Reggio Calabria

Reggio Calabria
Reggio di Calabria
Collage of Reggio di Calabria. Clockwise from top of left to right: Piazza Italia, Lungomare Falcomatà, Riace bronze statues in Magna Grecia National Museum, View of downtown Reggio, Messina Strait from Rotonda Square, seaside coast in Reggio.
Flag of Reggio Calabria Flag Official seal of Reggio Calabria Seal
Nickname(s):  The city of the Bronzes; The city of Fata Morgana
Motto:  Provinciæ Prima Mater Et Caput Urbs Rhegina Nobilis Insignis Fidelissima
Country	Italy
Region	Calabria
Government
• Type	Mayor–Council
• Body	Comune di Reggio di Calabria
• Mayor	Giuseppe Falcomatà (PD)
Area
• City	239 km2 (92 sq mi)
• Metro	3,210 km2 (1,240 sq mi)
Population  (30 September 2015)
• City	200,330
• Metro	559,205
Demonym	Reggini
Time zone	UTC-1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-2 (CEST)
ZIP code(s)	89100 (generic) from 89121 to 89135
Area code	0965
Website	Reggio Calabria

Reggio di Calabria (Italian pronunciation: [ˈreddʒo di kaˈlaːbrja], also [ˈrɛddʒo]; Sicilian-Calabrian dialect: Rìggiu, Italic-Greek of Bovesia: Righi, Ancient Greek: Ῥήγιον, Rhḗgion, Latin: Rhēgium), commonly known as Reggio Calabria or simply Reggio in Southern Italy, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Reggio Calabria and the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria.

Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, craggy mountain range that runs up through the center of the region. The third economic center of mainland Southern Italy, the city proper has a population of more than 200,000 inhabitants spread over 236 square kilometres (91 sq mi), while the fast-growing urban area numbers 260,000 inhabitants. About 560,000 people live in the metropolitan area, recognised in 2009 by Italian Republic as a metropolitan city.

As a major functional pole in the region, it has strong historical, cultural and economic ties with the city of Messina, which lies across the strait in Sicily, forming a metro city of less than 1 million people.

Reggio is the oldest city in the region, and despite its ancient foundation – Ρηγιον was an important and flourishing colony of Magna Graecia – it has a modern urban system, set up after the catastrophic earthquake on 28 December 1908, which destroyed most of the city. The region has been subject to earthquakes.

It is a major economic center for regional services and transport on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Reggio, with Naples and Taranto, is home to one of the most important archaeological museums, the prestigious National Archaeological Museum of Magna Græcia, dedicated to Ancient Greece (which houses the famous Bronzes of Riace, rare example of Greek bronze sculpture, which became one of the symbols of the city). Reggio is the seat, since 1907, of the Archeological Superintendence of Bruttium and Lucania. The city has two recently founded universities: the "Mediterranea" University, and the "Università per Stranieri" (University for Foreigners). There are also an Academy of Fine Arts (opened in 1967) and a Conservatory of Music (founded 1927).

The city center, consisting primarily of Liberty buildings, has a linear development along the coast with parallel streets, and the promenade is dotted with rare magnolias and exotic palms. Reggio has commonly used popular nicknames: The "city of Bronzes", for the Riace bronzes which are testimonials of its Greek origins; the "city of bergamot", which is exclusively cultivated in the region; and the "city of Fatamorgana", an optical phenomenon visible in Italy only from the Reggio seaside.

The city was an Italian candidate to become the European Capital of Culture. in 2019.

History

Etymology

During its 3,500-year history Reggio has often been renamed. Each name corresponds with the city's major historical phases:

• Recion (to read Rekion), name appeared on the most ancient coins retrieved in Reggio.
• Erythrà (Ερυθρά, "The Red One"), the pre-Greek settlement populated by the Italic people.
• Rhégion (Ῥήγιον, "Cape of the King"), the Greek city from the archaic age (starting from Pallantiòn site) to the Magna Grecia age, from the 8th to the 3rd centuries BC.
• Febèa (Phoebea, solemnly dedicated to Apollo), a short period under Dionysius II of Syracuse, in the 4th century BC.
• Regium, its first Latin name, during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, then became Rhegium.
• Rhègium Julium (Reggio Giulia), as a noble Roman city during the Imperial age.
• Rivàh, Arabic name under the short domination by Emirate of Sicily, between 10th and 11th centuries.
• Rìsa, under the Normans, between the 11th and 12th centuries.
• Regols, Aragonese name under the Crown of Aragon, in the late 13th century.
• Reggio or Regio, usual Italian name in the Middle and Modern age.
• Règgio di Calàbria, post Italian Unification (to be distinguished from Reggio di Lombardia or di Modena – located in northern Italy – which was renamed Reggio nell'Emilia).

