Books on Calabrian History

[tim340]

Can anyone recommend and good books on the history of Calabria? ...in English of course. I've found a few that deal with southern Italy and some on the kingdom of the two Sicilies, but nothing on Calabria. I would appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks

Tim Agazio

www.genealogyreviewsonline.typepad.com
www.agaziofamilyhistory.org

[nuccia]

Tim,

Thanks for posting your links. While I couldn't view the agazio family history one, I was able to view the other. I thought it was great. I am also looking for English versions of Calabrian history but so far I haven't been too successful. I do have a friend in Locri who has lots of books but all written in Italian. He has promised to try and translate some of the out of print copies to English for me..I'll let you know. I also have a book from Malito, Cosenza Italy but its all in Italian. I can't really understand all of it but its great to look at the old photos and even better when you seen pictures of your ancestors included.

Are you interested in any particular area of Calabria or just a general overview?

[AnakDelFiore]

I, too have been looking for nice histories of Calabria in the English languages. Surprisingly one of my cookbooks, Cucina di Calabria, gave a nice overview about the history/culture of the area.
I found a webpage for a town most of my Italian ancestors came from, and it had a version in inglese.
http://www.falkunara.com/english/index.htm
Eventhough it relates to Falconara Albanese, it can give interseting insight into customs of that area, or from Calabrian families tied to Albania.

Goodluck on finding information in english, I am eager to hear anyone's findings. I wonder if there has been a book written on Calabrian dialect in english (or even a nice comparative one written in standard Italian, it would be nice to compare)

[Cathynap]

I have a couple of book suggestions. They are not history books but have information in them that is historical.
Lear's Italy is written by michael Montgomery and is a kind of diary of Edward Lear who travelled Italy in the 1800's. It gives a good picture of the period in Italy. It includes Calabria and Sicily. I got my copy on Amazon for $1.00!
Old Calabria is written by Norman Douglas and Stolen Figs (And other adventures in Calabria) is written by Mark Rotella.
Cathy

[Julo]

It's not easy to find a contemporary book on the history of Calabria in english. You would have to resort to the 19th century superficial writings of british travelers in southern Italy such as By the Ionian sea by George Gissing or Old Calabria by Douglas. I doubt Stolen Figs will be too informative.