Maierà

Maierà (Majerà in Byzantine Greek) is a town of about 1,100 inhabitants in the province of Cosenza, in the hinterland of the Upper Tyrrhenian Cosentino coast, behind Diamante and the Riviera dei Cedri. The village stands at 360 metres on the left flank of a deep valley cut by the Vaccuta stream and belongs to the Pollino National Park. What makes it recognisable is its position: a ravine separates it from Grisolia, visible on the hill opposite, about 900 metres away as the crow flies.

Geography

The municipality borders Buonvicino, Diamante and Grisolia and includes, besides the main village, the localities of Alorio, Arieste, Canfora, Giardino, Lauro and Vrasi. The village looks over the Vaccuta valley and faces, across the ravine, the hill of Grisolia: two centres close enough to see each other, yet divided by the stream’s gorge. The inhabitants are called majeraioti.

History

Two explanations of the name circulate. One links it to the Hebrew mə‘ārāh, “cave”, because of the many hollows in the area; the other to the Greek machairas, “cutler”. The Byzantine form of the place name was Majerà. In the nineteenth century Maierà had for a few decades an outlet to the sea: in 1808 neighbouring Cirella, until then an independent municipality, was attached to it, until in 1876 it passed to Diamante, of which it is today the only hamlet. The village’s name even reaches Uruguay: Francesco Dolce, a native of Maierà, worked fruitfully with the Calabrian photographer Francisco Civitate, whose studio was in Montevideo.

What to see

The historic centre converses with today’s art: along its narrow lanes a number of contemporary artworks by different artists have been installed, setting the village’s past against the present. In the same centre is the Chilli Pepper Museum (Museo del Peperoncino), which gathers varieties of the spice from all over the world and objects linked to Calabria’s “red gold”. The religious heritage counts four churches: Santa Maria del Piano, Santa Maria del Casale, the Madonna del Carmine, dedicated to the patron saint celebrated on 16 July, and San Pietro. From the edges of the village the eye travels across the ravine to the houses of Grisolia.

Getting there

Maierà borders Diamante, on the coast, where the Diamante-Buonvicino station on the Tyrrhenian line is located and the SS18 state road runs; from the seafront a road climbs to the village. By car on the A2 “del Mediterraneo”: from the north take the Lagonegro nord exit, then the SS585 Fondo Valle del Noce to the coast and the SS18 southwards; from the south take the Falerna exit and the SS18 northwards. The region’s nearest airport is Lamezia Terme.