The toponym of the city is perhaps derived from Chaldean word Rec (meaning king) or maybe from the Greek one régnȳmi referring to the Straits between Calabria and Sicily as a break in the land.

Ancient times

File:Rhegion tetradramma leone di nemea.jpg

Tetradrachm of Rhegion with the Nemean Lion.

From the late 3rd millennium BC onwards until the 8th century BC the city was inhabited by peoples such as the Osci (sometimes referred to as Opici), Phoenicians, Trojans, Mycenaeans and Achæans, then by Oenotrians, Ligures, Ausones, Mamertines, Taureanes, Sicels, Morgeti and Itali. We know that the sculptor Léarchos was at Reggio at the end of the 15th century BC, and that Iokastos was King of Reggio at the beginning of the 13th century BC. The land round Reggio was first known as Saturnia, or Neptunia, and later Italia, which in Roman times became the name of the whole Italian peninsula. In those days however, it corresponded only to present-day, southern Calabria, which later came to be known as Bruttium, while the name Italia (Italy), in fact, was first used only for the area of Reggio itself.

After Cumae, Reggio is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy. The colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis in 730 or 743 BC on the site of the older settlement, Erythrà (Ερυθρά), meaning "the Red one". This dated back to the 3rd millennium BC and was perhaps established by the Ausones. The last Ausonian ruler was king Italós, from whom the name of Italy is derived. King Iokastos is buried on the Punta Calamizzi promontory, called "Pallantiòn", where Greek settlers later arrived. The colony retained the earlier name of "Rhégion" (Ρήγιoν).

Under Greek rule, Reggio became a Polis of Magna Græcia and an ally of Athens; it was also first an ally and then an enemy of nearby Locri. Rhégion was governed by the Messenians, from 737 to 461 BC; by Syracuse from 387 to 351 BC, when it was known as Phœbèa and subsequently by the Campanians but between the 5th–3rd centuries BC, from time to time, it was also a republic. Reggio was one of the most important cities in Greater Greece, reaching great economic and political power during the 5th and 6th centuries BC under the Anaxilas government. Anaxilas allowed Reggio to rule over all the Messina Strait, including Zancle (modern Messina). Rhegion later allied with Athens during the Peloponnesian War until 387 BC when the city was taken by the Syracusans.

Throughout classical antiquity Rhégion remained an important maritime and commercial city as well as a cultural centre as is demonstrated by the presence of academies of art, philosophy and science, such as the Pythagorean School and also by its well-known poet, Íbykos, the historian, Ippys, the musicologist, Glaúkos and the sculptors Pythagóras and Kléarkhos.

About the time of the birth of Christ, the famous geographer and historian Strabo described Reggio as an "illustrious city". Many items of archaeological interest from this Hellenic era have been retrieved and are displayed in various places locally.

Under the Greek rule, the former Italic culture was amalgamated into the Hellenic before disappearing altogether.

As an independent city since 271 BC Regium was an important ally and "socia navalis" of Rome. During the Imperial age it became one of the most important and flourishing cities of southern Italy when it was the seat of the "Corrector", the Governor of "Regio II Lucania et Bruttii" (province of Lucany and Brutium). During the Roman Empire it was elected a Municipium and named "Rhegium Julium" as a noble Roman city. It was a central pivot for both maritime and mainland traffic, reached by the final part of the Via Popilia (also known as Via Annia), which was built in the 2nd century BC and joined the older, Via Appia at Capua, south of Rome. Close to Reggio, on the Straits of Messina, was the busy port of Columna Rhegina. Rhegium boasted in imperial times, nine thermal baths, one of which is still visible today on the sea-front. During the whole Latin age Reggio maintained not only its Greek customs and language but also its Mint.

