Calimera
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Calimera (Καλημέρα, "good morning" in both Greek and Griko) is a small town of 7,296 inhabitants in the Grecìa Salentina area of the Salento peninsula in Italy, located between Gallipoli and Otranto. It belongs to the province of Lecce.
The inhabitants of Calimera besides Italian also speak Griko, a linguistic amalgam comprising ancient Greek, Byzantine Greek and Italian elements. Apart from the language, the folklore, traditions and history of Calimera, as the history of eight other cities in the area (called Salentinian Greece), reveals significant Greek influences over the course of time, presumably from the time of the Byzantine control, or even the ancient Magna Graecia colonisation in the 8th century BCE.
In the nice park of the town, you can find a small monument containing an ancient Attic burial stone, gifted by the city of Athens in 1960 to Calimera. At the top of this monument there's a motto referred to the burial stone: "Zeni su en ise ettù sti Kalimera" (in Greek script: Ζένη 'σού 'εν είσαι ετού στη Καλημέρα), meaning "You are not a stranger here in Calimera", underlining the close relationships and common origins with the Greek Civilization.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Community of Calimera, in Italian
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| Grecìa Salentina (Salentinian Greece) |  |
|---|---|
| Calimera | Castrignano de' Greci | Corigliano d'Otranto | Martano | Martignano | Melpignano | Soleto | Sternatia | Zollino | |
