Martone

It is a fact that many scholars identify Martone with the village of Santa Maria di Bucito, of which there is trace in numerous documents starting from the XII cent.

Indeed, S.Maria del Bucito is recorded in a notary act of 19 October 1106 {Theotokou ton boukéton], with which Leonzio, bishop of Gerace, makes a gift of the monastery of the Santissima Madre di Dio di Bucito, and of the revenues of S.Anania "due to the Santissima Chiesa cattolica Locrese", "venerabili templo (monastery) gloriosissime dominǽ nostre Deiparǽ et semper virginis Mariǽ", not better specified, Trinchera, Sillabus grǽcarum membranarum, Naples 1865, parchment No 12, page 91.

"In that year the Church became aggregated to Santa Maria dei Buceti and entrusted to the Carthusian monks of Serra San Bruno" (Barillaro).

The name Bucito is recorded, also, in a document of the 1119 signed by Nicola, son of Leone, presbiter an protopope from Bucito (Cod. Vat. Lat. 10606, page 14, with Latin translation on page 15 and page 17; in an act of the 1139 {tès yperaghias Theotokou} and in a document of sale by Teodata, daughter of Giovanni Konges and of his family (originating from the region of Bucita) to the monastery of S.Michele and Nicodemo del Kellerana, dated 27 October 1181 in which appears a certain Ruggero, son of Giovanni Oto, lecturer and notary in Buceto {A. Guillou, Sait-Nicodème de Kellerana (1023/1024 – 1232} Vatican City, pp 25 – 38.

A very ancient village of basilian origin, was at first named S.Maria di Bùcita {Vùcita or Bucìto), as Ottaviano  Pasqua (1574 – 1591) writes in the life of Nicola II, bishop of Gerace from 1219 to 1229, who claimed the rights of the Mensa vescovile on the Cerchietto's property, "quod circum locos, quibus a S. Johannis oppido, et S. Maria di Bucita, Martonem hodie vacant, continetur" (Rossi, Sinodo, page 258).  

In the bios of San Nicodemo, Codex Messanensis XXX, folio 247 r-v), we can read: There is, therefore, in the area of Bucito a temple dedicated to the Mather of God, very famous, and the site is very suitable for us.

But the day the monks arrived, they found a great confusion, because the local inhabitants were celebrating the feast of Santa Maria Ascended to Heavens. Deluded of their aspiration for peace and serenity, the humble hermits went back to Kellerano. The cod, Messan. 30 was drawn up in 1308 (V. Nadile, S. Maria di Bucito, Chiar.lle Cant.le, 1973, pp.40)

Another finding, which could confirm the presence of Greek monks in the proximity of Martone is, perhaps, a small church dedicated to San Nicola di Bari where excavations have revealed a Byzantine necropolis.

Furthermore, in the locality of Gujune the remains of the Basilian monastery, called             S. Anania, is still visible, which has a cell isolated from the rest of the grotto by a wall, that most certainly was used as dormitory for the monks.

Testimony of the presence of Greek monks in Martone is the "Signum Pacis" which is now in the church of Maria SS. Assunta. It consists in a metallic tablet with handle depicting Christ Resurrected and the Virgin Mary, and was offered to the newly wedded to be kissed at the end of the nuptial ceremony. This is a very ancient Byzantine rite, still in use today in the oriental Churches that could very well have come to Martone though the Greek monks.

P. Giovanni from Propani  (1622 – 1683, defined Martone  as a very ancient town, in his treaty on "Grotteria with two thousand inhabitants, with jurisdiction of two very ancient villages, Martoni and S. Giovanni" (G. Fiore, Della Calabria illustrate, I, Naples,1691, page 174).

In his contribution, the Abbot Orazio Lupis, thus writes: "Martone, one the lands of the Area    (of  Grotteria) called in the past S. Maria di Bucita; the other is named S. Giovanni. O. Lupis, Storia universal, Vol. VI, Naples, 1805, Page 187.  

Neverthewless, as to the meaning of its name there is not agreement: some say it descends from a Greek family "Martis", others, instead, think it derives from "Marte" (Mars) God of war in the Roman mythology. Should it be so, Martone could have been originally a soldier's encampment during the "Sicilian wars" between Augustus and Sextus  Pompeus.

