Culture Aieta Vetere and Monte Calimaro
The archaeological site of Aieta’s first settlement, on Monte Calimaro: the Lucanians’ lookout post, strengthened by the Byzantines against Goths and Lombards and abandoned after the Normans.
Riviera dei Cedri · Calabria
Places
Beaches, walkable old towns, churches and viewpoints: what to see on the Riviera dei Cedri.
- Culture
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Nature Arcomagno
The rock arch about 20 metres high hiding a small beach and a cave: the emblem of San Nicola Arcella, a Blue Flag beach.
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Culture Archaeological area of Laos
The remains of the Magna Graecia city founded by refugees from Sybaris, on the hill above Marcellina: “as large as Pompeii” according to Strabo.
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Culture Blanda: the Palècastro and San Brancato
The hill where the Oenotrian, Lucanian and Roman city of Blanda Julia rose, with its walls, forum, three small temples and the San Brancato necropolis: the site identified in 1891 and excavated from 1990.
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Beach Borgo San Marco and Monte Serra
The beach hamlet founded in 1910 by Venetian settlers after the earthquake of 1908: lidos between the Mulini and Santa Maria di Mare, the garden of the vajanelle peppers and, behind, Monte Serra with the sanctuary of the Madonna.
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Culture Capo Tirone and the Bruttian tombs
The headland of Belvedere’s Marina where in 1956 Bruttian burials of the 4th–3rd century BC came to light and, on the Cotura plain, a Roman villa d’otium.
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Culture Castle of Belvedere Marittimo
The Sanseverino fortress dominating the medieval village: Norman core, Angevin residence and Renaissance forms of 1490, with the coat of arms of Ferrante of Aragon on the gate.
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Culture Norman Castle
The castle ruins overlooking the old town of Scalea, offering a view over the coast and the Tyrrhenian Sea.
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Culture Abatemarco and the Castle of San Michele
The medieval settlement destroyed by a flood in the 17th century, with the ruins of the castle and the Norman aqueduct: Santa Maria del Cedro was born from here.
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Culture Castle of Sangineto
The castle of the Sanseverino princes of Bisignano (second half of the 15th century), rectangular with a wide arcade: in the courtyard, the olive tree planted by Austrian prisoners on 4 November 1918.
- Old town
Aieta historic centre
The village at 524 metres, one of the Borghi più belli d’Italia: the Renaissance Palazzo Martirano-Spinelli, sixteenth-century churches, the 1520 monastery of the Friars Minor and chapels of several centuries, above the Tortora valley.
- Old town
Medieval village of Belvedere Marittimo
The upper town on its 150-metre spur: the Chiesetta del Rosario with its 1091 portal, the birthplace of Saint Daniele Fasanella, the walls and the view over the Riviera dei Cedri.
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Old town Old town of Bonifati
The village 425 metres up between two cross-topped hills: the ruins of Castel Bonifati, the Rosary sanctuary, the Convent of San Francesco di Paola, the Calvario, the Annunziata and the noble palazzi.
- Old town
Old town of Cetraro
The Paese 120 metres above the Aron valley: the three gates of the fortified town, the little squares “a giorgia” and “miezzu a curta”, the Chiesa del Ritiro of 1454, San Nicola, the Capuchins and the Sette Mari fountain.
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Old town Old town of Fuscaldo
The village 350 metres up between the Maddalena and the Mercaudo: the stonemasons’ stone portals, the mother church of 1166, San Giuseppe, San Giovanni Nuovo and the memory of the Spinelli marquises’ castle.
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Old town Grisolia historic centre
The village perched at 465 metres opposite Maierà: covered alleys called spuortu, exposed stone, ceramili tiled roofs, the 15th-century Palazzo Ducale and the Civic Ethnographic Museum, with the Riviera dei Cedri below.
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Old town Maierà historic centre
Maierà’s lanes at 360 metres, facing the ravine that separates them from Grisolia: contemporary artworks along the alleys, the Chilli Pepper Museum and four churches, in the Pollino park.
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Old town Old town of Mormanno
The village at 820 metres divided into the Costa, Capo lo Serro, Casalicchio and Torretta quarters: the 9th-century Annunziata, family chapels, sanctuaries, the botanical garden and Mario Cucinella’s church.
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Old town Occitan old town of Guardia Piemontese
The village 515 metres up where Guardiolo is still spoken: stone alleys, the year-1000 tower, Sant’Andrea, the Dominicans’ wooden choir and the portal of the Spinelli marquises.
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Old town Old town of Orsomarso
The village born around the fortress of Ursus Martius: the panoramic clock tower, the Brancati baronial castle, the church of San Giovanni Battista with Collimodio’s canvases, the Franciscan convent and the water mill.
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Old town Rocchetta and old town of Paola
Paola’s old quarter between the Porta di San Francesco, the Clock Tower, the saint’s birthplace, the Norman-Aragonese castle and the Pisciariddi fountain.
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Old town Casaletto and belvedere of San Nicola Arcella
The upper village of San Nicola Arcella, with the alleys of the Casaletto, the murals and the belvedere overlooking three regions.
