Diamante

Diamante is a town of about 4,900 inhabitants in the province of Cosenza, at the heart of the Upper Tyrrhenian Cosentino coast. It sits on the central stretch of the Riviera dei Cedri and packs into a few kilometres a painted fishing village, some 8 km of shoreline and, offshore, one of only two islands in Calabria. Since 2021 its coast has held the Blue Flag.

Geography

The old town gathers on a small headland over the Tyrrhenian Sea, just south of the Corvino stream, which flows down from the hinterland and is lined by the Enzo La Valva park. To the north, the hamlet of Cirella is split in two: the beach village on the coast and, on a hill 172 metres up, the ruins of the medieval settlement. Facing Cirella rises the island of Cirella, which together with the island of Dino makes up Calabria’s pair of islands.

History

The name evokes the gem, though nobody can say for sure why: a local legend tells of a crow that, drinking from the stream, fished out a diamond, and from it the stream itself took the name Corvino.

Traces of Greek and Roman presence surface here and there, but today’s settlement was born in the 16th century, when the Sanseverino princes had a tower built against Saracen raids. Around that stronghold the prince of Bisignano Tiberio Carafa, lord of Belvedere and Diamante from 1622, raised a wider fortification. Once the sea raids ended, country people moved down to the coast; merchants from Naples, Amalfi and Salerno and noble families of Spanish origin followed, and the village took shape.

Fishing and farming long underpinned the economy. The star crop was the citron, in its “liscio Diamante” variety: a large, fragrant fruit grown mainly for candying, which every summer drew rabbis from Jewish communities in search of the perfect etrog for the Feast of Tabernacles. Exports to Israel and the United States made the citron a resource for the whole area, which takes its name from it: Riviera dei Cedri. In 1826 a hoard of six thousand Roman coins came to light on a plot at Cirella.

Cirella’s history is older than Diamante’s: classical authors (Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Silius Italicus) record Cerillae, a city founded by the Ausones that prospered on trade between Rome and Magna Graecia and was destroyed in 203 BC by the Carthaginian general Hanno for its loyalty to Rome. The medieval hill town, founded between 850 and 1000, was hit by the French fleet in 1806 and finally abandoned in 1808; that same year, 1806, Napoleonic troops built the small fort there.

What to see

The best way to get to know Diamante is on foot. In the village of murals the walls of the alleys are an open-air gallery: the idea came from painter Nani Razetti, who in 1981, with mayor Evasio Pascale, invited 85 artists from around the world to paint Diamante and Cirella. More works were added over the years and in 2021, for the fortieth anniversary, the Murales40 project brought new pieces (including one by Jorit on the town hall) and the restoration of historic murals such as those by Eva Krump and Ibrahim Kodra.

Above the old town rises the Torre del Semaforo, a 16th-century watchtower commissioned by Girolamo Sanseverino, prince of Bisignano: a customs house by the mid-1600s, it was raised in the late 1800s and fitted with a 40-metre mast for the merchant navy. Since 2016 it has belonged to the town and houses a museum and the tourist information point.

The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, built in the 17th century and restored in 1787 and 1880, keeps the monumental statue of the Immaculate donated by Tiberio Carafa: about two metres tall, carved from an olive trunk around 1656. In February 2025 the church was granted the title of minor basilica. Nearby, the Church of San Biagio (early 1800s) holds the wooden statue of the saint and a painting of the Virgin and Child.

The old seafront, opened in 1965, is still the town’s “drawing room”: from here the eye runs along the whole coast and, at night, to the fishermen’s lamp boats. Behind the centre, the Enzo La Valva park follows the Corvino stream and within a few metres shifts from seaside to an almost mountain landscape; it hosts the multimedia aquarium and the Italian Chilli Pepper Academy.

Cirella, the village and the ruins

A few minutes from the centre, Cirella deserves half a day. On the hill, the ruins of old Cirella preserve the remains of a castle, a church with a Romanesque bell tower and traces of frescoes; between the ruins and the Monastery of the Minims (1545, left by the friars in 1810 and restored in 2018 as a place of worship and events venue) stands the Teatro dei Ruderi, built between 1994 and 1997 in Greek style for summer performances. At the foot of the hill lies the Roman mausoleum, a monumental tomb of the 2nd–3rd century AD later used as a church and finally as a farm store, while excavations on the headland have uncovered the foundations of a large Roman villa. On the coast, the church of Santa Maria dei Fiori (recorded in 1617, tufa portal of 1637) gathers Roman columns, 15th- and 16th-century frescoes removed from old Cirella and the wooden statue of the Madonna dei Fiori. Offshore, on the islet, the watchtower built between the late 1500s and early 1600s against Turkish raids still stands.

Flavours and traditions

The table tells of the sea: pitticelle fritters of rosamarina, rosamarina with pepper (the “poor man’s caviar”) and anchovies preserved in salt and chilli in clay cugnitti. The citron goes into sweet and savoury dishes, the liqueur made from its peel, candied fruit and panicilli, Christmas sweets of raisins wrapped in citron leaves that Gabriele D’Annunzio was fond of. Chilli pepper is the other emblem: since 1992 Diamante has hosted the annual Peperoncino Festival, conceived by journalist Enzo Monaco on the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America, with tastings, workshops, exhibitions and a “spicy” film showcase; the Italian Chilli Pepper Academy is based in town. Since 2011 the Mediterraneo Festival Corto has awarded short films from around the world, and among the ruins of Cirella “Calici sotto le stelle” celebrates Calabrian wines.

Diamante also has a cultural and cinematic bent: philosopher Nuccio Ordine, born here, brought the seminars of the Italian Institute for Philosophical Studies to town, and the village has been a film set for L’abbuffata by Mimmo Calopresti, Per sempre by Alessandro Di Robilant and L’ultimo Re by Aurelio Grimaldi. Cycling fans remember the Giro d’Italia: in 1982 Francesco Moser won the stage from Castellammare di Stabia on the seafront and took the pink jersey; stages later set off from Diamante in 2005 towards Giffoni Valle Piana and in 2022 towards Potenza.

Getting there

Diamante lies on the SS18 Tirrena Inferiore state road, which links every town on the coast, and is served by Diamante-Buonvicino station on the Tyrrhenian railway. By car you arrive from the A2 “del Mediterraneo” motorway (from the north, exit Lagonegro nord then SS585 and SS18; from the south, exit Falerna and SS18 northbound). The nearest airport is Lamezia Terme.