Praia a Mare

Praia a Mare is a town of about 6,200 inhabitants in the province of Cosenza, the first you meet coming down the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coast from Basilicata. It grew up as the seaside district of Aieta and only became independent in 1928; today it lives on beach tourism and owes its fame to the island of Dino, which closes the bay to the south with its sea caves.

Geography

The municipal territory is small but climbs fast: from the beaches at sea level to the 1,158 metres of the Catena Costiera ridge that forms the backdrop to the town. To the north the Noce river marks the border with Basilicata; to the south opens the alluvial plain of the Lao river. The climate is Mediterranean, with hot summers and rain concentrated in winter. Off the Fiuzzi area rises the island of Dino, one of only two islands in Calabria (the other is the island of Cirella, at Diamante).

History

Praia began as a village of fishermen and farmers squeezed between the Noce and the rocky buttress that closes the Lao plain. The name has ancient, debated roots: Plaga Sclavorum, “beach of the Schiavoni”, recalling the trade in goods and people along this coast, or Plaga Slavorum after a Slavic colony; at its root in any case is the Greek plagia, “beach”. For centuries the village was the seaside district of Aieta, the town perched three hours’ walk higher up, and was called Praia d’Aieta.

In 1928 the marina became an independent municipality with its present name and, for a few years, even absorbed the municipalities of Aieta and Tortora, which regained their independence in 1937. Between the 1960s and 1990s the town grew quickly thanks to investment by the Marzotto group and the Agnelli family, who for a time made it one of Calabria’s main textile districts. Today the economy revolves around the sea, with small-scale production of oil, medicinal herbs and myrtle, which grows abundantly on the island of Dino.

What to see

The place dearest to the people of Praia is the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Grotta, carved into a natural cave in the hillside. Tradition, recorded in the 17th century by Girolamo Marafioti, tells that in August 1326 a Turkish ship stopped inexplicably off the island of Dino: the crew blamed a wooden statue of the Virgin and Child kept by the Christian captain, who rather than throw it into the sea left it in the cave on the shore. It was found by a young mute shepherd from Aieta, who ran to the village and regained his speech; carried to Aieta’s mother church, the statue is said to have returned on its own to its cave, where it is still venerated today. Every year in mid-August the statue is carried in procession through the streets and out to sea.

Along the coast the old defences remain: the Rocca di Praia, a 14th-century fortified complex of Norman construction; the Fortino of Fumarulo, built in the 1500s by the lords of Aieta to protect the shore; and the Torre di Fiuzzi, one of the largest towers in the area, raised against Saracen raids on a 15-metre sea stack where an Angevin tower already stood. On the shore you can also spot the concrete pillboxes of the Second World War. The Grotta delle Sardine recalls fishing with the cianciorro, the net once used to catch sardines. In town, the Municipal Museum gathers more than two hundred works of modern and contemporary art donated by Italian and foreign artists.

The island of Dino

A few metres from Fiuzzi beach, the island of Dino is the emblem of Praia a Mare and belongs to the municipality. Its cliffs hide sea caves visited by boat: the Grotta Azzurra, named after the intense colour of the water inside, and the Grotta del Leone, where a rock recalls the outline of a lying lion. Myrtle grows abundantly on the island, and the community has begun to cultivate and process it on the mainland too.

Town life: festivals, beaches and the Giro d’Italia

Praia’s summer has its fixtures: the Praia World Festival, an international world-music showcase in Piazza della Resistenza; the Premio Sonora, devoted to film music; the cultural salon “Praia a Mare con…”, which brings philosophers and writers to Piazza Italia; and since 2017 the Prajacoustic fest, acoustic concerts promoted by the cantiere505 association. The beaches hold the Blue Flag and, since 2010, the paediatricians’ Green Flag for child-friendly shores.

Praia is also cycling country: the Giro d’Italia has finished here twice in recent years, with wins by Diego Ulissi in 2016 and Sam Bennett in 2018, and on both occasions the next stage set off from the town. In football the local club, born from a merger with Tortora, plays at the Mario Tedesco municipal stadium.

Getting there

Praia a Mare is served by Praja-Ajeta-Tortora station on the Salerno–Reggio Calabria Tyrrhenian line. By car you arrive from the A2 “del Mediterraneo” motorway: from the north, exit Lagonegro nord, then SS585 Fondo Valle del Noce and SS18; from the south, exit Falerna and SS18 northbound. The nearest airport is Lamezia Terme.