Calabria

Calabria is the southernmost part of the Italian penninsula, located between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas.
Originally inhabited by a people called The Brutti, and then conquered by The Greeks. The Brutti defeated the Greeks at The Battle of Tarentum, and briefly established an independant state, until they took the wrong side in the Second Punic War, and and they were annexed into Rome. After that, Calabria passed between several powerful groups including The Normans, The Byzantine Empire, and was even a part of Spain during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Famous Calabrese include Pythagoras, who established his cult in the city of Crotone, Joy Behar, who is one of the hosts of The View, and some pre-Socratic philosophers.

A kayak manufactured by Prijon, designed primarily for touring and well-suited to beginners. The hull is trihedral for tracking and stability, and the boat features a large one-person cockpit and ample storage spaces. The seat is ergonomically designed with adjustable backpad, and the footbraces and thighpads are all adjustable. The Calabria is outfitted with a waterproof hatch, deck netting, and tow and deck line.

Statistics
Length: 14.5 feet
Width: 2 feet
Weight: 60 pounds
Volume: 103 gallons
Paddler's Weight: up to 250 pounds
Cockpit: 3x1.5 feet
Capacity: 285 pounds

Calabria was inhabited by a large number of Albanian settlers who crossed the Adriatic Sea in the 15th century, fleeing the Muslim persecution of the Turks who had conquered their native land. Consequently, there are many Albanian towns in Calabria (Santa Caterina Albanese, for example) where people speak traditional Italian, the regional dialect of Calabrese, and Albanian. Albanian traditions have also been adhered to for centuries, including loyalty to the Greek rites of Catholicism (not to be confused with the Greek Orthodox church), which allow married men to become priests.

The Calabresi are subject to the pervasive regional racism that is characteristic of Italy. While not as discriminated against as the Sicilians to their south, Calabresi are stereotyped as backwards, rural, ignorant, and oafish by the more industrial North. This is not entirely misled, for during the formative years of the 19th century, as the Austrian-inhabited North was becoming industrialized, the South remained purely agricultural under the feudal reign of the Bourbons. Nowadays, some regional centers have grown and modernized (such as the city of Cosenza), but for the most part Calabria remains pastoral, as younger generations leave their home villages for the bigger cities of the North or emigrate to America.