Every Regginian knows the Pentimele hill, the one we see from the A3 in the north, where you can admire one of the best views of the city and the strait. But why is it called “Pentimele”? Reggio is a city that has deep Greek roots, and “Pentimele” is in fact the combination and Italianisation of two ancient Greek words: penti, meaning five, and mele, meaning chants or songs. So from this we can see that Pentimele means five songs, but why is it named so? In a time long ago on the hill, when nature ruled unchallenged and the flora and fauna were much different to how they are now, when lions and tigers were also a common site in the strait, an ancient Regginian myth was born.
One day a woman gave birth to identical quintuplets, whose beauty was known across the land, and soon the suitors came from all around in order to win their hearts. The sisters had no intention to marry and leave each others’ sides and so refused all who were presented. Finally one day the sisters were presented with another five identical quintuplet brothers who were very interested in winning the hearts of these five beautiful girls. The sisters softened and finally allowed the brothers into their hearts. One problem arose however, as the brothers could not distinguish between the five identical sisters, so the women in the evenings would sing with their sweet voices five different songs to their lovers. Later they all married, and lived happily ever after with their identical husbands and identical wives. Another sweet myth to add to our deeply historical Reggio.
