271-286

Religious literature in the Greek-speaking villages of Salento and in Calabria

The author presents various literary texts of religious character (hymns, prayers etc.) written in the Grico, i.e. the dialect of the Greek-speaking villages of Southern Italy. Officially recognized by Italy and the EU as a linguistic minority, the Greek speakers of Salento and Calabria struggle to preserve their culture, and despite the fact that they belong to the Roman Catholic Church, their religious literature bears considerable resemblance to that of Greece proper. The author exploits these analogies in order to support the thesis according to which the contemporary Greek presence in Southern Italy goes back to the times of ancient Greek colonization and is not due exclusively to Byzantine occupation of the area.

• Languages and Literature
• Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

• Λογοτεχνία
• Ύμνοι