Santino Alessandro Cugno

Zungri Santino Alessandro Cugno

Monte Poro is a geographical area in the district of Vibo Valentia in Calabria, which holds one of the highest concentrations of medieval rupestrian settlement remains in the whole region; the "Sbariati" Caves of Zungri are the most relevant example of this communities. The etymology of the geographical name Zungri appears to be of neo-Greek derivation (from the Cretan tsoygkri, meaning "steep cliff", "hill", "rock") and the oldest written record dates back to the "Rationes decimarum" of 1310. The rupestrian hamlet of Zungri is locally named the "Sbariati" Caves (a dialect expression which can translate as "gone astray"). It is located on the southeastern slope of the hill on a large rocky ridge in an area called Fossi, near by the modern urban village. The settlement is spread over an area of about 3000 square meters and rises from a very sharp peak, on its terraces are nestled forty units with one or more rooms of different sizes and shapes. They include mainly one-chamber dwellings (others spread on more than one floor), production plants (millstones, apiaries, limestone, etc.), animal sheds and stables, warehouses, systems of water tanks and ducts for water supply. The new studies have given us the opportunity to accurately survey and investigate twenty-eight units, which clearly show the traces of an on-going reconversion during the past centuries, which has deeply altered their original physiognomy and destroyed the most ancient stratigraphic deposits, through constant cleaning of the walking surfaces.