Martone

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Martone
Comune
Comune di Martone
Coat of arms
Location of Martone
Martone Location of Martone in Italy Show map of Italy Martone Martone (Calabria) Show map of Calabria
Coordinates: 38°21′N 16°17′E / 38.350°N 16.283°E / 38.350; 16.283
Country	Italy
Region	Calabria
Metropolitan city	Reggio Calabria (RC)
Frazioni	Poligori
Area [1]
• Total	8 km2 (3 sq mi)
Population  (2001)[2]
• Total	597
• Density	75/km2 (190/sq mi)
Demonym	Martonesi (Martunisi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	89040
Dialing code	0964
Patron saint	Saint George (Santu San Giorgi)
Saint day	23 April
Website	Official website

Martone (in Calabrian also referred as Màrtuni) is a comune in the province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy. The town has historical roots dating back to the 7th and 8th centuries when it was founded by Greek Christian monks from the Byzantine Orient. These monks, who came from the regions surrounding the Aegean Sea and the Levant, played a key role in the establishment of the area.

Martone, like all of the communes in the Locride area, was part of a larger group of comuni, all of which were founded by Greek monks. Residents of these comuni practiced monasticism. The monks are described as "... living solitarily ... bound by the oath of chastity in the communal bond of prayer and work."^[3]

In time, these communities have remembered the monks' existence through art and the influence of faith throughout the region. In the Grotto Territory, which included the municipalities of Mammola, Martone and St. Giovanni di Gerace, there were "small monastic churches, which [...] still preserve traces of Byzantine art".^[4] These monasteries "... were not only intended to preserve the relicts of antiquity, ... but also... agriculture and trades, reforesting, land-reclaiming, cultivating, ploughing ... opening the way to the first artisan activities ... in a calamitous and decentralized age which was the Byzantine."^[5]