Others, yet, say that Martone takes its name from an ancient family from Normandy landed in Calabria in the retinue of Robert the Guiscard.

According to certain testimonies, the history of Martone was related in a 12 volumes opus, unfortunately lost in the transfer from the old to the new Municipal building. Not even the author is remembered. Parlà and Cutrone must have written something about Martone but their manuscripts have also been lost.

The origin of Martone is lost in the darkness of time, but, in the same way as the adjacent centers, Martone also must have had a notable development at the time of the Saracen's invasions in Calabria. Fiore, on page 174 of his Calabria illustrate calls it "very ancient village" together with S. Giovanni" (Enzo Dilena, ‘Martone’, in his "Storia e cultura della Locride" "History and culture of the Locride land", Messina, 1964, pp 519-520).

Already in the 1400 Martone, although continuing belonging administratively to Grotteria and being part of the dioceses of Gerace, became feudal-domain of various families. The first family of which we have news is the Spanish one – Aragona de Ajerbis in whose possession it remained from 1431 to 1450.  At that time, Martone was one of the four "castles of the Baronage of Grotteria" together with S. Giovanni, Mammola and Gioiosa.

From 1450 to 1458 it belonged to Tommaso Caracciolo with the title of First Marquis. The usurping machinations perpetrated by the Caracciolo to the detriment of the Episcopal Curia provoked the intervention of the Royal authority, which did stop many abuses of power and fighting. The Marquis Caracciolo accused of: ‘offender of the person of the King’, by order of the King Alfonso himself was deposed and imprisoned in 1445. After a long trial, in 1457 was condemned to death. He was able, nevertheless, to escape and find refuge in Rome.

On 1 January 1458, King Alfonso I invested his Councilor Marino Correale as Master of Arms for the Baronage of Grotteria, "cum Terris and Casalibus infrascriptis Moctǽ Jojosǽ,Mammulǽ, Sancti Johannis a Giraci, Salvi, Sideroni, Oiccoloni, Martoni, et Baptipedoni…" (Quinternione V, folio 173) so that Martone become administered on behalf of the Royal House, first by Marino Correale, and subsequently by his brother Raimondo, nobles of Sorrento, with the title of Governor.

Being part of the territory Of Grotteria, it followed its feudal events, passing from being possession of the Correale family (1458 – 1501) to the Carafa's (1501 – 1558) and, then, to the Loffreso's (1558 – 1573, to the Ruffo's (1573 – 1576) to  Elia's (1576 – 1577) to Aragona's (1577 – 1631) and, again, to the Carafa's till the abolition of feudalism.  

In 1501 Martone passed, together with Grotteria of which it was part, on to the Neapolitan family Carafa, a branch of the Caracciolo's, and in 1503 obtained the Principality of Roccella.

We know that an exponent of this family, and precisely Don Carlo Maria Carafa, gave some laws to his lands, and one of this was prompted by "an iniquity" committed very often in Martone, where trees were being cut and burnt. For this crime innocent persons were being prosecuted. To prevent such a happening, Don Antonio ordered that before being able to request compensation for the damages it was necessary to bring in front of the judge a certain number of witnesses.

During this period Martone underwent three severe earthquakes: one in 1659, another in 1663 in which the chapel of SS. Salvatore was destroyed, and one more in 1668 which destroyed the Church of San Nicola.

From 1707, having ceased the Spanish domination, the South of Italy passed under the domination of the Hapsburg of Austria who remained till 1738. During such period, internal fights continued on causing ulterior unsettlements in the Country.

In 1723 a territorial delimitation was drawn between the Municipalities of Martone e Gioiosa Jonica, and a slab, of local granite, was placed at the beginning of the town as border marker. It has inscribed the date and mapped the borders, which by now are being bypassed due to the continuous expansion of the residential area towards Goiosa Jonica.

Following the Vienna treaty of 1738 the dominations of the Bourbons was installed in the Kingdom of Naples. Under them there was a half century of peace. This period did not pass, though, altogether tranquil, because of both internal fighting and natural calamities.

In the administrative ordinance set up at the time of the Partenopean ( Neapolitan)Repubblic (1799)  Martone was a Municipality in the Canton of Roccella. The Bourbons reshuffled and emanated the law 1 May 1816 by which it was transferred into the domain of Giosa Jonica.