In 61 AD the apostle Saoúl (St. Paul) passed through Rhegium on his final voyage towards Rome, converting the first local Christians and, according to tradition, laying the foundations of the Christianization of Bruttium. Due to its seismic activity, the Reggio area was often damaged by earthquakes, such as in 91 BC, when it was destroyed but then was rebuilt by order of the Emperor Augustus. Other memorable shocks took place in the years 17, 305 and 374 AD.

Invasions by the Vandals, the Longobards and the Goths occurred in the 5th- 6th centuries, and then, under Byzantine rule, Reggio became, a Metropoli of the Byzantine possessions in Italy and several times between 536 and 1060 AD was also the capital of the Duchy of Calabria. Following wars between the Longobards and Byzantines in the 6th century, present-day Calabria, then known as Bruttium, was renamed Calabria.

As Reggio was a Byzantine centre of culture, certain monks undertook the work of scribes and carried out the transcription of ancient classical works. Until the 15th century Reggio was one of the most important Greek-rite Bishoprics in Italy and even today Greek words are used and are recognisable in local speech and Byzantine terms can be found in local liturgy, in religious icons and even in local recipes.

Middle Ages

Reggio in a medieval engraving.

Numerous occupying armies came to Reggio during the early Middle Ages due to the city's strategic importance. For hundreds of years Reggio was taken by various factions. The Arabs occupied Reggio in 918 and sold most of it inhabitants into slavery. For brief periods in the 10th–11th centuries the city was ruled by the Arabs and, renamed Rivàh (or sometimes Rŷu), became part of the Emirate of Sicily. During the period of Arab rule various beneficial ideas were introduced into Calabria, such as Citrus fruit trees, Mulberry trees (used in silk production) and several ways of cooking local vegetables such as aubergines. The Arabs introduced water ices and ice cream and also greatly improved agricultural and hydraulic techniques for irrigation.

The city passed under the crowns of the Italo-Normans from 1060 to 1194 when it was called Risa and of the Hohenstaufen from 1194 to 1266. In 1060 the Normans, under Robert Guiscard and Roger I of Sicily, captured Reggio but Greek cultural and religious elements persisted until the 17th century. In 1234 the town fair was established by decree of the Emperor, Frederick II.

In the 12th century Reggio became part of the Kingdom of Sicily. From 1266 it was ruled by the Angevins, under whom life in Calabria deteriorated because of the their tendency to accumulate wealth in their capital, Naples, leaving Calabria in the power of local Barons. In 1282, during the Sicilian Vespers, Reggio rallied in support of Messina and the other oriental Sicily cities because of the shared history, commercial and cultural interests. From 1147 to 1443 and again from 1465 to 1582, Reggio was the capital of the Calabrian Giustizierato. It supported the Aragonese forces against the House of Anjou. In the 14th century it obtained new administrative powers. In 1459 the Aragonese enlarged its medieval castle.

Reggio, throughout the Middle Ages, when sometimes it was written as Regio, was first an important centre of calligraphy and then of printing after this was invented, boasting the first dated printed edition of a Hebrew, a Rashi commentary on the Pentateuch, printed in 1475 in La Giudecca of Reggio although scholars consider Rome as the city where Hebrew printing began. The Jewish Community was also considered to be among the foremost internationally, for the dyeing and the trading of silk: silk woven in Reggio was esteemed and bought by the Spaniards, the Genoese, the Dutch, the English and the Venetians, as it was recognised as the best silk in the Kingdom of Naples.

Early modern period

From the early 16th century, the Kingdom of Naples was under the Habsburgs of Spain, who put Reggio undet a viceroy from 1504 to 1713. The 16th and 17th centuries were an age of decay due to high Spanish taxes, pestilence, the 1562 earthquake, and the Ottoman Turkish invasions suffered by Reggio between 1543 and 1594. After Barbary pirates attacked Reggio in 1558, they took most of its inhabitants as slaves to Tripoli.

In 1714 southern Italy became once more property of the Austrian Habsburgs who remained until 1734, when they were replaced by the Bourbons of Spain. Reggio was the capital of Calabria Ulteriore Prima from 1759 to 1860. In 1783, a disastrous earthquake damaged Reggio, all southern Calabria and Messina.

The precious citrus fruit, Bergamot orange, had been cultivated and used in the Reggio area since the 15th century. By 1750 it was being grown intensively in the Rada Giunchi area of Reggio and was the first plantation of its kind in the world.