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Old town Old town of Sangineto
Sangineto’s hilltop village, gathered around the Sanseverino castle: Santa Maria della Neve with its 17th-century portal, the Convent of San Francesco di Paola and the chapels of San Giuseppe, the Carmine and San Michele.
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Old town Old town of Santa Domenica Talao
The Spinellis’ 17th-century village at 304 metres over the Lao valley: Piazza Italia with the wild olive tree and the panoramic terrace, the Campagna, Perrone, Schiffino, La Greca and Longo palazzi, the chapels and the Museo della Terra.
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Old town Old town of Scalea
The medieval core of Scalea, set on the promontory, with alleys, stairways, churches and palaces that tell the town's Norman and Angevin history.
- Old town
Old town of Tortora
The village of Julitta on its rocky spur: the stone portals of the palaces, the mother church of San Pietro Apostolo, the Annunziata and the memory of the Basilian monks and of Garibaldi.
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Old town Old town of Verbicaro
The village of the Battenti and the Zigni: stone portals, the Vico Vignale, the Old Fountain, the Clock Tower and seven churches, from the mother church of the Assunta to the sanctuary of San Francesco di Paola.
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Culture Church of the Santissimo Crocifisso
The small church of 1599 set against the village walls that houses the monumental wooden crucifix of 1711 conceived by Pietro Frasa.
- Culture
Church of Sotterra
Paola’s underground church, probably of the 9th–10th century, rediscovered in 1874 with its Byzantine frescoes and pilgrims’ graffiti.
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Culture Church of the Immacolata and its twelve-column bell tower
The Archconfraternity’s church (1633) remade by Nicolò Ricciullo, with its 35-metre bell tower of twelve tuff columns carved by Fuscaldo’s stonemasons and Pascaletti’s Immaculate of 1748.
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Culture Church of Santa Maria d'Episcopio (Madonna del Carmine)
The main church of Scalea's old town, dedicated to the Madonna del Carmine, patron of the city; its origins date back to the 8th century.
- Culture
Mother church of Santa Maria del Colle
Mormanno’s Neapolitan Baroque cathedral on Piazza Umberto I: built around 1700, consecrated in 1790, with Pietro Scardino’s tuff façade and the three portals of the confraternities.
- Culture
Church of San Benedetto Abate
The mother church founded by the monks of Montecassino, recorded from 1104 and remade in Baroque forms in the 18th century: medieval tower, wooden choir and one of the finest organs in Calabria.
- Culture
Mother church of San Giuseppe
Santa Domenica Talao’s parish church of 1662, enlarged in 1701: two-arched loggia, sinuous stone staircase, Baroque stuccoes, a polychrome marble altar of 1774 and a small crypt.
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Culture Church of San Nicola in Plateis
The “lower church” of Scalea’s old town, recorded from the 8th century: the 17th-century painting by Giovanni Bernardo Azzolino and, in the chapel of St Catherine, the funerary monument of Admiral Ademaro Romano.
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Culture Ruins of Cirella and Teatro dei Ruderi
The abandoned medieval village on the hill of Cirella, with castle, Romanesque church, Monastery of the Minims and an open-air theatre.
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Beach Cittadella del Capo
Bonifati’s coastal hamlet 23 metres above the sea, ancient Fella: Capo Bonifati station, the districts of Paneduro, Santa Maria and Telegrafo and the Capo and Fella towers.
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Votive Lighthouse to the Fallen of Calabria
The 1928 regional monument on Monte San Michele in Mormanno: a mountain lighthouse in memory of the Calabrians who fell in the Great War, with relics of the 11 gold medals and the Remembrance Park.
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Nature The Lao at Laino Borgo
The point where the Lucanian Mercure enters Calabria and becomes the Lao: at Laino Borgo the river collects the Battendiero and Iannello and plunges into its gorges, for rafting, kayaking and canyoning in the Pollino park.
- Culture
Seven Channels Fountain
The monumental sandstone fountain at the foot of Paola’s stairway: a 15th-century trough, a basin of 1636 and the peacock symbol of the town.
- Viewpoint
Scarcelli, Cariglio, Pesco and Marina di Fuscaldo
Fuscaldo’s hamlets and their churches: Santa Maria della Stella at Scarcelli, San Michele at Cariglio, the Madonna del Soccorso at Pesco with the feast of 5 August and the Rosario at the Marina with Bertè’s Last Supper.
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Culture Grotta del Romito
Papasidero’s Palaeolithic site: the engraving of the great aurochs (14,000–12,000 years ago), nine Homo sapiens burials and 13,000 years of use from the Gravettian to the Neolithic.
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Culture Cave of San Ciriaco
The cave of Venicelle at the foot of Monte Romano, on the Corvino, where Abbot Ciriaco, a disciple of Saint Nilus, withdrew to pray: destination of the 17 September pilgrimage.
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Nature Island of Cirella
The islet facing Cirella, one of only two islands in Calabria, with a watchtower on top.
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Nature Island of Dino
The island off Praia a Mare, one of only two islands in Calabria, famous for its sea caves and myrtle.
- Viewpoint
Monte Ciagola
The 1,463-metre peak overlooking Aieta, in the Pollino National Park.
