The Stone of St. Antoninus

In the forest a puzzling geological wonder

Between the mountains of Davoli and San Sostene, one climbs among the beech trees until the forest at 1100 meters above sea level opens onto the small plateau where this impressive rock formation is found. It is the so-called Pietra di Sant'Antonino, a large granite monolith surrounded by other smaller formations. The huge rock, fractured here and there, forms natural shelters that induced the ancient frequenters of the place to refurgitate there. On the other hand, the place is, so to speak, strategic, strong in its isolation, a kind of natural stronghold dominating the Gulf of Squillace.

A place frequented by Neolithic hunters.

The Sant'Antonino Stone is what is called a geo-archaeological site, having revealed traces of human frequentation since the Neolithic period. The site has not been thoroughly investigated, but surface searches were sufficient to come up with flint artifacts and an obsidian arrowhead, artifacts that evoke prehistoric hunters ' stopovers. On the other hand, a place still so rich in vegetation and running water makes the scenario of a group on the trail of big game plausible.

The Virgin of the Stone, the lost monastery

More obvious is the evidence of settlement in the early medieval period by Basilian hermits, probable authors of certain rock graffiti with Christian symbolism, as well as the subsequent construction of a monastery, likely touched by a pilgrimage route. In rare historical sources it is mentioned as the monastery of Santa Maria di Focà or more directly of the Virgin of Holy Stone. The few remains found - sections of masonry, tombs - suggest that recurrent earthquakes repeatedly ruined it to the point of abandonment. Overabundant, on the contrary, are the legends and superstitions that have flourished about a place that indeed still conceals much of its past.