In 1783 Reggio was again razed to the ground by an earthquake which was felt all over southern Calabria. The Bourbon government hastaned to rebuilt the city, even expropriating religious properties to increase funds, and profoundly altering the urban aspect of the city, giving the present-day layout of straight, intersecting roads planned by Giovambattista Mori in 1784.

In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte took Reggio and made the city a Duchy and General Headquarters. After the former's fall, in 1816, the two ancient Kingdoms of Naples and of Sicily were unified becoming the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

During the course of 19th century new public gardens were laid out, the piazzas (or squares) were embellished and cafés and a theatre were opened. On the newly opened sea promenade a Civic Museum was inaugurated. In fact some 60 years after the devastation caused by the 1783 earthquake, the English traveller and painter Edward Lear remarked "Reggio is indeed one vast garden, and doubtless one of the loveliest spots to be seen on earth. A half-ruined castle, beautiful in colour and picturesque in form, overlooks all the long city, the wide straits, and snow-topped Mongibello beyond."

Late modern and contemporary

Effects of the 1908 earthquake.

Reggio di Calabria in 1920.

On 21 August 1860, during the famous "Battaglia di Piazza Duomo" (Cathedral Square Battle), Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Bruno Antonio Rossi (the mayor of Reggio after the historian Domenico Spanò Bolani, who helped the citizenship during the previous turbulent years) was the first in the kingdom to proclaim the new Garibaldi Dictatorship and the end of the rule of Francis II. The city, renamed Reggio di Calabria, came under the House of Savoy, which was heavily indebted and who impoverished southern Italy to pay their debts by looting the state coffers and by crushing flourishing local activities such as forestry, mining, boat-building (the Calabrian steel factory was then in fact the largest in Italy), silkworm breeding, silk-weaving and agriculture; they also issued laws to eliminate standing scholarships.

On 28 December 1908, at 5:21 AM, the town was hit by a heavy earthquake and shook violently for 31 seconds. Damage was even worse in Messina across the Straits. It is estimated that 25,000 people perished in Reggio and 65,000 in Messina. Reggio lost 27% of its inhabitants and Messina lost 42%. Ten minutes after the catastrophic earthquake those who tried to escape running towards the open spaces of the coast were engulfed by a 10 metre high tsunami. Three waves of 6–12 metres swept away the whole waterfront. The 1908 Messina earthquake remains one of the worst on record in modern western European history.

During the Second World War, as a result of its strategic military position, it suffered a devastating air raid and was used as the invasion target by the British Eighth Army in 1943 which led to the city's capture. After the War Reggio recovered considerably. During 1970–71 the city was the scene of a popular uprising – known as the Moti di Reggio – against the government choice of Catanzaro as capital of the newly instituted Region of Calabria. The revolt was taken over by young neofascists of the Italian Social Movement (Movimento Sociale Italiano), backed by the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type criminal organisation based in Calabria. The Reggio Calabria protests were the expression of malcontent about cronyism and the lack of industrial planning. Between the 1970s and the 1980s Reggio went through twenty years of an increase in organized crime by the 'Ndrangheta as well as urban decay. The town is home to several 'ndrine, such as the Condello-Imerti and the De Stefano-Tegano clans, which were involved in bloody wars against each other during this period. The 'Ndrangheta extorts protection money ("pizzo") from every shop and viable business in town and has more power than the city council in awarding licences to retailers.

The spiral of corruption reached its zenith in the early 1990s. The sitting mayor at the time, Agatino Licandro, made a remarkable confession reporting "suitcases coming into city hall stuffed with money but going out empty". As a result of the nationwide corruption scandals most of the city council was arrested. But, since the early 1990s, the so-called "Primavera di Reggio" (Reggio Spring) – a spontaneous movement of people and government institutions – encouraged city recovery and a renewed and stronger identity. The symbol of the Reggio Spring is the Lungomare Falcomatà, the sea-side boulevard named after Italo Falcomatà, the centre-left mayor who initiated the recovery of the town.

