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12/09/09

Calabria forms the toe of the Italian boot and is bordered by Basilicata and sandwiched in between the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. There is a lot of coastline in Calabria. No part of the region is more than 50km away from the coast.

Calabria covers an area of just 15,000 km² and is made up of five provinces: Catanzaro, Cosenza, Reggio di Calabria, Crotone, and Vibo Valentia. Catanzaro is the capital of the region, but regional parliament is held in the former regional capital, Reggio di Calabria.

Calabria is still being discovered by tourists and investors alike. The natural beauty of the area has not been spoiled by hotel chains and fast food outlets. There are no huge crowds to contend with. The mountains still shine down beautifully, the coast is still clear and uncomplicated, the food is still indigenous to the region, and the people are still living the Italian way. The above criteria are only but a few small points that are attracting international investors to this up and coming region, that and the fact that the property market is still in its infancy, rental yields are quite buoyant, mortgage products are readily available for up to 20 yrs and at low interest rate’s, structural building guarantees are in place for all new developments, and last but not least low cost airlines are already flying into Calabria’s airports. This makes Calabria a sustainable investment like no other however destinations like Calabria will not stay like this forever

History

Calabria is a land of ancient Mediterranean Civilisations, and gave the Italian peninsula its name: Calabria was once called 'Italy' in honour of its inhabitants who were known as Itali.

Calabria still preserves important visible signs of the fundamental eras in European culture and history ranging from prehistoric settlements to the great epoch of the Magna Graecia. And the Romans, Goths, Lombards, Byzantines, Normans, Swabs, Angevins, Aragonese and Bourbons all left architectural traces of great cultural and artistic importance here. Calabria has always been a bridge for a variety of cultures and retains their influences even today in its folklore.

The terracotta of Squillace and Rogliano, where the "pignatari" ceramic artisans work, is beautiful. The name comes from "pignata", the clay container which still exists today and is used for cooking beans over a fire.

They were even mentioned by Cassiodorus, who lived between the 5th and 6th centuries BC. The pipes made in Brognaturo, San Roberto and San Vito on the Ionian coast are interesting: they are made of 2-year aged blocks of briarwood, a tree that grows almost exclusively along the Mediterranean coasts and is considered among the best for woodworking. Precious also are the silks made in Catanzaro, San Floro and Curinga where the worms are still bred with mulberry leaves, and other local activities include lute making in Bisignano, Soveria Simeri glass, the Chiaravalle and Morano antiques, Serrastretta chairs-making; then there are peach orchards. Sibari plain and the Acconia and Botricello greenhouses with their marvellous flowers; not to forget all the special Calabrian delicacies: "mostaccioli" biscuits from Soriano; nougat from Bagnara, Taurianova and Siderno; mushrooms from Camigliatello; "Bergamots", a citrus fruit from the area around Reggia; "soppressata" and "capocollo", sausage, bacon, nduja (a spreadable mixture of pork meat with hot red chilli pepper) from Spilinga; wines from Donnici, Cirò, Lamezia, Bivongi, Pellaio and Verbicaro; dairy products from the Sila area and swordfish from Bagnara; onions from Tropea and the famous red Calabrian chilli pepper.

Tourism

Calabria is still a region capable of astounding the traveller with its strong contrasts, its varieties of nature, cultural overlaps and history.

With its 740 kilometres of coastline, and its shadowy, rocky interior with the Pollino, Sila, Serre and Aspromonte mountains. Calabria is also rich in museums, from the National Museum in Reggio Calabria, which preserves the famous Riace bronzes, to the Picture Gallery in Palazzo Arnone in Cosenza, the archaeological museums in Sibari, Crotone and Locri, the State Museum in Vibo Valentia, the Provincial and Civic Museums in Catanzaro, Taverna, Castrovillari, and the Ecclesiastical Museums in Rossano and Serra San Bruno.

Calabria's churches have a particularly rich artistic heritage. Located in the province of Catanzaro is Taverna, where in the Church of San Domenico you can admire the paintings by the great Mattia Preti and Borgia, with the ruins of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Roccella. If you then go up into the Serre mountains, you come to the Province of Vibo Valentia where, located in Torre di Ruggiero, is the Church of Maria SS. delle Grazie whose sanctuary attracts many worshippers. Nearby is the Certosa di Serra San Bruno, a monastery with the Church of Santa Maria del Bosco, founded at the end of 1000 by Saint Bruno, whose tomb is still venerated today.

Located in the Province of Cosenza is the Church of Santa Maria delle Armi in Cerchiara. The Church dates from the 11th Century and today is a popular destination for pilgrims based on the prodigious events that have happened there. Finally, there is the Sanctuary of San Francesco di Paola, the patron saint of Calabria. The façade dates to the 16th Century, while that of the adjacent Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, where the saint's relics lie, is Gothic in style; Reggio Calabria’s Monastero della Visitazione di Santa Maria built in 1754 is a must, and from there a panoramic road leads to the hermitage of the Madonna della Consolazione dating back to the year 1000.

