Demonym(s) Colosimari Postal code 87050 | Elevation 850 m (2,790 ft) Area 24 km² Local time Wednesday 11:54 PM Dialling code 0984 | |
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Frazioni Arcuri, Carrano, Coraci, Gigliotti, Manche, Mascari, Melilla, Rizzuti, Trearie, Volponi. Weather 5°C, Wind N at 18 km/h, 81% Humidity | ||
Colosimi is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Gangster James Colosimo was born here in 1878.
Contents
Map of 87050 Colosimi Province of Cosenza, Italy
History
The region is presented as a set of eleven small villages, including the capital, whose population existed here from the seventeenth century. The etymology is related to the Colosimo surname, which is widespread in the area. Colosimi is potentially Greek in origin, being formed from the words 'colosi' (more correctly spelt as 'colossi' and being the plural of colossus) and 'mi' (meaning 'me'). It is believed that until the early decades of the 7th century Colosimi was inhabited only in summer and that the first permanent inhabitants suffered disasters in the seventeenth century, such as famines and earthquakes. An especially the large earthquake occurred on 27 March 1638.
The first Colosimi administrative autonomy (1811) was related to the political strength of the city-owned University of Scigliano. Until 1820, the municipality of Colosimi belonged as a territory of the town of Bianchi, Calabria. It became autonomous in that year.
In 1813, Colosimi became home to the oldest Masonic Workshop, namely the Mamertini lodge, which, together with the Ginnosofisti silani di Carlopoli and the La Sila di Decollatura, can be called the cultural forges of these upland moors in the nineteenth century. Colosimi is within a day's walk of Crotone (previously known in ancient Greek times as Kroton) where the philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras is understood to have settled and where he created his Order, the Pythagoreans. This may explain the meaning of the place name and the masonic connection.