From 1767 onwards, in Martone, jurisdiction of Grotteria, the following Lord-Mayors had taken office: Francesco Parlà, Giuseppe Antonio Belcastro, Saverio Infusini, Giuseppe Antonio Fuda, Giuseppe Sorbara, Giacomo Calvi and Felice Oppedisano (Sectione  Archivio di Stato di Locri.Fondo notarile, notaio (notary) Tommasa Vumbaca di Grotteria, envelope 269, vol. 3010, year 1770). The relative document is inscribed, in appendix, in the vol. of D. Romeo, Il Comune Feudale in Calabria, AGE, Ardore M., 2002, pp. 152–153.

The disastrous earthquake of 5 February 1786, which lasted about a quarter of an hour,  destroying  the majority of the Calabrian villages, and, causing around 30,000 casualties, produced quite a relevant amount of damages also in Martone.

The residential centre located in the low zone (Basia) which was completely destroyed, was relocated in the high zone on the hill where it is still at present. To illustrate the violent earthquake we are citing the description of a Calabrese writer of that time: "Around midday, a dense fog enveloped the entire region; the clouds remained stationary for lack of wind. The animals, restless, were running from place to place. Suddenly we heard a confused noise in the air; then, came a strong wind, the earth begun to tremble; at first it produced light shakes, then a very violent one. The houses were torn from their foundations, stones and bricks were catapulted into enormous distances. Another most potent wave uprooted secular trees which splintered and shuttered as they fell. Deep crevices opened up in which men and things were swallowed. Several chasms opened and quickly closed, like monstrous jaws, that later on, when digging, persons and houses were found almost bonded into terrifying mush. The sea also precipitated onto the shore with furious waves, overthrowing hundreds of people that had gathered there to seek safety".

In the beginning of the French occupation, with an edict by Giuseppe Napoleone Bonaparte dated 2 August 1806, the feudal system was abolished, after which the territory was subdivided in 13 Provinces, and each one in Districts and Municipalities (Martone was part of it).

In 181 following the downfall of Gioacchino Murat, the domination of the Bourbons, as it is known, became established again. They maintained, in general lines, the stable administrative structure of the Drench, and Gerace was confirmed as capital of the District. The profound civil and social transformation of the brief innovative French period had prepared an atmosphere not all together ready to accept the absolutism of the Bourbons, from which was to follow the beginning of the insurrection of the 1847, which, in the District of Gerace, had a quick, and unfortunate conclusion in the execution in the Piana di Gerace of the Five Martyrs who had fought for the liberty. For as much as Vittorio Visalli writes in Lotta e Martirio del popolo Calabrese (Fight and martyrdom of the Calabrese people) – Ruffo and Pier Domenico Mazzone, two of the Five Martyrs of Gerace, in their flight in order to avoid being caught, sought refuge in the territory of Martone, in one of Mazzone's properties, but they soon departed as they realized that both  the local and S.Giovanni's di Gerace's  Civic Guards were searching for them.

The Domination of the Bourbons ends with the arrival of Garibaldi's troupes which were welcomed with jubilation in the whole of the South of the Peninsula. The pro-Bourbons were trembling with fear exhibiting tricolour-cockade and Italian-styled-beards. Many a citizen of Martone formed part of Giuseppe Garibaldi's army.  

Every year on 30 August it is customary to celebrate in honor of San Giorgio a feast of thanksgiving for having miraculously obverted the incumbent danger of General Lamarmora's artillery. In fact, 1 July 1860 registered a happening of extreme gravity.A gang of young men from Gioiosa, lead by a Sicilian, attempted, in the heart of the night, to abduct some young girls from Martone. The people did not remain indifferent to such a deed and       reacted with the arms. But the Sicilian adventurer, having distinguished himself for valor and courage in the ranks of General Lamarmora army, found the opportune moment to ask for the General's help and demanded the total destruction of Martone. All was to take place as  planned, but at dawn of 30 August the decree was revoked and the town was saved.          The inhabitants of Martone, so very pious and devoted, attributed the freeing from that nightmare to the divine intercession of San Giorgio. Up to today 30 August is regarded as the day of the miracle.