Festivals in Calabria

  • Caccuri hosts an Easter Procession each Good Friday.
  • Silano host a wild mushroom festival in October.
  • Cantazaro also host an Easter Procession on Good Friday.
  • Laureana di Borello hosts a Madonna del Carmine Festival in July.
  • Villagio Mancuso hosts a Calabrian Folklore festival in September.
  • Cosenza hosts the Festival delle Invasioni in July.
  • Altomonte hosts the Festival of the Tow Seas in July.
  • Lido di Palmi hosts a Maritime Procession of the Madonna in August.
  • Cutro hosts a crucifixion parade in May.
  • Bagnara hosts a swordfish festival in July.
  • Soverato Superiore hosts an eggplant festival in September.
  • Corigliano Calabro hosts an Orange festival and parade in January.
  • Spilinga hosts a sausage festival in August.
  • Paria a Mare hosts a festival for the Madonna della Grotta in August.

Airports

Reggio Di Calabria

Reggio Calabria Airport, also known as Strait of Messina Airport, a European departure point in the process of development, plans to become a central hub for the Mediterranean basin, primarily because of its strategic geographic position, serving the two most popular tourist destinations in Italy.

Its attractive building offers a spectacular view of nearby Sicily. The building is being completely renovated to conform to current security standards, respect for the environment, and the region’s geographic, economic and tourism resources.

At this time there are two runways and there is an ambitious plan to strengthen the infrastructure and auxiliary services.

Lamezia Terme

The Consaer Association was formed in 1965 with the aim to construct a new centrally located Calabrian airport in the Lamezia area, which was expanding both industrially and in population, with lots of open space, near to the A1 Motorway, the railway and most importantly near to the huge port of Gioia Tauro. The airport opened in June 1976. In December of the same year the first scheduled flight services operated by the company ‘Itavia’, started flying to Ciampino - Rome, Milan, Catania and Palermo. The large, completed modern airport opened in 1982.

For a while now the flights to and from Lamezia are following a positive trend, growing constantly due to both logistics (the alternative ways of reaching Calabria, Motorway and Rail, given the long distance are not particularly comfortable or convenient) and flight traffic into and from the airport. Passengers who fly from Lamezia Airport come from as far south as Gioia Tauro, (seeing as the only other airport in the area is Reggio Calabria) and as far north as half way between Lamezia and Naples seeing as there are no other airports other than Naples Capodichno. The airport has a huge charter flight programme in the summer which represents 30% of the whole aviation business. There are 15 carriers which connect Calabria with numerous Central and Northern European destinations (all of the airports in Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria and Poland) and also North America. Near Toronto in Canada there is a large Calabrian community who use the numerous flights run by the company Skyservice who fly direct from the capital Ontario to Lamezia from May to October. You have Ryanair flighting up to 4 times every week from London Stansted and over the next month or so we will see Aeroflots initiation into Calabria with direct and in- expensive flights from Moscow, Russia.

The airport is structurally well organised and is able to hold up to 2 million passengers. The airport has been recently restructured and a new terminal awaits arriving passengers. However, there are other plans for restructure and refurbishment, some already nearly completed, which will make the airport even more comfortable and practical: The lengthening of the runway from 2340m to 3000m which will allow “wide body” planes to operate at the airport without having loading limitations. This will also enable the airport to grow and expand and become one of the leading Airports in the Region.

Crotone Airport

Born on the oldest airport installation of the Region (active from the years ‘60), the airport Sant'Anna of Crotone increased, in the last two years, the traffic of charter flights from 42 in 2002 to over 170 in 2004, with a commercial traffic over 100000 unity. Concerning to infrastructures, the Sant'Anna Airport offers guarantees for the comfort and the aerial safety and of the passengers and for the commercial and non commercial structures. New interventions are in progress and, shortly, the Calabrian airport will be equipped with a new tower of control, new instrumental installations for landing and take-off in conditions of low visibility, the prolongation of the runway and new technologies for the airport safety. Regarding the traffic, instead, the existent national flights are confirmed with a future increase of frequency and destinations. Surely, weekly charter flights will depart shortly for Milan and Verona, and other initiatives of advances plannings 2006 will see the Sant’Anna Airport connected with different nations of the Mediterranean basin. Easyjet have also indicated over the last number of months that they are looking at the possibilities of using this airport as its Calarian base.

Statistics

Calabria has 2,109,268 inhabitants (2007 estimate), with an average population density of 133 people per sq km. Catanzaro became the region’s capital in 1970; the former capital and largest city is Reggio di Calabria (2006, 184,353). Other important cities include Crotone (2006 estimate, 64,889); Cosenza (2005, 76,998); Nicastro (2006, 54,700); Vibo Valentia (1997 estimate, 42,373).

Italian is the official language of Calabria, although two regional languages—Napoletano-Calabrese and Calabro-Sicilian—are also spoken. Arbëreshë (a dialect of the Albanian language) has also been spoken in some villages since the 15th century, when a large number of Albanian immigrants settled in the region. The University of Calabria (1972) is located in Arcavacata, a small village between Rende and Cosenza. Other institutions of higher education in the region include the Mediterranean University of Reggio di Calabria (1968) and Magna Graecia University (1998), in Catanzaro.

Calabria is on Central European Time (CET) which is GMT + 1.

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As a proud Italian - based Tour Operator, passionate in our role as ambassadors of Italy, we at all times aim to inform and envelope the International Tourist on all things quintessentially Italian.

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A Return Flight on a Chartered Airline in conjunction with a Hotel Transfer on landing in Italy anytime day or night, all the while accompanied by one of our many qualified and locally based Tour Representatives.

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