ABSTRACT
Book Title – Greek Monasticism in Southern Italy: The Life of Neilos in Context (edited by Barbara Crostini and Ines Angeli Murzaku)
Chapter Number & Title – Chapter 7 : Monastic Interactions Between Calabria and Mount Athos in the Middle Ages (by Enrico Morini)
This paper considers the symbolic importance of Mount Athos and of the monastic communities there for Southern Italian monasticism. It re-evaluates the one-sided consideration for the Eastern Greek monks by Southern Italian ascetes, whose travels to the holy mountain are in various way recorded. In particular, it considers the displacement of Nikephoros the Naked, the disciple of St Phantinos, and of Bartholomew of Simeri, in fostering ties between the regions of Southern Italy and the monastic communities on Athos, by critically revising the import of the sources for such travel accounts.