On 9 October 2012, the Italian government decided to dissolve the city council of Reggio Calabria for infiltration by the 'Ndrangheta. The move came after some councillors were suspected of having ties to the powerful crime syndicate, under the 10-year centre-right rule of Giuseppe Scopelliti, mayor from 2002 to 2010. His successor, the centre-right mayor Demetrio Arena and all 30 city councilors were sacked to prevent any "mafia contagion" in the local government. It is the first time that the entire government of a provincial capital has been dismissed over suspected links to organized crime. Three commissioners will run the city for 18 months until a new election. According to anti-mafia investigators in 2016, Scopelliti was elected thanks to votes from the 'Ndrangheta.

Earthquakes in history

Reggio has been destroyed by earthquakes several times over the centuries, such as in 91 BC, after which the city was reconstructed by order of the Emperor Augustus, followed by another earthquake in the year 17 AD; yet another one in 305 AD, and again another in 374. The earthquake of 1562 destroyed the natural, medieval port of the city and brought about the submersion of the Calamizzi promontory, known in ancient times as the Pallantiòn, where, we are told, the first Greek settlers, the Calcidesi, had set foot. The particularly devastating earthquake of 1783 and that of 1908, which was the worst natural calamity to take place in Europe in human memory, both profoundly altered the urban aspect of the city, due to the successive re-building which gave the present-day layout of straight, intersecting roads, planned by Giovanbattista Mori in 1784 and by Pietro De Nava in 1911. But some town-planning policies at the time were decided upon with no respect for the architectural history of Reggio, as is shown by the demolition of the remaining Norman part of the Castle, following the last big earthquake in 1923.

Notable European travellers who visited Reggio

Although Reggio and Calabria in general were less popular destinations than Sicily or Naples for the first Northern European travellers, several famous names such as the Flemish Pieter Bruegel (in c. 1550), the German Johann Hermann von Riedesel (in 1767), the Frenchmen Jean Claude Richard de Saint-Non (in 1778) and Stendhal (in 1817), the British travellers Henry Swinburne (in c. 1775), Richard Keppel Craven (in c. 1820), Craufurd Tait Ramage (in 1828), the Strutt family and Elizabeth Byron (in 1840), Edward Lear (in 1847), Norman Douglas (in 1911), D. H. Lawrence (in c. 1920) and Eric Whelpton (in 1950s) and the Belgian Jules Destrée (in 1915 and in 1930) visited Reggio.

Geography

With an exceptionally high population density, Reggio Calabria was cited as having the least green space in a study of 386 European cities. The study reported that "green space coverage varied markedly, averaging 18.6 per cent and ranging from 1.9 (Reggio di Calabria, Italy) to 46 (Ferrol, Spain) per cent." The study further reported "Per capita green space provision varied by two orders of magnitude, from 3 to 4 m² [square meters] per person in Cádiz, Fuenlabrada and Almería (Spain) and Reggio di Calabria (Italy) to more than 300 m2 in Liège (Belgium), Oulu (Finland) and Valenciennes (France)."[emphasis added]

Territory and Natural environment

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification, Reggio Calabria possesses a typical Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa). Its climate is mostly identical with Messina which lies on the other side of the strait. Precipitation is the only exception because Messina receives approximately 300 mm (12 in) more.

Climate data for Reggio Calabria
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	29.2 (84.6)	29.8 (85.6)	32.0 (89.6)	39.0 (102.2)	40.1 (104.2)	45.3 (113.5)	46.1 (115.0)	42.4 (108.3)	41.1 (106.0)	40.4 (104.7)	33.2 (91.8)	30.0 (86.0)	46.1 (115.0)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	15.3 (59.5)	15.6 (60.1)	17.1 (62.8)	19.3 (66.7)	23.8 (74.8)	27.9 (82.2)	31.1 (88.0)	31.3 (88.3)	28.2 (82.8)	23.9 (75.0)	19.7 (67.5)	16.6 (61.9)	22.5 (72.5)
Daily mean °C (°F)	11.8 (53.2)	11.8 (53.2)	13.0 (55.4)	15.1 (59.2)	19.2 (66.6)	23.2 (73.8)	26.4 (79.5)	26.7 (80.1)	23.7 (74.7)	19.8 (67.6)	15.9 (60.6)	13.1 (55.6)	18.3 (65.0)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	8.2 (46.8)	7.9 (46.2)	9.0 (48.2)	10.9 (51.6)	14.7 (58.5)	18.6 (65.5)	21.6 (70.9)	22.1 (71.8)	19.3 (66.7)	15.7 (60.3)	12.1 (53.8)	9.6 (49.3)	14.1 (57.5)
Record low °C (°F)	1.0 (33.8)	-0.0 (32.0)	3.1 (37.6)	8.6 (47.5)	10.0 (50.0)	13.8 (56.8)	20.8 (69.4)	19.4 (66.9)	14.8 (58.6)	12.0 (53.6)	10.9 (51.6)	0.0 (32.0)	-0.0 (32.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	69.6 (2.74)	61.5 (2.42)	50.7 (2.00)	40.4 (1.59)	19.8 (0.78)	10.9 (0.43)	7.0 (0.28)	11.9 (0.47)	47.5 (1.87)	72.5 (2.85)	81.7 (3.22)	73.3 (2.89)	546.8 (21.54)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	9.3	9.1	7.5	6.6	2.8	1.5	1.3	1.9	4.4	7.0	8.7	8.3	68.4
Source: Servizio Meteorologico (1971–2000 data)

