There are indeed many significant architectural and archaeological finds in Calabria deserving special attention due to their uniqueness. Some of these monuments appear to be the only examples in all of Southern Italy. One such example is a small ancient church located five kilometers before the town of Staiti, also known as the smallest village in Calabria (with fewer than 250 inhabitants). We are in the area of the small municipality of Brancaleone, in the province of Reggio Calabria. The Municipality of Staiti provides information on how to reach the small church, necessary directions, road conditions, and the distance from the small town. It also offers the possibility to visit the museum of the Italo-Greek Saints in the village.
Access and management fall under the jurisdiction of the Municipality, requiring reservations and specified arrival times. Heading towards Staiti, the landscape is immediately pristine, with hills adorned in autumn colors and flocks grazing. The apses of the small church could be glimpsed among the hills and expanses of olive trees from the road. Some refer to the area and the church itself as the San Galgano of the south, for its evocativeness and the surviving perimeter walls, no longer supporting a roof or dome, reaching towards the sky in communion with God. The monument today appears weathered by time. The ancient church is presumed to have originally been part of a now-vanished convent. Part of the central nave, as well as parts of the side walls and the dome, have been lost and later reconstructed. Still standing are the body of the presbyterial area, with a small hint of a dome, possibly collapsed two centuries ago, and the entrance facade of the church.
Its dating is controversial. Some scholars believe it was built in the second half of the 11th century (according to the theories of Paolo Orsi and Stefano Bottari), and this is the date indicated on the sign; others argue that it was constructed in the first half of the 12th century. However, it is certain that the monument dates to a period after the Norman occupation of Calabria, concluded in 1060 with the capture of Reggio Calabria.
Various hypotheses have been formulated about its foundation: a legend tells that in the same area, there stood a small temple built by the Locrians in the 5th-6th century BC, constructed to thank the God Neptune for saving them from a storm, whose statue was covered by a precious jeweled mantle, later stolen by Hannibal during his stay on the Calabrian Ionian coast to punish the Locrians, allies of Rome. In that period, it was necessary to choose whether to side with Hannibal or Rome, and many Magna Graecia colonies chose Rome for political reasons. Assuming that a temple must have pre-existed, the Basilian monks took possession of it between the 7th and 8th centuries, transforming it into a Greek Church in honor of the Madonna of the Trident (a clear allusion to the sea deity), later named Tridetti. According to other sources, however, the word could derive from the Greek tridactylon (three fingers) to indicate the Blessing Child in the arms of the Virgin. The only document that has come down to us regarding the church dates back to 1060, and it refers to a privilege of Count Ruggero d'Altavilla, who ordered the allocation of part of the abbey's income to the Chapter of Bova, from which the church depended. Scholars believe that to carry out such an operation, not only should the Brazilian monastery have existed before 1000, but by that date, it must have already had liturgical relevance. Paolo Orsi, an archaeologist overseeing antiquities and fine arts in Calabria, the discoverer of many archaeological treasures in Calabria, including the archaeological site of the Kaulon baths, discovered the structure in 1912, placing its origin in the 11th century, precisely mentioning the pre-existence of a small temple.