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Tropea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropea
http://www.turiscalabria.it/website/?lang=en&categoria=&view_type=s&id=196&title=.html
Tropea is nicknamed the Pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea and is located on a terrace at about 70 meters above sea level. It is the best known Calabrian resort, with its walls, its towers, its gates, its sandy beach and a charming medieval historical centre The agricultural sector is also well-known, it includes among its products the famous Tropea onion, already known at the time of Pliny the Elder. Exported for two thousand years, the red onion has built its reputation around Italy and the world thanks to its sweet taste, a feature that is not found in any other onion among the 50 existing types. This characteristic is favoured by the microclimate of the area, mild and without temperature changes in the winter, thanks to the proximity of the sea, and the particular soil fertility. In addition to its sweet taste (due to the abundance of sugars such as glucose and lactose) it is also easily digestible. Another trait of the onion is its intense red colour. The history of Tropea begins in Roman times when, along the coast, the first villages were founded. Due to its characteristic position of terrace on the sea, Tropea played an important role, in Roman times, under the rule of the Saracens, and especially under the Normans and the Aragonese. Traditions attribute to Tropea a martyr St. Domenica who was persecuted by Diocletian. It was a bishopric in undefined ancient times. With the end of the Roman world it was surrounded by walls and began its autonomous life as a very disputed land: between the 9th and the 11th century Tropea was occupied alternately by the Byzantines and Arabs. The Arabs ruled for the first time from 840 to 885, and then a second time in 946 and a third time in 985. The Arabs erected the Torre Lunga on the highest part of the rock, while the Byzantines built a large part of the wall that still today is called Belisario’s wall, instead the Aragonese built the tower mastra. Around the 12th century the Norman cathedral was constructed. And Tropea started a particular period of industriousness. It became a bishopric around which a cathedral chapter and then a seminary were built. During these decades, and thanks to the mild climate and the port that connected it with the main markets of the Mediterranean, Tropea became the home of a large noble and wealthy class. The city became more and more prosperous due to the privileges obtained by the various sovereigns of Naples. While the port made it one of the leading wine emporium of Europe, the urban nucleus extended its jurisdiction over a large territory which included 24 villages called Casali. In the 15th century, the academy of the Affatigati arose, it contributed to the flourishing of a considerable cultural life until the 19th century. In the centuries closest to us, it was part of the Viceregno and then the Kingdom of Naples, as a state town. With the silting of the ancient natural system at the end of the 19th century, and with the political changes of the 19th century, the structure of its long history and its relative wealth started to disintegrate.

Church of Piedigrotta and Murat Castle

https://www.chiesadipiedigrotta.it/
http://www.turiscalabria.it/website/?lang=en&categoria=&view_type=s&id=679&title=castello-murat-e- chiesa-di-piedigrotta.html
The church of PIEDIGROTTA Breathless.
This is what happens to the visitor upon entering the church of Piedigrotta, in Pizzo for the first time. A surreal, magical place, in which mysticism blends with art: in the church you can’t help lowering your voice and remaining breathless.

MURAT CASTLE
“Aim for my chest…not my face.”, the heroic last words pronounced before dying. There is no fear in his voice. His eyes looking towards the sea, which had held great promises of victory and had instead lead him to his last day, the same sea that separated him from his loved ones, his wife Carolina and his children, Achille, Letizia, Lucien and Luisa. The history of the castle is bound to the death of Joachim Murat, king of Naples, a valiant and fearless man, who had looked for a victory and the recapture of his kingdom in Pizzo but had instead found his death there. Inside the fortress there is a historical reconstruction of the last days of life of Joachim Murat, depicting different moments of the detention of the king and his men in the different areas of the castle: within the cells of the lower/ underground part their imprisonment is shown, that of Joachim Murat and some of his soldiers from his expedition; on the first floor the scene of the trial against the ex- king of Naples; the cell in which he spent the last moments of his life and in which he wrote the goodbye letter to his wife Carolina and his four children, and still on the second floor the scene of the last confession of the king to the canon Masdea.