Flora

Population and human environment

Administrative division and city government

Reggio di Calabria is located in the last point of the "boot" of the Italian peninsula, between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Ionian Sea, in front there is the Strait of Messina, and neighbor across there is the homonymous city.

The municipality of Reggio is divided into 15 sub-municipalities (Circoscrizioni) containing the frazioni ("subdivisions", mainly villages and hamlets) of Catona, Gallico, Archi, Pentimele, Gallina, Mosorrofa (Template:Lang-el), Ortì (Template:Lang-el), Pellaro (Template:Lang-el) and Saracinello. They are: Centro Storico (1st); Pineta Zerbi, Tremulini and Eremo (2nd); Santa Caterina, San Brunello and Vito (3rd); Trabochetto, Condera and Spirito Santo (4th); Rione Ferrovieri, Stadio and Gebbione (5th); Sbarre (6th); San Giorgio, Modena, Scido and San Sperato (7th); Catona, Salice, Rosalì and Villa San Giuseppe (8th); Gallico and Sambatello (9th); Archi (10th); Ortì, Podàrgoni and Terreti (11th); Cannavò, Mosorrofa and Cataforio (12th); Ravagnese, San Gregorio, Croce Valanidi and Trunca (13th); Gallina (14th); Pellaro and Bocale (15th).

Reggio di Calabria is twinned with:

• Patras
• Athens (since 2003)
• Egaleo (since 2004)
• Cesana Torinese (since 2006)
• Montesilvano (since 2009)
• Fairfield City, NSW

Economy

View on the Strait of Messina by the beach of Reggio Calabria

Reggio retains a somewhat rural ambience despite its sizable population. Industry in the city revolves primarily around agriculture and export, fruits, tobacco, briar and the precious essence of the bergamot which is used in perfume production. Reggio is a port city with a sizeable fishing industry. The beaches of the city have become a popular tourist destination., even if the sea is often polluted by untreated sewers. Tourism is distributed between the Ionian coast (Costa Jonica), the Tyrrhenian coast (the Costa Viola, Purple Coast) and the Aspromonte mountain behind the city, containing the natural reserve of the Aspromonte National Park where, at 1,300–1,950 metres above sea level, there is a panoramic view of the Strait of Messina from the snowy mount Etna to the Aeolian Islands.

Bathing establishments along the beach

Monument to Victor Emmanuel II

Main sights

Castle

Cathedral.

Cilea Theatre.

Giudecca Street.

Villa Genoese-Zerbi.

Castles, churches and cathedrals

• The Castle, originally built before 540 AD and enlarged by the Normans and later by the Aragonese in 1459, unfortunately partially torn in the late 19th century and in 1923, is now home to art exhibitions.
• The Cathedral of Reggio, re-built after the last earthquake, actually the largest religious building in Calabria.
• The Church of Saint Gaetano Catanoso (1879–1963) on via Catanoso, in the Santo Spirito neighborhood. Canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2005 St. Gaetano is the first saint from Calabria since Saint Francis of Paola (canonized in 1507). St. Gaetano was founder of the Sisters of St. Veronica of the Holy Face. His glass tomb is in the sanctuary as well as museum exhibits. Catanosa was beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 4, 1997.
• The Church of the Optimates constructed in Byzantine-Norman style, containing medieval artistic items of interest.

