The History And Sights Of Calabria

The History and Sights of Calabria

Calabria is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples located at the “toe” of the peninsula. The capital of the region is Cosenza. The region is bounded between Basilicata, the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Ionian Sea. The region has a population of two million and that number is still rising. Calabria was first settled by Italic Oscan вЂ" speaking tribes. Two of these tribes consisted of Oenotri, or the “vine-cultivators” and the Itali. Greek contact with the latter resulted in the entire peninsula (modern Italy) taking the name of the tribe.

Greeks settled profusely along the coast at an early date and several of their settlements, including the first Italian city called Rhegion (Reggio Calabria). The region never regained it prosperity after being conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century BC. The Greeks were also conquered by the 3rd century BC by Oscan tribes from the north, including a branch of the Samnites called the Lucanians and an offshoot of the Lucanians called the Bruttii. The Bruttii established the main cities of Calabria, including the capital Cosenza, formerly known as Consentia.

After the Roman Empire was conquered, the people of Calabria were driven inland by the spread of Malaria and due to pirate raids. During the Gothic War, Calabria was horrified because they would then learn they would now be under the rule of the Byzantine Empire. Previously the breadbasket of Rome, in the 9th and 10th centuries, Egypt was conquered therefore they became stuck between Byzantine Rule and the Arab emirs in Sicily. Not only was the region subjected to raids, but it was also population deflated and the morals of the people of Calabria were demolished.

Around 1060, Normans under the leadership of Robert Guiscard's brother Roger established a presence in this borderland, and organized a government along Byzantine lines that was run by the local Greek magnates of Calabria. The Hauteville clan later formed the precursors of the Kingdom of Naples, which ruled Calabria until the unification of Italy. This kingdom itself came under many rulers: the Habsburg dynasties of both Spain and Austria; the Franco-Spanish Bourbon dynasty, Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte, and then French Marshal Joachim Murat, who was executed in the small town of Pizzo.

Due to the European Revolutions of 1848, Calabria experienced a series of peasant revolts. This set the stage for the unification with the rest of Italy in 1861, when the Kingdom of Naples was brought into the union by Giuseppe Garibaldi. The Aspromonte was the scene of a famous battle of the unification of Italy, in which Garibaldi was wounded. The 'Ndrangheta organized crime families of Calabria began to appear in 1860; they now rival in power the better known Cosa Nostra of nearby Sicily, though they operate completely independently from the Sicilians and are especially active in the cocaine trade.

Until recently a town in southern Italy, Mezzogiorno was among the poorest regions of Europe and impoverished Calabria was a main source for the Italian Diaspora of the early 20th Century. Many Calabrese people moved to the industrial centers of northern Italy, the rest of Europe, the Americas, and other countries as well. Today, there is increased affluence and a much improved economy based on modern agriculture, tourism, and a growing commercial base. Even though the per capita income is still well below that of northern Italy and central Italy, it has improved to the point where it is approaching the European Union median.

If one decides to visit Calabria, there are many different options