Scilla

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilla,_Calabria
Scilla is an important tourist resort of the Violet Coast, so-called because of the color that water reflects at particular times of the day. Scilla enchants visitors with its Castle overlooking the sea, the colorful houses leaning on each other, the views of the Strait of Messina and Sicily. History blends with mystery, recalling the myths and legends of Ulysses fighting against Scylla and Charybdis, told by Homer and Dante Alighieri. Scilla hamlet has very ancient origins, probably dating to the time of the destruction of Troy. The town’s name derives from the mythological figure of Scylla, a young nymph who refused Glauco’s love. He thus went to the sorceress Circe, who was in love with him, and ask her to help him win Scylla’s heart. The offended sorceress poisoned the sea- pool where the nymph used to bathe, turning her into a horrific six dog-headed monster who destroyed every ship crossing the Strait of Messina. The main economic activities in the area are tourism, agriculture and fishing. Farm products include olives, figs, vegetables and selected citrus fruits. As for fishing, swordfish hunting through the “spadare” was, and still is, the main traditional activity. In Scilla, the mountains are very close to the sea; a few-kilometer drive through the hills of the Melia area leads to Gambarie, a renowned ski resort in the municipality of Santo Stefano d’Aspromonte. Scilla had a strategic position, and it was fortified by the Greeks after Anaxilas had fought off the Tyrrhenian pirates. The castle was first built probably in the 4th or 3rd century B.C., a very ancient time that indicates that Scilla and its population suffered hard historical events and were forced to defend themselves against the continuous raids. Scilla people were involved in the several wars that characterized the Roman period, till the Hungarian siege of 1712. The town was a disputed fief for many centuries till 1806, and some years later it became a municipality (1811). The variety of the Violet Coast lands provides for the ingredients of traditional sea and delicacies from the Pre-Aspromonte hills: cheeses, cold cuts, mushrooms and vegetables in olive oil, grilled aubergines and dried tomatoes, olives in oil, fried courgette flowers, ragoût and goat and pork meat sauces for home-made pasta, the “maccarrùni i casa”. The main fish dishes are based on local products including swordfish, silver scabbardfish, garfish, sunfish, sauries, various shellfish and octopuses. Traditional scabbardfish-based recipes (spatola alla “scigghitàna”), with specific doses of vinegar and mixed herbs growing among terraced grapevine rows, confirm that the main activities of the town are agriculture and fishing. Traditional cookies are produced during the feast periods, and include “mustacciòli”o “‘nzuddhi”, “piparèlle”, “susumèlle”, “petrali” made with honey, almonds and flavored dried figs. Custards, desserts and lemon, orange and bergamot liqueurs always come at the end of the meal.

Squillace

http://www.turiscalabria.it/website/?lang=en&categoria=&view_type=s&id=189&title=.html
Squillace stands a few kilometers far from the coast, overlooking a deep gorge. It was called Skilletion by the Greeks and Minervia Augusta Scolacium by the Romans, though the origins of the town are probably more ancient. It was the homeland of Aurelius Cassiodorus. Squillace is a renowned tourist resort. Skylletion, whose foundation was traditionally ascribed to Ulysses, was a very important Magna Graecia town. The ancient urban settlement is located on the seaside, while the present-day town has Medieval origins. The journey to discover the Gulf of Squillace should start from Borgia, a village located between the sea and mountains, where the splendors of Magna Graecia are still visible. Close to Catanzaro, at the entrance of the Archaeological Park of Scolacium, the ruined Basilica of Santa Maria di Roccella was built by the Normans between the end of the 11th and early 12th centuries. The remains of the buildings show a mixture of Western Romanesque shapes and Byzantine features. The Archaeological Park excavations have brought to light the remains of Roman buildings, including the theater and the amphitheater, the thermal plant, the paved roads and aqueduct. No built structures of the ancient Greek Skylletion have so far been found, because the Roman town was erected on the Greek one; however, several ceramic artefacts of the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries B.C. were discovered. The ceramic handicraft tradition is very ancient and flourishing, and Squillace has been included among the 27 Italian certified manufacturing towns. The very ancient art probably dates to Magna Graecia times. Many artworks from Squillace are kept in important museums: Londra, Parigi, New York, Capodimonte, Palermo. The lost piece marked as Sqllci 1654 was the most important local handicraft product and it was kept in the Provincial Museum of Catanzaro.

Copanello

http://www.turiscalabria.it/website/?lang=en&categoria=/where/costa- aranci/&view_type=s&id=118&title=.html
Copanello is one of the most renowned sea resorts in Calabria, known as the “Gem of the Costa degli Aranci (Orange Coast)” The high cliff where the town stands pushes out into the clear sea with abundant fish and plankton, and it breaks the large and wide beach for a while. Around the cliff, small rocks sketch an amazing sea bottom. Modern hotels and beach facilities can meet the needs of the most demanding tourists. Copanello territory keeps a large number of Late Roman remains, like the ruined three-apse chapel of S. Martino, the only Paleochristian evidence in Calabria, that was long considered the tomb of Cassiodorus, the Roman stateman who was born in the nearby Squillace. Other archaeological evidences are the Church of Santa Maria Vetere, remains of the Byzantine castrum brutium, ancient Roman road that joins the Grande Street in Stalettì, Cassiodorus Fountain near the Casino Pepe that was an ancient nymphaeum, christianized at the time of Pope Gregory the Great. The Cassiodorus Fountain is not to be confused with the Arethusa spring, cited by Cassiodorus himself. The more recent Casino Pepe, that was probably built on the site where the Vivarium stood, and II World War bunkers also deserve to be mentioned.

Last but not least….FOOD In Calabria. 😊