Museums, palaces and theatres

• The National Archaeological Museum of Magna Græcia, dedicated to Ancient Greece, heir of the previous City Museum (created in 1819); its building was built in 1932 with project of Marcello Piacentini under the auspices of Archæological Superintendent Edoardo Galli.
• The Villa Genoese-Zerbi is a modern villa in 14th century Venetian style (Neo-Gothic). It is the seat of exhibition of the Venice Biennale in southern Italy.
• The Palazzo Nesci is a mansion in Neoclassical style; it is one of the few 19th-century buildings survived to the 1908 earthquake.
• The Pinacoteca Comunale ("Town Art Gallery") houses works by Antonello da Messina (Abraham Served by the Angels and St. Jerome in Penitence), Mattia Preti, Luca Giordano, Giuseppe Benessai and others.
• The Piccolo Museo San Paolo, a museum with a collection of medieval Byzantine and Russian artistic items.

Archaeological sites and natural sites

• Soprintendenza alle Antichità della Calabria, established in 1907 as Archeological Superintendence of Bruttium and Lucania.
• The Riace bronzes, that can be seen at the important National Museum of Greater Greece, are some of the main touristic destinations in Reggio.
• The Lungomare Falcomatà, a seaside promenade located in the downtown, is a crowded swimming destination and main symbol of the summer movida; it was defined by Nando Martellini, quoting the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, as "the most beautiful kilometre of Italy".
• The botanic gardens facing the sea.
• The walls of the ancient city, one of the few remaining examples of the original Greek walls, are divided into four separate sections. The one at the Falcomatà Seaside dates to the 5th–4th century BC and is attributed to the city's reconstruction by Dionysius II of Syracuse.
• The remains of Roman baths, along the sea promenade.
• The archaeological excavations of Piazza Italia, which was the central square of Reggio since Greater Greece age until today.
• The archaeological site of Griso Laboccetta, an ancient Greek and Roman sacred area.
• The archaeological excavations nearby Church San Giorgio al Corso.
• Other sites of archæological interest in the upper-eastern part of the city, such as a Greek mansion, a necropolis, or some ancient Greek walls and Byzantine items of interest nearby Reggio Campi street.

New waterfront: Museum and Performing Arts Centre

The new waterfront designed by architect Dame Zaha Hadid, located on a narrow strait separating Italy from Sicily, marks the city of Reggio Calabria as a Mediterranean cultural capital. The museum (13,400 sqm) draws inspiration from the organic form of the starfish, utilizing a radial symmetry to coordinate communication and circulation between different program elements: exhibition spaces, restoration facilities, archive, aquarium and library. A second, multifunctional building (8,000 sqm), comprises two separate elements, placed around a partially covered piazza. Here are contained: offices, gyms, craft laboratories, cinema and flexible auditoria.

Culture

Arena dello Stretto, hosts musical and theatrical events.

Education

• Università "Mediterranea": established in 1968, it is the first Calabrian university; it includes Faculties of Architecture, Engineering, Agriculture and Law.
• Università per Stranieri "Dante Alighieri": it is one of the three Italian Universities for Foreigners; created in 1984 it includes several Linguistic and Philology courses.
• Accademia di Belle Arti: the Academy of Fine Arts, established in 1967 is the most long-standing of its kind in Calabria and the third one in Southern Italy.
• Conservatorio Musicale "Francesco Cilea": founded in 1927, the most ancient Conservatory of Music in Calabria, was then dedicated to the musician from Palmi.
• Liceo Classico "Tommaso Campanella", established in 1814 as Real Collegio under Joachim Murat government; poet Diego Vitrioli, from Reggio, attended this college.
• Liceo Scientifico "Leonardo da Vinci", founded in the 1920s, under Fascism.

Literature and theatre

• Teatro Comunale "Francesco Cilea": Municipal Theatre, firstly inaugurated in 1818 as Real Teatro Borbonio, it was rebuilt in a different place after the 1908 earthquake.
• Politeama "Siracusa": multi-purpose theatre inaugurated in 1922 inside a Liberty style building.
• Biblioteca Comunale "Pietro De Nava": the Municipal Library, the most long-standing of its kind in Calabria, was inaugurated in 1818 as Regia Biblioteca Ferdinandiana and set in its present-day building in 1928, after the last earthquake.