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Nature Monte Pistuolo and the heights of Acquappesa
From the sea to 972 metres in a few kilometres: Monte Pistuolo, the administrative exclave of Pistuolo e Spaliota, Cozzo Moleo, Cozzo del Greco, the Rupe del Diavolo and 7 km² of woodland.
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Culture The murals of Diamante
The wall paintings that since 1981 have turned the alleys of Diamante and Cirella into an open-air gallery.
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Culture Waldensian Museum and Occitan Multimedia Museum
The two museums that explain Guardia Piemontese: the history of Calabria’s Waldensians in the “Gian Luigi Pascale” cultural centre and Occitan culture in video and documents in the municipal museum.
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Culture Citron Museum and Carcere dell’Impresa
The museum devoted to the Riviera’s citron, in the Sollazzo family’s 16th-century workshop: the citrus of candied fruit and of the Sukkot etrog.
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Culture Museum of Blanda
The old-town museum that tells of ancient settlement south of the Noce: the Oenotrian and Lucanian grave goods of San Brancato and the finds from Roman Blanda on the Palècastro.
- Culture
Porta del Sangue and the places of Waldensian memory
The village’s main gate, the peephole doors and the Val Pellice Rock with its 118 names: the marks of the night of 5 June 1561 and of the Day of Remembrance.
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Viewpoint Port of Cetraro
The port of the Marina, with its 450-metre breakwater and the Marina di San Benedetto yacht harbour: from here, on 11 July, the patron saint’s sea procession sets out.
- Beach
Sangineto Lido
Sangineto’s seaside at Le Crete, along the SS18, where the Riviera dei Cedri reaches its southern limit: the town’s beach quarter, lively in summer.
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Church of Santa Maria di Mércuri
The 10th-century Basilian chapel at Orsomarso, the only trace of the vanished settlement of Mercourion: single nave, semicircular apse, the monks’ masonry benches and a plaster Madonna.
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Santuario delle Cappelle (Sanctuary of the Chapels)
The Sacred Mount of the Madonna dello Spasimo, 2 km from Laino Borgo: frescoed chapels recalling the places of the Holy Land, begun in 1557 by the pilgrim Domenico Longo, and the feast on the third Sunday of September.
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Culture Sanctuary of the Madonna di Costantinopoli
The 17th–18th-century sanctuary dedicated to Papasidero’s patron saint, Our Lady of Constantinople, celebrated on the Tuesday after Pentecost.
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Culture Sanctuary of the Madonna della Grotta
The rock sanctuary of Praia a Mare, in a hillside cave, with the wooden statue of the Madonna that tradition says came from the sea in 1326.
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Culture Sanctuary of Saint Francis of Paola
The regional sanctuary of Calabria’s patron saint, in the Isca valley: old basilica, 1436 hermitage, Via dei Miracoli and the new basilica of 2000.
- Culture
Sanctuary of San Rocco
The sanctuary in the upper part of Grisolia, a pilgrimage destination in August: on 15 and 16 August the San Rocco procession, with women carrying caggie of candles, flowers and ribbons on their heads.
- Nature
The Stretto and the Sasso dei Greci
The 5-metre-wide gorge on the route between the Corvino valley and the Varco del Palombaro, with the vanished hamlets of Salvato, on the Sasso dei Greci, and Tripidone, from which Buonvicino was born.
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Nature Terme Luigiane
Acquappesa’s spa hamlet: sulphurous springs known since antiquity, named after Prince Luigi, Count of Aquila, shared with Guardia Piemontese and five times a Giro d’Italia finish.
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Culture Crawford Tower
The 15th-century tower on the headland of San Nicola Arcella, home of writer Francis Marion Crawford and setting of a vampire tale.
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Torre del Semaforo
The 16th-century tower overlooking Diamante’s old town, today a museum and information point.
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Culture Torre di Fiuzzi
The coastal tower on a 15-metre sea stack at Praia a Mare, facing the island of Dino, heir to an Angevin tower.
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Viewpoint Torre Talao
An islet and 16th-century tower on the Scalea coast, a historic natural landing; its caves preserve traces of the Palaeolithic.
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Towers of Bonifati
Five centuries of towers in Bonifati: the Torre del Capo (12th century), the Torre Parise (15th), the Torre di Fella and the Torre di Porta Malvitana (16th) and the vanished Torre del Telegrafo, which named a district of Cittadella del Capo.
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Tortora Marina and the Gulf of Policastro
The plain on the Gulf of Policastro where most of Tortora’s people live: beaches, ten districts joined in one settlement, the Palaeolithic site of Rosaneto and the Torre Nave cliff.
- Nature
Valle del Fiume Argentino nature reserve
The 1987, 3,980-hectare reserve at Orsomarso: Calabria’s last native roe deer, the Bosnian pine, the Ficara waterfall, the Tavolara pond and the Argentino gorges.
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Nature Valle del fiume Lao nature reserve
The 5,200-hectare reserve established in 1987 in the Pollino park: fifteen kilometres of the Lao gorge at Papasidero, abundant flow all year round, rafting and canoeing.