Platì - History

According to an old tradition, the word “Platì” comes from “Prati” (meadows), however, some people thinks it derives from the Greek “Platus” which means “wide, large land”, others, think  that it derives from the word “Pratos” which means “sold” to point out the passage of the feud between two possessors. However, the origin of the term “Platì” is still much debated. Along the East side of the Aspromonte massife, from the Scorda mountain originates a ridgeline with an initially light slope which becomes steeper as it reaches the Ionian sea. This area is passed through by the Careri river (flumen Chareria). In the place where the river reaches its narrowest point stands the town named Platì. The origin of Platì dates back to XVI Century. In 1496, King Federico d’Aragona awarded Count Tommaso Marullo  with some forests, keeping for himself the use for Royal horse-breeding. Later, in 1507, Ferdinando il Cattolico sold the forests to the same Count T. Marullo, which 2 years before (20/02/1505), had already sold (quoddam territorium nominatum del Plati et de Sancta Barbara) to don Carlo Spinelli (Prince of Cariati). For this reason, a hard quarrel burst over borderlands pertinence between Count Marullo and don Carlo Spinelli which lasted for many years.
In 1517 King Carlo V and Queen Giovanna confirmed definitively to don Carlo Spinelli the territory of Platì and Sancta Barbara. In 1546 Antonio Pirro (Carlo Spinelli’s son) built, in “flumen Chareria’s valley”, the first huts inhabited by shepherds. In 1555, Carlo (Antonio’s son) obtained the feud from his father and, in 1557 became the Duke of this feud. But the growing development of the town roused the envy of Count Vincenzo Marullo (Tommaso’s nephew) and on this account there was another strife between them which ceased in 1568 when the Holy Royal Council ruled that Carlo Spinelli was right. In 1631 don Giovanni Mottamoros came to Platì to take a census and verified there were 80 families and 210 habitants. In 1642, after a new census, population was reduced 132 habitants. In Platì there were two churches, a jail and only one road.
In 1783 Platì was struck by a devastating earthquake: 25 persons died in it and most of its buildings were destroyed. Damages amounted to 100,000 Ducats. At that date, the population had reached 1,143 habitants.In 1861, don Ferdinando Mittiga led a bloody rebellion against the new Italian unitary State. French and Neapolitans legitimists (Bourbon family) thought that don Mittiga was at the head of a big army, and so they send the Spanish General Josè Borjes and other 22 officers to help him. But the rebellion failed, don Ferdinando Mittiga was killed and Borjes escaped.
One century later, after Italy’s unification, Platì’s habitants were more and more numerous, despite the two World Wars, the devastating floods of 1951, and migrations to Northern Italy, America and Australia.

Francesco Violi

Rosario Callipari