The Calabria was in a state of neglect because after the annexation of the Kingdom of Sardenia the few existing industries were all transferred to the north. It was lacking of roads, aqueducts and sewer-network; taxes were very high. Hard times were not ended for Martone because, unfortunately, two more earthquakes, 1905 and 1908, were to take place destroying the majority of the township including the church of the Assunta which was rebuilt on the same site in 1932. In this same year a revolt by the people against the government took place because of the high taxation. During this insurrection many casualties were recorded and a good number of citizens were unjustly arrested and prosecuted.

In the last half of the century the territory of Martone has revealed very interesting because of the geological and archeological findings. In 1954, during excavations for roads connecting to Croceferrata, in the area called "La Vigna" an ancient necropolis was brought to light, not yet sufficiently studied, among which a "titulus" with writing of  uncertain graphic font and interpretation. In the same site, furthermore, were found several skeletons, one of which of about m. 1.9 in height, all laying at random  in tombs which were rudimentary covered with  large terracotta tiles, very much like the ones resurfaced at the excavations in Locri.

In the suburbia area of "San Nicola", in the days 5 and 6 April 1973, during the works for an interconnecting new  road, a necropolis had emerged, that can be ascribed to the year one-thousand. Three items, on small tablets of  "pietra mollis" (soft stone) and of granatite, three Greek-Byzantine epigraphs, which have become part  of the Corpus (body)  of the Byzantine inscriptions of South Italy and Sicily. The tree cryptographic inscriptions have not yet been interpreted, although it is agreed that their significance is entire of religious nature (considering the signs and the site where they were found.

The inscriptions on the tombs have been set down by Mons. Vincenzo Nadile, in his essay   "S, Maria di Bucito" , Chiar.lle C.le, 1973, and, so, interpreted  by prof. Mosino:  1) Mouui (ou), di me figlio (my son); 2) M (eter)   X ristou)  I (ésous)  X (ristòs)  Kù (rios  Th (eòs), Madre di Cristo, Gesù Cristo, Signore Dio (mother of Christ, Jesus Christ, Lord God);             3) Th (eòs)  K (aì)  U (ios)  Th (eou), Dio figlio di Dio (God son of God) (XENIA,  semestral of Antiquity, 5, 1983, De Luce, editor. Pp. 60-62)

It is not excluded that there may be other possible interpretations.

The church of S. Anania is situated in the locality of Gullune or Gujune, a short distance from the bed of the torrent Livadio, in the hollow of a huge rock, of slalattic origin, also called "Grotto of the Saracens" where can be observed the remains of the monastic-basilian oratorio of St Anania, mentioned in the act of Leonzio, bishop of Gerace, of 19 October 1106, written in n. LXXI of the Syllabus grǽcarum membranarum, of the Trinchera, Naples, 1865, parchment n.12, page 91.

In certain circumstances, the grotto of S.Anania is called "Grotto of the Saracens" in consideration that the basilian-monastic complex was plundered by Saracen raids which took place on the Ionic foreshores of Calabria between the VII and X century.

To take notice that the major and most severe devastations by the Saracens in the Locride area took place between 952, when under the walls of Gerace a bloody battle was fought between the Byzantine troupes commanded by Milacron, and the Saracen ones lead by Abu-l-Kasem, who renounced to occupy it, and the year 986, the year in which Gerace, after being conquered and destroyed  in 982 was again captured and put to the sac.

Between these two dates were also destroyed the monasteries of S.Maria di Bucita and the one of S.Anania close by.    

N.Spatari in his treaty, L’enigma delle arti asittite nella Calabria ultramediterranea, iiriti, Reggio Calabria, 2002, Page 279, so writes "Chiesa-Grotta sul fiume Livadio, that laps Martone, town on the rising slopes above the Chiesa-Grotto, was used as a refuge by the first local Christians escaping the Roman centuries. Later on, around 600-700, at the entrance of the Grotto an external structure was added, for better accommodate the faithful;  In it we can see some frescos which express, with a variety of colours, the technique  and the style of the Church-Rocca of Göreme, particularly in the figures followed by symbolic decorations in red. One of my detailed reconstructing surveys allows to realize its originating architectonic structure, whose stereo-metric elements are typical of the architecture developed in Anatolia-Cappadocia and in the Christian Orient of Mesopotamia, Syria, Iraq, Sudan and along the Nile."

