Every city in Calabria | Italia Magnifica

Every city in Calabria

From the capital to the smallest borghi.

CatanzaroThe capitalCalabria's regional capital sits high on a ridge between two ravines, looking out over the Ionian Sea from the narrow waist of the peninsula. A working hilltop city of viaducts and steep lanes, far removed from the resort coast.
AltomonteA hill town in the Pollino foothills of northern Calabria, gathered around a striking Angevin Gothic church that holds a small museum of medieval art, an unusual northern style this far south.
Camigliatello SilanoA mountain resort high in the Sila National Park, ringed by giant pine forests and plateau lakes. Snow draws skiers in winter, while the Giganti della Sila reserve shelters centuries-old trees of remarkable height.
CosenzaAn ancient inland city below the Sila, its old town climbing a hillside in a tangle of stepped lanes. The cathedral, consecrated before Frederick II in 1222, holds the tomb of Isabella of Aragon and anchors the medieval centro storico.
CrotoneAn Ionian port founded by Greek colonists, once among the most powerful cities of Magna Graecia. It was here that Pythagoras established his school of mathematics and philosophy in the sixth century BC.
GeraceA medieval borgo perched like an eagle's nest above the Ionian plain, its lanes opening onto Calabria's largest Romanesque cathedral. Consecrated under the Normans in 1045, it rests on a forest of ancient columns.
Isola di Capo RizzutoA stretch of the Ionian coast guarded by Le Castella, an Aragonese castle set on its own islet at the water's edge. The surrounding Capo Rizzuto marine reserve protects clear shallows and pale, sandy beaches.
PizzoA Tyrrhenian town stacked above the sea, famous for tartufo, the chocolate-cored gelato ball invented here. Its Aragonese castle is where Joachim Murat was executed in 1815, and the Piedigrotta church is carved straight into the seaside tuff.
Reggio CalabriaThe city on the Strait of Messina, its waterfront promenade facing Sicily across the water and home of the bergamot orchards. Its National Museum of Magna Graecia guards the Riace Bronzes, two fifth-century BC Greek warriors raised from the seabed in 1972.
ScillaThe rock of Homer's sea monster, where the Ruffo castle stands on a cliff above the Strait of Messina. Below it lies Chianalea, a fishing quarter whose houses rise straight from the water, with swordfish boats moored at the doorsteps.
StiloA hill town on the slopes of Monte Consolino, best known for the Cattolica, a tiny five-domed Byzantine chapel of ninth-century brick that survives almost intact above the rooftops.
TropeaCalabria's most famous resort, a cliff-top old town poised above white-sand beaches and clear Tyrrhenian water, with Stromboli smoking on the horizon. The sanctuary of Santa Maria dell'Isola sits on its own sea rock below the town. Famed for sweet red onions.
Vibo ValentiaA hilltop provincial town set back from the Tyrrhenian coast, looking down over the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia. Its Norman-Swabian castle crowns a site with deep roots in the Greek and Roman past.