fiogf49gjkf0d TROPEA, A FLOURISHING SEAPORT.....75 KM N
VIBO VALENTIA.....58 KM N
PIZZO, ONE THE MOST PICTURESQUE VILLAGES ON THE
COAST OF THE PROVINCE OF VIBO VALENTIA.....49 KM
N
SERRA SAN BRUNO WHERE IS THE FAMOUS PRIORY,
FOUNDED BY BRUNO OF COLOGNE AT THE END OF THE
ELEVENTH CENTURY.....67 KM
TROPEA AN IMPOSING SANDSTONE CRAG, IN A
MAGNIFICENT POSITION BETWEEN THE GULFS OF
SANT*EUFEMIA AND GIOIA TAURO, STANDS TROPEA, ONE
OF THE MOST PICTURESQUE AND ARTISTICALLY
INTERESTING CENTRES IN THE PROVINCE OF VIBO
VALENTIA.
TROPEA HAS VERY ANCIENT ORIGINS, INDEED, ITS AREA
HAS CONSPICUOUS TRACES OF PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT
AND EVIDENCE OF GREEK AND ROMAN PRESENCE. FROM
THE EIGHTH CENTURY AD THE TOWN WAS A BISHOPRIC,
BUT WAS LATER CONQUERED BY THE ARABS NORMANS AND
ARAGONESE.
TROPEA IS A FLOURISHING SEAPORT, WITH A
COMMERCIAL CLASS AMONG THE MOST DYNAMIC AND
ENTERPRISING IN CALABRIA, THAT TRADES WITH ALL
THE MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES. NOWADAYS TROPEA IS
AN EXCLUSIVE SEASIDE RESORT THAT ALSO BOASTS A
MODERN TOURIST AND FISHING HARBOUR.
THE TOWN ALSO HAS ONE OF THE PRETTIEST AND
BEST-PRESERVED HISTORIC CENTRES IN THE REGION.
THE TOWN, CONSIDERED THE REAL CAPITAL OF THE CAPO
VATICANO AREA, OFFERS THE ELEVENTH-CENTURY NORMAN
CATHEDRAL, THE CHURCHES OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
AND SANTA MARIA DELLA NEVE, AS WELL AS THE HIGHLY
FASCINATING CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DELL*ISOLA,
THAT STANDS AT THE FOOT OF THE TOWN, ON A SMALL
FINGER OF LAND PROJECTING INTO THE SEA.
FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE TERRACE WHERE THE
OLDEST PART OF THE TOWN LIES, THE CLEAR AND
EXTRAORDINARILY BLUE SEA BREAKING ON SPLENDID
CLIFFS TRIMMED WITH WHITE BEACHES AND INDENTED
WITH COVES, CAN BE ADMIRED. ALL AROUND ARE
FERTILE UNDULATING HILLS COVERED WITH EXTENSIVE
CITRUS FRUIT AND OLIVE PLANTATIONS AND VINEYARDS.
TROPEA, IN FACT, IS ALSO AN ACTIVE FARMING
CENTRE, FAMOUS FOR THE EXCELLENT QUALITY OF ITS
FOOD PRODUCE, AMONG WHICH ARE OUTSTANDING THE
GIANT LETTUCE AND RED ONION, EXPORTED THROUGHOUT
THE WORLD.
FINALLY, THE TOWN*S CRAFT PRODUCTION AND COOKERY
ARE ALSO NOTEWORTHY, THE LATTER IS, ABOVE ALL,
DISTINGUISHED FOR ITS SEAFOOD TRADITION.
VIBO VALENTIA STANDS IN A PANORAMIC POSITION 476
M ASL ON A GREEN HILL ON THE NORTH-WESTERN SLOPES
OF THE PLATEAU OF MOUNT PORO.
THE CITY, A SUB-COLONY OF LOCRI EPIZEFIRI, WAS
FOUNDED DURING THE COURSE OF THE SECOND HALF OF
THE SEVENTH CENTURY BC, AT THE PLACE WHERE THE
NATIVE SETTLEMENT OF VIEPO STOOD.
IN A SHORT TIME IT BECAME VERY IMPORTANT, WITH
THE SUPPORT OF GELONE, SYRACUSE TYRANT, VIBO
MANAGED TO DEFEAT ITS OWN MOTHERLAND AND, FROM
356 BC PASSED UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE BRETTII,
BECOMING A ROMAN COLONY IN 192 WITH THE NAME OF
VIBO VALENTIA.
IN 983 AD IT WAS DESTROYED BY THE SARACENS,
SUBSEQUENTLY BEING REBUILT BY THE NORMANS, TAKING
THE NAME MONTELEONE AND KEEPING IT UNTIL 1928,
WHEN IT RE-ACQUIRED ITS ROMAN NAME.
CAPITAL OF THE PROVINCE SET UP IN 1992, WITH AN
IMPORTANT PORT, ONE OF THE MAIN APPROACHES ON THE
TYRRHENIAN SIDE FOR PLEASURE CRAFT.
PIZZO CALABRO ONE OF THE MOST PICTURESQUE
VILLAGES ON THE COAST OF THE PROVINCE OF VIBO
VALENTIA, CLINGS TO THE SLOPES OF A FASCINATING
PROMONTORY THAT RISES PRECIPITOUSLY FROM THE
TYRRHENIAN SEA, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GULF
OF SANT*EUFEMIA.
ACCORDING TO TRADITION THE VILLAGE ROSE ON THE
RUINS OF NAPITIA, A COLONY FOUNDED BY SOME
PHOCAEANS, THE VILLAGE ALSO WELCOMED CICERO AND
ST. PETER, WHO STOPPED HERE ON HIS WAY TO ROME.
DESTROYED DURING THE FOURTH CENTURY AD BY A
SARACEN ATTACK, IT WAS REBUILT IN THE TENTH
CENTURY.
REGGIO CALABRIA IS THE MOST SOUTHERLY OF THE
CALABRIAN PROVINCES, AND ITS LAND MAKES UP THE
EXTREMITY OF THE ITALIAN PENINSULA.
THE PROVINCE IS ACCESSIBLE BY THE A/3 MOTORWAY,
THAT RUNS ALONG THE TYRRHENIAN COAST, OR BY THE
SS 106 RUNNING PARALLEL TO THE IONIAN COAST, OR
BY THE MODERN AIR AND SEAPORTS OF REGGIO.
ITS AREA IS TYPIFIED BY THE MIGHTY PRESENCE OF
THE WILD ASPROMONTE MASSIF, WITH ITS EXTENSIVE
NATIONAL PARK AND RENOWNED SKIING RESORT OF
GAMBARIE, AND THE FERTILE GIOIA TAURO PLAIN, WITH
ITS LUSH OLIVE GROVES AND DEEP GREEN CITRUS FRUIT
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