In the inside of the large Grotto the monks had found other spaces and a small cell that, probably, was used as Dormitory.

Nearby, raises majestic the "Pietra di S.Anania" A gigantic mass of calcareous rock of irregular form.

Almost for certain, Martone, together with the neighboring S.Giovanni di Gerace, were part of a highly defensive system of advance watching. Still today, in the suburb of Solleria (Sujeria) the remains of a tower resist the times. It could be dated to the XVI century. During the kingdom of the Bourbons an optic telegraph was installed intended for conventional signals to and fro distance.

The construction is a quadrangular tower dominating the beneath extending "Vallata del Torbido", of which remains the ruins of the basement containing four buttresses. On the ground floor, on the left side of the accessing door, it can still be seen the evidence of the ‘barrel-volt’ ceiling that must have covered the inside rooms.

The tower was made of stones consisting in one only square shaped room, in which were billeted the corps of guard and the horses.  On the higher level it was divide horizontally by wooden scaffoldings interconnected by step lathers also wooden.

In the past, the "Valle del Torbido," was endowed of a system of defense-watching by means of towers. The first was erected in the vicinity of the train station of Gioiosa Ionica (Torre Vecchia) (Old Tower); the other, closer, was Torre Galea or Cavalleria. Torre Elisabetta, instead, appears to have risen on the road leading to Gioiosa Ionica in the same homonymous suburb, whilst, higher, on the rock, dominates imposingly the castle which formed part of the defensive system.

From the tower it was possible to communicate with the one in S. Giovanni di Gerace, sited in the locality of "Torre" or "Licone", and with the castle of Grotteria which closed the system of watching and transmissions.

Two of the five martyrs of Gerace, Pietro Mazzone of Roccella Jonica and Gaetano Ruffo of Bovalino, during the revolutionary upsurge of the 1847, found refuge in a property of Mazzone to avoid the Spanish troupes, and on whom there was a bounty of 1.000 ducats each for whoever did consign them alive and of 300 ducats for who did consign them dead

Few days later, though, the Civic Guard of General Nunziante was able to capture them and they were executed on 2 October 1847 in the Plane of Gerace together with the other leaders of the revolt: Michele Bello of Siderno, Domenico Salvadori of Caraffa del Bianco and Rocco Verducci of Bianco.

The palace of the Bishop, built in a vast olive plantation, is situated to the North of the shire, at 200 meters above the sea level in a position dominating the valley of the torrent Levadio with views of the residential of Martone and S. Giovanni di Gerace. Possession of the baron Macri and subsequently of the Lucà family. It seems that during the summer periods the palace gave hospitality the bishops of the Locri – Gerace dioceses, who preferred the more temperate climate of Martone to the one of the sea side enclaves. In the past it must have belonged to the land domain of Cerchietto as well as the area of Licone or Torre or Cavalleria di S. Giovanni di Gerace, then property of the Episcopal Curia.

Even now, around the palace can be noted the remains of a large garden with a circular pool and still with some secular palm trees. It is not known when the edifice was built, but it is supposed to go back to the XVIII century, conjecturing from the style of the principal façade and architectonic elements that characterizes it (doors, windows, balconies....)

The palace consists of three buildings built in different periods; the construction plan is in the form of  "L" articulating on two stories. The ground floor of the South-East zone embodied a colonnade that was used as summer lounge and had another room annexed. The central zone was employed as depository, whilst the North-East zone was used as premises where the olives were being pressed "trappito" with a tree-stone-mill powered by animals. On the first level were the bed chambers. The walls were made of stone and mortar and plastered with sand and lime; in some portions it shows the use of bricks and of ‘carusi’ (cylindrical elements of clay). The attic is made of wooden beams (Chestnut and oak) on which is laid a flooring of the same woods.  The palace, today, is in a state of neglect; therefore a project has been approved for its restoration, the construction of other structures and the utilization of the surrounding area.

When works completed the complex should be used to house a "Museo della civiltà contadina" (Museum of the country-side civilization) with the aim of maintaining alive the local traditions which have in parts disappeared.

