Varapodio is a comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

(municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria

Province of Reggio Calabria

The Province of Reggio Calabria is a province in the Calabria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Reggio., it has an area of 3,183 km², and a total population of 565,866. There are 97 comuni in the province, see Comuni of the Province of Reggio Calabria.- Economy :The region is...

 in the southern Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 region Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

, located about 80 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 35 km northeast of Reggio Calabria

Reggio Calabria

Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, southern Italy, and is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and seat of the Council of Calabrian government.Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian...

.

Varapodio is located 20 km from the coast of Gioia Tauro

Gioia Tauro

Gioia Tauro is a comune in the province of Reggio Calabria, in Calabria , on the Tyrrhenian coast. It has an important port, situated along the route connecting Suez to Gibraltar, one of the busiest maritime corridors in the world....

, and is one of the towns on the plains of Gioia Tauro. It borders the following municipalities: Ciminà

Ciminà

Ciminà is a comune in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 80 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 45 km northeast of Reggio Calabria...

, Molochio

Molochio

Molochio is a comune in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 80 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 40 km northeast of Reggio Calabria...

, Oppido Mamertina

Oppido Mamertina

Oppido Mamertina is a town and comune of the province of Reggio Calabria in Calabria in southern Italy at about 62 kilometres northeast of Reggio Calabria and about 120 kilometres southwest of Catanzaro....

, Platì

Platì

Platì is a town and comune in the province of Reggio Calabria, in Calabria, southern Italy. It rises 300 metres above the sea level on the slope of the Aspromonte mountains and is located next to the Aspromonte National Park...

, Taurianova

Taurianova

Taurianova is a comune in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 80 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 40 km northeast of Reggio Calabria...

, Terranova Sappo Minulio

Terranova Sappo Minulio

Terranova Sappo Minulio is a comune in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 80 km southwest of Catanzaro and about 35 km northeast of Reggio Calabria...

.

Etymology

The name of the town has evolved over the ages. Originally it was called Marrapodi, derived from the Greek 'Mαραποδιον', or Marrapodion, possibly meaning 'heavy-footed'. Another theory put forward by Don Antonino Di Masi is that the name is derived from the local river called Marro. It was later called Barapodi by the local Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians who inhabited the town, then to the Latinised Baropedium during the 14th-16th Century. In modern times, it was regularly called Varapodi, and then finally to Varapodio in 1811, although Varapodi is still used in the local dialect.

History

the ancient Varapodio was located three kilometres from its present location, in an area called Il Salvatore. According to the tradition, town was founded in 951 CE by inhabitants fleeing Islamic attacks on along the coast. By the 17th century, the town had shifted to its present location, where there were already a few established churches founded by the Augustinian Fathers. The town attained autonomy by Royal Decree number 922 on May 4, 1811.

Varapodio experienced significant levels of emigration during the 1950s to 1960s, with communities of emigrants settling in Northern Italy, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and within Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, principally Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, Cobram, Shepparton and Swan Hill. Today, agriculture is still the driving force behind the economy of the town, although industry is present with factories specializing in processing oranges and olives.