Of Dust and Light

No Wilder Place

Black and white photograph of Palizzi Superiore, a hillside village in Calabria, Italy, showing stone buildings clinging to a rocky slope beneath a dramatic cliffside mansion, surrounded by wild vegetation and rugged terrain.

Palizzi Superiore, Calabria

Edward Lear wrote in 1847, “No wilder nor more extraordinary place than Palizzi can well greet an artist’s eye.”
He sketched it as well. In his drawing, the village rose steep and bare.

Black and white illustration of Palizzi, Calabria, drawn by Edward Lear in 1847. The image shows a steep rock formation above a hillside village with flat-roofed buildings, a stone bridge crossing a stream, and rugged mountains in the background.
Palizzi, 1847 — Lear’s sketch.

When I visited Palizzi, the streets were empty. Wind moved through the old stone steps as I followed the path he had once walked.

From the sketch, the view seemed to be from low ground near the riverbed. I walked down toward the bridge.

Broken pomegranates lay on the path. Two crows chased each other above the houses.

Black-and-white photo of Palizzi Superiore, Calabria, showing a hillside village with tiled roofs and stone buildings

The riverbed was almost dry. A thin stream ran through reeds about four meters tall. I stepped into the reeds.

Green covered the riverbed. I lowered the camera. The wind moved where the river had once flowed.

Black-and-white photo of a stone bridge in Palizzi, Calabria, partially obscured by tall reeds and dense vegetation. In the background, buildings including a small bell tower are visible, contrasting with the overgrown riverbed in the foreground.

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