Reggio Di Calabria Italy South Italy Catanzaro

• Exquisite museum
• Traditional cuisine

Dating back to the third millennium BC, the site of Reggio di Calabria was inhabited by the Ausones, an ancient Italic tribe, whose last King, Italus, is said to have given his name to the country of Italy. Reggio di Calabria grew in status as a member city of the Magna Graecia, or Greater Greece, and prospered under the name of “Febea”. As the independent city “Rhegium”, as it was renamed, it became an important coastal metropolis, but unfortunately the city was ravaged by several natural disasters. As part of the Roman Empire, it was yet renamed to "Rhegium Julium", and became a key trading route. With the onset of Christianity, the city attained important status as the center of Byzantine culture, although its strategic location lead to the city being fought over by many groups. It was Naples and Sicily that fought the hardest for ownership of the city, which was (surprisingly!) renamed “Regols” by the Sicilians. Surviving a massive earthquake in 1783, Napoleonic rule, and several battles for the unification of Italy, the city was finally named Reggio di Calabria and came under the rule of the House of Savoy. However, the biggest blow to the city was to come in 1908, when the entire area of Messina was shook by one of the biggest earthquakes in modern European history. The final blow was given by the oncoming Tsunami that decimated the survivors and demolished a lot of the historic buildings. Reggio di Calabria was painstakingly rebuilt to modern standards, a fact that can be easily seen by the peculiar mix of modern and old buildings throughout the city!