The dirt road that stretches from the uncertain asphalt of the provincial road to the Carrà refuge is in itself a metaphor of the passage of meaning, very profound and powerful, which from the Calabria of everyday representation leads to the land of the spirit. Reality and myth compared in a patch of lost and, perhaps, rediscovered mountain that regenerates under ancient oak trees, witnesses of other eras and other people. The people of Aspromonte who have marked the soul of those places with their nails and steps. From Africo Vecchio to the need for a new paradigm: the rediscovery of metaphysics as the search for the essence beyond the appearance of the desirable. The return to the origins of meanings, towards the authenticity that Calabrian Greece generated. With these premises, on Saturday and Sunday the Carrà refuge will return to host «Gente in Aspromonte», an event now in its eighth edition, conceived by the writer, journalist and intellectual Angela Sposato and organized by the «Insieme per Africo» association.
The theme chosen is evocative: «From the metareal to the metaphysics of Alvaro». «At the center of the reasoning there will be the authentic and artisanal aspect of things – explained Sposato – in a place that is pure metaphysics, not abstract but absolutely concrete». Culture, literature and identity in the flow of an open dialogue filled with suggestions, provocations and proposals. Art and sociality; excellent food and wine and essential nature. Genuine soul, pillar and collaborator of the event, the writer Gioacchino Criaco, affricoto to the core and attentive reader of this era, suspended between worlds that run at different speeds.
It starts on Saturday morning at 9, with a welcome breakfast with bread, ricotta and honey and the reading of verses by Corrado Alvaro on bread. Following the institutional greetings from the mayor of Africo Domenico Modaffari, the councilor for Tourism Giovanni Calabrese, the mayor of Sant’Agata del Bianco Domenico Stranieri, the representatives of GAL Area Grecanica and Film Commission Calabria. At 10.30 am the presentation of the book “A King’s Lunch” by Jim Harrison. In the afternoon, at 3.30 pm, the writer Gioacchino Criaco, the director of the Royal Palace of Milan Domenico Piraina and the linguist Giuseppe Polimeni will talk about «Aspromonte and Corrado Alvaro». But there will be space for the “concrete metaphysics” of oaks, of proudly native vines, of bergamot, of wild oregano, in a speech on “cultural biodiversity”, then space for the show by anthropologist Ettore Castagna, “Accusi mi ricordu…”.
On Sunday 23rd the event will move to Campusa, bringing the overall reasoning back to the words of Alvaro and Saverio Strati. Waiting for the installation «Barcalabria» by Antonello Scotti and the «Bacheche di thought», with images of Africo Vecchio. At 4pm the meeting with the Gazzetta del Sud journalist Anna Mallamo and with her book, literary case of 2026, «Col cuore me la vedo io» (Einaudi), who will dialogue with Alessia Alboresi and Evelina Catizone. At 6pm there will be space for music with the «G. Youth Wind Orchestra. Scerra” by Delianuova.
Always in a climate of sharing, listening, solidarity.