People

For more information, see Category:People from Reggio Calabria

• Agatho (7th century), pope born in Sicily
• Vincenzo Asprea (1874–1930), entomologist
• Giuseppe Benassai (1835–1878), painter
• Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916), painter/sculptor
• Diego Carpitella (1924-1990), ethno-musicologist
• Gaetano Catanoso (1879–1963), saint, priest born in Choriò
• Francesco Cilea (1866-1950), musician and composer born in Palmi
• Clearchus (7th–6th century BC), sculptor
• Theagenes of Rhegium (6th century BC), literary critic
• Proclus of Rhegium (1st-2nd century), physician
• Giuseppe De Nava (1858–1924), politician
• Rocco de Zerbi (1843–1924), born in Oppido Mamertina
• Giuseppe Filianoti, (1974), operatic tenor
• Alfonso Frangipane (1881–1970), born in Catanzaro
• Glaucus of Rhegium (5th century BC), historian
• Ibycus (6th century BC), poet
• Iokastos (13th century BC), probably king of Reggio
• Giovanni Imbalzano (born 1944), physicist and mathematician
• Ippy (5th century BC), historian
• Léarchos (15–14th century BC), sculptor
• Giuseppe Logoteta (1758–1799), politician
• Luigi Malice (1937), painter/sculptor born in Naples
• Tito Minniti (1909–1935), pilot
• Domingo Periconi (1883–1940), painter
• Raffaele Piria (1814–1865) chemist born in Scilla
• Pythagoras (6th–5th century BC) sculptor born in Samos
• Mino Reitano (1944-2009), singer born in Fiumara
• Leopoldo Trieste (1917-2003), actor and movie director
• Gianni Versace (1946–1997), fashion designer
• Donatella Versace (born 1955), fashion designer
• Santo Versace (born 1944), fashion designer and politician
• Goffredo Zehender (1901–1958), Grand Prix driver

Infrastructure and transport

File:Messina ReggioCalabria Metro Map.png

Messina-Reggio Calabria metro area transport system

Highway

Reggio is a road junction on the SS18 Napoli-Reggio and on the SS106 Reggio-Taranto roads and also on the A3 Napoli-Salerno-Reggio motorway.

Tramway

The Tramway of Reggio was operative since 1918 until 1937. Tramway line was 5.3 km long, from Sbarre district (southern suburbs) until Annunziata bridge (northern part of town centre) passing by the whole historical centre.

Railway

It has an important main central railway station, the largest in Calabria, opened in 1866, with ten smaller stations.

Port

The Port of Reggio was enlarged after the 1908 earthquake.

Airport

View on Reggio Calabria Airport

Reggio Calabria, served by air from the Reggio Calabria Airport (IATA: REG, ICAO: LICR) also known as Aeroporto dello Stretto or Tito Minniti Airport, is located a few kilometres south of Reggio. The first runway was built in 1939 for military purposes. On 11 July 1943 a US air raid razed the structure, which later was rebuilt for civil aviation. The first civilian flight took place on 10 April 1947 with a twin-engine propeller-driven "Douglas DC-3" on the Turin – Bologna – Florence – Naples – Reggio di Calabria – Palermo route. Design of the first paved runway began in October 1960.

By decision of the Ministry of Defense-Air Force, on 10 December 1975 the airport was named Tito Minniti, after a pilot who crashed in East Africa on 26 December 1935 during the Ethiopian war. The airport structure is increasingly being improved; the recent phase of modernization has allowed for an increase in the number of available flights to Rome, Milan, Venice, Turin, Pisa, Bologna and other cities in Europe and the Mediterranean area (such as Valletta, Malta).

See also

• Black-figure pottery
• Fatti di Reggio
• List of mayors of Reggio Calabria
• Reggio Calabria Airport
• Port of Reggio

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• Reggio Calabria Centrale railway station
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reggio-Bova
• University of Reggio Calabria

References

• Paoli, Letizia (2003). Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style, New York: Oxford University Press; ISBN 0-19-515724-9 (Organized-crime.de, Review by Klaus Von Lampe) (CCKA-ACJP.ca, Review by Alexandra V. Orlova)
• Partridge, Hilary (1998). Italian politics today, Manchester: Manchester University Press; ISBN 0-7190-4944-X

External links

• Official website
• Official tourist site
• The City of Reggio di Calabria
• Province of Reggio di Calabria