diamante), Enzo Bruno (president of the Province of Catanzaro since 2014), Wanda Ferro (president of the Province of Catanzaro from 2008 to 2014), Antonella Stasi (president of the Calabria region), Sergio Abramo (mayor of Catanzaro), Agazio Loiero (minister from 1999 to 2001, president of the Calabria region from 2005 to 2008, senator and MP) and Mario Maiolo (vice-president of the Province of Cosenza).
History
Mythology
One of the first to locate the land of the Phaeacians, Scheria, in the vicinity of Copanello was the Latin writer and politician Cassiodorus (485–580), who attributed the founding of the city of Squillace to Ulysses on his arrival in the land of the Phaeacians.
Another hypothesis, relayed by oral tradition and based on Cassiodorus' accounts, was taken up by Enzo Gatti in his book Odisseo, published in 1975. According to Gatti, Ulysses was stranded in the Gulf of Squillace, at the mouth of the river Alessi (which today forms the border between the frazione of Copanello Lido, in the municipality of Stalettì, and the frazione of Squillace Lido, in the municipality of Squillace). There, he is said to have met Nausicaa, who led him to her father, King Alcinous, who would have resided, in this case, in the center of the isthmus of Catanzaro, perhaps in Tiriolo or closer to the Copanello coast.
This tradition has left its mark, especially in the toponymy of the area. Thus, the coast from Copanello to Catanzaro Lido is today called, among other things, Rivière de Nausicaa. The frazione of Squillace Lido has named most of its streets after the Ulysses, such as Via dei Feaci, Via Laerte, Via Itaca, Via Telemaco and Lungomare Ulisse.
A stele commemorating the Vivarium monastery of Cassiodoro, the reign of the Phaeacians and the arrival of Ulysses has been erected at Copanello Alto, near Vasche de Cassiodoro.
From prehistory to the Middle Ages
Copanello Alto Copanello Alto may have been inhabited in prehistoric times, as testified by a statuette found in the early 20th century by farmers belonging to Baroness Elvira Marincola Cattaneo.
The history of Copanello Alto from ancient times is inextricably linked with that of the Greek and Roman city of Scolacium, and later with that of the town of Squillace. Indeed, the first to settle here was the Latin politician and writer Cassiodorus (born in 485 in the nearby town of Scolacium and died in 580), who built the Vivarium monastery and Chapel of San Martino in 555, as well as fishponds for aquaculture (the Vasche di Cassiodoro, Vasche di Copanello or simply Vasche). Both Copanello Alto and Copanello Lido had belonged to the Cassiodoro family.
At the end of the 7th century, the caves at the foot of the promontory on which Copanello Alto stands were occupied by Basilian monks and hermits from the Middle East who had fled to southern Italy following the iconoclastic edicts of the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. Among these caves is Grotta del Confinato, located in the former botanical garden of the museum opened by Libero Gatti in 1991.
On his death around 580, Cassiodorus bequeathed his possessions, including the Vivarium monastery and thus the territory of Copanello, to the monks of the Monastère Castellense, located in Santa Maria del Mare (frazione de Stalettì). The monastery remained in their possession until the 11th century, although the bishop of Squillace attempted to seize it on several occasions, at which time it came under the control of the Benedictine Abbey of the Most Holy Trinity of Mileto, as a gift from Count Roger I of Sicily. In the 13th century, although still owned by the Abbey of Mileto, the monastery of Vivarium and the lands of Copanello became part of the town of Squillace.