Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Pilgrims & Crusaders
Ever since Puglia and Basilicata's colonisation by the Greeks, multifarious myths had es-
tablished themselves in the region - many were related to the presence of therapeutic wa-
ters and the practice called
incubatio,
a rite whereby one had to sleep close to a holy place
to receive revelations from a deity. In its early days, the cult of the Archangel Michael was
mainly a cult of healing forces based on the saint's revelations. It started to gain currency in
the early 5th century but it wasn't until the arrival of the Lombards in the 7th century that it
really began to take off.
Sweeping down from the north, the Lombards found in St Michael a mirror image of
their own pagan deity, Wodan. In Michael, they saw similar characteristics: the image of a
medieval warrior, a leader of celestial armies. There is little doubt that their devotion to the
saint was instrumental in their easy conversion to Catholicism, as they repeatedly restored
and enlarged the Monte Sant'Angelo shrine, making it the most important centre of the cult
in the western world. Soon the trail of pilgrims along the Via Traiana became so great that
the road was nicknamed the Via Sacra Langobardorum (Holy Road of the Lombards), and
dozens of churches, hostels and monasteries were built to accommodate the pilgrims along
the way.
The Arabs introduced spaghetti to Sicily; 'strings of pasta' were documented by the Arab geographer Al-
Idrissi in Palermo in 1150.
Another group of pilgrims in this region were the Normans. A French tribe, they arrived
in southern Italy in the 10th century, initially en route from Jerusalem, and later as mercen-
aries attracted by the money to be made fighting for the rival principalities and against the
Saracens in Sicily. By 1053, after six years of mercenary activity, Robert Guiscard (c
1015-85), the Norman conquistador, had comprehensively defeated the combined forces of
the Calabrian Byzantines, the Lombards and the papal forces at the Battle of Civitate. Hav-
ing established his supremacy, Robert turned his attentions to expanding the territories un-
der his control. To achieve this, he had to negotiate with the Vatican. In return for being in-
vested with the titles of Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1059, Robert agreed to chase the
Saracens out of Sicily and restore Christianity to the island. He delegated this task - and
promised the island - to his younger brother Roger I (1031-1101), who landed his troops at
Messina in 1061, capturing the port by surprise. In 1064, Roger tried to make good on his
promise and take Palermo but was repulsed by a well-organised Saracen army; it wasn't
