The Mafia Phenomenon in Italy

When non-Italian citizens think about Mafia they picture huge villas in which bosses spend their entire time surrounded by bodyguards, beautiful women, and a lot of drug. Despite this scenario could resemble a perfect Hollywood movie, the Italian Mafia is all but showing one's power and wealth. One of the most powerful but at the same time more hidden Mafias, is the Ndrangheta, the Calabrian one. To reflect briefly on the etymology of the word "Ndrangheta" is not merely an academic exercise, but could instead give us important cues on its historical analysis. The most convincing etymological hypothesis is that the word Ndrangheta derives form the ancient Greek term ἀνδραγαθία, or andragathia, that means "virile virtue, courage" (La Piccola Treccani). the andragathia is the quality of a man that is brave, noble, and worthy of respect, and the Ndrangheta had historically wanted to create consent boasting to be the holder of these popular values; in particular, the Ndrangheta claimed to hold the belief in justice and social order that the legal powers couldn't assure, manipulating people's trust to turn it against the State and the other institutions. Since some decades ago, the term Ndrangheta was used in Calabria even to indicate a high level of heroism and virtue embodied in an elite of superior men, or ndranghetisti. In Calabrian dialect, the word ndranghetista identified a talented man, capable of protecting and let his honor to be respected (La Piccola Treccani).

HISTORY According to the myth, at the end of the seventeen century, three knights sailed from Spain for an affair of honor and landed in Italy. Their name were Osso, Mastrosso, and Carcagnosso. The first one, devoting himself to Saint George, decided to stay in Sicily and to found Cosa Nostra; the second one, devoting to the Virgin Mary, choose Campania and gave birth to the Camorra; the third, praying Saint Michael the Archangel, decided to move to Calabria where invented the Ndrangheta. (