A holiday to live in colour
WHAT TO SEE IN CALABRIA: Reggio Calabria and province
four wonders of Reggio Calabria and its province, the Aspromonte, the Costa Viola, the Strait and the Grecanica area
If you are undecided and don't know what to see or do in Calabria, then here is a useful guide to Reggio Calabria and its province.
The pearly cliffs of the Costa Viola, the rugged and impenetrable Aspromonte. Reggio is truly a great garden and without doubt one of the most beautiful places you can find on earth': this is how Edward Lear described the province of Reggio Calabria more than 150 years ago. Not much has changed since then: the citrus groves, bergamots, vineyards and fragrant jasmine are still there and from Montalto, the highest peak of Aspromonte, rays of sunlight filter through the clouds, colouring the slopes of the massif with a thousand shades, until they are reflected in the deep blue of the Mediterranean. It is said that the mountain is the home of the Sibyl: her house is in a cave between Montalto and Polsi, among gigantic chestnut trees.
Christian intoxication, pagan legends, pirate raids, cultivated fields and impenetrable woods weigh, with their primitive charge, on a land with two inseparable faces.
Just above San Luca, the village of Corrado Alvaro, there are monoliths as attractive as their names: Pietra di Febo, Pietra Lunga, Pietra Castello and Pietra Cappa, more than 100 m high; and at Cànolo, the 'Dolomites of the South' are preceded by green hills and steps on the sea. There is a murmur of ancient traditions, and in a small group of hills Greek is still spoken: Amendolea, Roccaforte del Greco, Ghorìo, Condofuri, Roghudi, Bova, villages whose etymology leaves no doubt. There is also the temple of the Dioscuri, the Greek-Roman theatre, the sanctuary of Persephone, Locri.
Ancient Caulonia has its roots in the greatest conflict known to ancient history: the Trojan War! Here you can still feel the ghost of the Amazon queen killed by the Crotonians, while the tormented valley of the Stilaro leads to Stilo, the town of Tommaso Campanella and seat of the Byzantine Cattolica. Today Stilo is one of the most beautiful and visited towns in Calabria. Its land rich in history and monuments, its millenary culture and the numerous events that take place all year round, offer pleasant surprises to the tourist and the possibility to enrich his stay with moments of culture, art and handicrafts.
In Scilla, the Venice of the South, the nymph transformed by the sorceress Circe into a monster lives on the mythical cliff, while in Bagnara Calabra the ceremonies linked to swordfish fishing date back to Phoenician times. A date with the Middle Ages in Gerace, with potters' workshops in artificial caves, the castle, and the unique beauty of the cathedral.
There is still the charm of the wood craftsmen in San Giorgio Morgeto and the ceramic workshops in Seminara, the flavours of the Greek wine of Bianco and the zibibbo and torroni (nougat) of Bagnara and still fairytale visions in the perched villages, in the houses welded to the rocks of Pentedàttilo and Palizzi, in the terraces cultivated with vineyards overlooking the sea between Palmi and Bagnara. In Palmi, the city of variety, you can encounter the culture of Leonida Repaci and Francesco Cilea and the nature of the Tracciolino route, visit the crypt of San Fantino, the oldest saint in Calabria, and taste the delicious Struncatura.
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