Martone

Martone (Calabrian: Màrtuni) is a Commune in the province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy. The town has historical roots dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries, when it was founded by Greek Christian monks from the Byzantine Orient.

These monks, who came from the regions surrounding the Aegean Sea and the Levant, played a pivotal role in establishing the area.

Martone, like many of the communes in the Locride area, was part of a larger group of comuni, all of which were founded by Greek monks. Residents of these comuni practised monasticism. The monks are described as living solitarily, bound by the oath of chastity, in the communal bond of prayer and work."

Over time, these communities have commemorated the monks' existence through art and the influence of faith throughout the region.

In the Grotto Territory, which included the municipalities of Mammola, Martone, and St. Giovanni di Gerace, there were "small monastic churches, which [...] still preserve traces of Byzantine art". These monasteries "...were not only intended to preserve the relicts of antiquity, [...] but also agriculture and trades, reforesting, land-reclaiming, cultivating, and ploughing [...] opening the way to the first artisanal activities [...] in a calamitous and decentralized age which was the Byzantine."