In the locality called "Pilligori" one can still visit what used to be the Villa belonging to the baron Ilario Asciutti of High Caulonia. In that villa he was residing with his family in the summer period, whilst in the winter months he would only visit occasionally to supervise the work of his dependents engaged in the cultivation of his lands. The villa had two stories and the access was a driveway stone- paved long about 100 meters, flanked by evergreen trees and bushes interspersed by grey columns, with an oil lantern hanging from each tree illumination. The lanterns were lit at sunset and extinguished few hours later.

In front of the edifice there was a large clearing with three stone benches and see-saws.

On the side of the building there were two columns, one on which is still in place. On the North-East side of the villa a large area with pergola providing shade in the hot sunny day. A set of semicircular stairs did lead inside.

On the ground floor there was a large room were the horses were kept during the night, adjacent were located the stables. Always on the ground floor there was the cellar with the deposit for the oil which was kept in four large terracotta jars. In fear that one of the jars could crack and the oil be lost, they cemented another very large one underneath the flooring, still in place nowadays, which is connected to the four above by means of a small draining canal. Other rooms were used for wood storage and the breeding of domestic animals.

On the floor above (piano nobile) were the bedrooms, the kitchen and dining room, the leaving room in which the baron would receive his peasants and his friends and hold parties.

In these occasions a modern horn-gramophone would entertain his guests. The walls and the ceiling were decorated with frescos depicting romantic scenes. A wooden staircase (ncsasciata)   connected this floor with the attic where there was an oven and where the seasonal fruit was being preserved.

The house did not have water supply, and the laundry, done with water and ashes, had to be rinsed in the near Livadio torrent, because the baroness, for hygienic reasons, did not wish to make use of the public laundries.

About the cult of the Santa Maria of the Assumption there are traces of it in numerous documents since the XII century.

The veneration of the Madonna is of Greek origin and was, perhaps, introduced in Italy by monks that took refuge at the time of the iconoclastic wars. The first church dedicated to Her was situated in the lower part of the town, in the suburb "Fontana Vecchia", not far from the Basìa or Batìa, low area, and from the water spring, from which water was drawn for all necessities, till when, eventually, the water of Crini reached all the houses. Crini, in Greek means spring, source.

The first nucleus of the residential center of Màrtone must have developed around that church and the monastic basilian community, which in the origin, was called Bùcita or (Bucito) or, also, S. Maria di Bùcita (or of the Buceti, meaning the inhabitants of Vùcita). The dedicated name was "of the Assumption", so, it must be identified with the Church Matrix.

The ancient writings speak of the edifice as of a Monastery; but it appears to confirmed that it was only a church with an annex.  Barillaro, The Sanctuary of Maria SS. Delle Grazie, page 36. On another hand, the Canon A. Oppedisano, (Chronohistory, page 372) writes: "Monastery of S Maria di Bucita, it was situated on the high part of the town (Martone). Today some remains can be seen".  And E. D’Agostino in his "Buletttino Badia Greca Grottaferrata, vol. XXIV, 197 page 143 writes: Monastery of S.Maria di Bucita, near Martone. Founded in Byzantine times. On 19 October 1106 it was entrusted to the Tempio della Deipara e sempre Vergine Maria". There is also a mention to the Monastery by S Gemelli ( La Locride, page 101) : "Monastero di S. Maria di Bucita. Described as very old in the 1106 by the Bishop Leonzio from Gerace, near Martone".  Furthermore, Mons. Vincenzo  Nadile has dedicated an erudite and precise monography (S Matia di Bucita, Frama Sud, Chiaravalle Centrale 1973).

It was a high-priest-church of Greek protopapal rite, suppressed 29 March 1480 by the Bishop of Gerace, Anastasio Chalchèolulos.

In a Pontifical Bull of 26 December 1525 (Russo, Regesto n. 16553) appears the spelling S.Johannis de Castro Martone. In fact it reads: "Casertam et Terracinem, episcopis ac Vicario generali Episcopi Hieracen.

Bernardino Brazano, cleric Napoletano.Familiari suo, providetur de una in S.Johannis de Castro Martone, et alia in S. Johannis de Pidoga {?} et reliquia in S. De Cofrano {?} ecclesiis HieracemArchiep.i Tarentin...  "Dat. Rome, apud Sanctum Petrum, an. MCXXV, VII, Kl. Ianuary, an.III" "Grata familiaritatis obsequia".

In the beginning it was self managed, then, governed till 19 March 1540 by Antonio Sirleto with the qualification of parish-priest (Russo, Regesto n. 18210).  Also D. Nicola Augurace, in a Bull of 30 August `583, is called rector of the parish church of the area of Martone; followed by D. Angelo Theotino in October 1608. At his death, January 1619, the church passes on to Francesco Mercurio, (Russo, o.c., n. 28135). On 23 February 1730, the reverend medical doctor Francesco Catanaci, a local, is authorised to erect and endow  the Church Matrix of a chapel dedicated to S. Maria del Monte Carmelo, to S. Francesco di Paulo, and to S.Caterina of Alessandra V.M. though retaining the patronage of the  Casata Catanaci family. The first in charge was D, Giuseppe Panetta, parish-priest from 1699 who died in 1737, and to whom succeeded, on 28 February 1737, the priest D. Antonio Panetta, from Grotteria.

After the earthquake of 5 February 1783, the residential center started to move towards the high area, where the new parochial church dedicated to the Assumption was erected with the offerings of the parishioners ,but later on it became damaged by the earthquakes of  1905 and 1908. In 1923 is was restored and open to the cult though the interest taken by the first-priest Oliva. It is articulated in three naves divided by pylons. The central nave culminates with the semi-circular abse painted with large figures of the SS.Trinity, works of the painter Corrado Armocida. The main Altar, in precious marble, presents some polychrome decorations. Behind the Altar a tall column of pink marble sustains the precious tabernacle of chiseled silver in which the SS Sacrament is held. The Church is enriched with holy statues derived from the, by now, destroyed churches of Carmine and San Nicola and from the little church of S. Giuseppe.

Of same interest are: "Madonna del Carmine" (with Saints), two paintings from the six hundreds coming from the church of the Carmine, and  a San Giuseppe, wooden statue sculptured in full size from a southern workshop of the XVII century.

A seven century canvas painted in oil, work of a southern painter, depicting Maria SS of the Assumption, completes the artistic beauty of the abse.  

In the central nave protrudes the pulpit in baroque style supported by a shelf shaped in the form of a shell. The ceiling is decorated to caissons with stuccos and frames in white and gold, the same as the choir-lodge located above the main entrance. The beauty of the ceiling is finished with two lateral paintings depicting San Giorgio Martire e l’Annunciazione (St. George Martyr and the Annunciation). The paintings and the restoration are the works of the painter Carrado Armocida.

Among the treasures of the Church Matrix, must to be listed a large silver pyx originating from a PP. Dominican convent (cent. XVII), and a silver challis from the V century worked in filigree.  

We have news about the church of San Giorgio Martire, since 1500, which it situated in the lower part of the town.

It appears, in fact, that it was assigned to the Canon Simone Gentile. In the same year it was, then, entrusted to don Giovannello Pittari, rector of the parish church of S.Giovanni of Gerace, deceased on 9 September 1582 ; 30 August of the following year the church of S. Giorgio, seat of the confraternity (accommodated in the ’Chapel of the Purgatory souls’), then abolished, is entrusted to don Nicola Augurace, rector of the parish church of the circumscription of Martone.  

In 1783 the church was destroyed by the earthquake, but three years later it was rebuilt.

Today the access to the church is via two doors, the principal and a secondary one.

The principal portal is in wood with sculptured panels. The central ones depict on the left San Giorgio mounted on a horse and on the right a heraldic coat-of-arms. The entrance door is flanked by pillars in ionic style surmounted by a timpano.

Above the edifice rises the bell tower with its pointed arched windows. The inside is in three naves divided by pylons. The main altar is of inlaid polychrome marble. Behind the altar there is the monumental pavilion of the Patron Saint, work of Raffaele Pata, in which is kept the wooden statuary group of San Giorgio, with the queen and the dragon. In the lateral naves there are two altars: in the right one, the altar is dedicated to Sant. Antonio di Padova, in the left nave, to San Giacomo, ancient protector of the town. Such change happened before 1683, according to writing og P. Giovanni Fiore da Cropani, who, in the Calabria Illustrata, book II,page 4455, speaks of solemn festivities held in Martoni, village of Grotteria.