20 Attractions to Explore Near Monte Sant'Elia

The Ruffo di Scilla castle, sometimes also known as the Ruffo di Calabria Castle, is an ancient fortification located on the Scillèo promontory, jutting out over the Strait of Messina. The castle constitutes the genius loci of the town of Scilla, about 20 km north of Reggio Calabria, and certainly one of the most characteristic and typical elements of the landscape of the Strait and the Reggio district. The castle also houses one of the lighthouses of the Navy, the lighthouse of Scilla.

The Strait of Messina is an arm of the sea that separates peninsular Italy to the east from the island of Sicily and, more generally, the latter from continental Europe to the west, connecting the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas and bathing the metropolitan cities of Reggio Calabria and Messina, with a minimum width of approx3.14 km between the municipalities of Villa San Giovanni and Messina.

The Punta del Faro is one of the 3 points of the island of Sicily. It is the tip of the northeast, which is located precisely in front of Calabria. It is located in the municipality of Messina, in the Torre Faro neighborhood, neighboring Ganzirri. From the Strait of Messina, it offers an exceptional view of Calabria.

The Aspromonte National Park is a national park located within the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria, taking its name from the Aspromonte Massif. The park's territory, crossed by several watercourses, is populated by important animal species like the wolf, the peregrine falcon, the eagle owl, and the goshawk. Most of the territory is dominated by forests of beech trees, silver firs, black pines, holm oaks, chestnut trees, and Mediterranean maquis. A couple of rare species live here: Bonelli'

The Monte Poro is a mountain of Calabria, which rises on the slopes Tyrrhenian between ' Angitola , the Mesima, and Serre. It is also an important center for the transmission of radio and television signals given its position that embraces the whole Tyrrhenian coast from Cetraro in the north to Scilla in the south and the plains of Lamezia Terme to the northeast and Gioia Tauro to the southeast.

The three bays of Grotticelle are the best known and most evocative seaside resorts of the municipality of Ricadi, located in the hamlet. San Nicolò, which culminate with the promontory of Capo Vaticano. Even before it acquired certain tourist importance, Grotticelle was a place that lived mainly on resources of the earth and the sea. For a little less than twenty years now, this locality has become the driving force of the economy of the entire territory of Ricadi.

Capo Vaticano is an extensive promontuous, seaside, and flat town in the hamlet of San Nicolò, in the municipality of Ricadi, located between Pizzo Calabro and Nicotera, along the " Costa degli Dei ", a well-known stretch of the southern Tyrrhenian coast with a tourist vocation. The Capo Vaticano area is full of accommodation facilities equipped with entertainment services.

The National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, or National Museum of Magna Graecia, is an Italian state museum. It exhibits one of the most remarkable collections of artifacts from Magna Graecia. The artifacts found today in Calabria are no longer gathered and kept in a single museum but exhibited in those locations where new findings have allowed the setting up of small local museums, which flank the Reggio museum.

The Lungomare Falcomatà is the name of a boulevard along the Bay of Reggio Calabria. It is dedicated to one of the mayors of the city of Reggio, Italo Falcomatà, under whose administration the city experienced a period of significant recovery and renewal. Very frequented by tourists during the summer period, it offers a unique panorama on the Strait of Messina and Etna. The Reggio lungomare was defined as “The most beautiful kilometer in Italy” by Nando Martellini, wrongly citing Gabriele D'Ann

The Aragonese castle of Reggio Calabria is the main fortification of the city, located in the homonymous Piazza Castello between via Aschenez and via Possidonea. It is considered, together with the Riace Bronzes, one of the main historical symbols of the city of Reggio. Since 1956 it has housed the observatory of the National Institute of Geophysics.

The Castle of San Aniceto is a Byzantine castle built in the early 11th century on a hill in Motta San Giovanni, in the current Italian province of Reggio Calabria. It is one of the few examples of early medieval architecture in Calabria, as well as one of the few well-preserved Byzantine fortifications in the world. Its name derives from the Byzantine admiral Nicetas Oryphas.

The mountain Consoles is a mountain of Calabria southwestern, part of the chain of the Serre, which rises in the valley Stilaro. At its foot lies the municipality of Stilo, downstream between Consolino and Mount Stella there is the municipality of Pazzano, and finally the municipality of Bivongi near the Stilaro stream. One of the nice trekking destination and also a good viewpoint.

Amendolea is a small town, part of the municipality of Condofuri, located in the center of the Greek area of the Province of Reggio Calabria. It is inhabited by 13 families and rises about 5 kilometers from the sea, on the left bank of the Amendolea river , and dominated by the fortress on which the Ruffo Castle stands imposingly. Until 1811 it was an autonomous municipality.

Punta Capo Cozzo is a granite promontory that divides a long sandy beach from a rocky one that is not suitable for swimming in the municipality of Zambrone in the province of Vibo Valentia. Known as an important nautical reference point, together with that of Capo Vaticano in the municipality of Ricadi which are part of the coast called Costa degli Dei or Costa Bella. Capo Cozzo is also known as the lion's rock due to the particular resemblance of a lion-shaped rock.

The Serre Regional Natural Park is a protected natural area of ​​the Calabria region, established in 2004. Located between Aspromonte and Sila, it is crossed by two long mountain ranges, large forests, among them the Stilo forest and rivers with waterfalls such as Marmarico, in the city of Bivongi, and the waterfall by Pietra Cupa, at the Fiumara Assi de Guardavalle.

The Marmàrico waterfall is the highest waterfall in Calabria and the southern Apennines, 114 meters high, located in the territory of the municipality of Bivongi, in high course of the Stilaro river, in the Folea valley. Inserted from 6 September 2011 among the " Italian wonders " of the homonymous project, born on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, of a tourist-cultural nature national Youth Forum.

The Angitola lake or lake dell'Angitola is an artificial lake in the province of Vibo Valentia, in the territory of the municipalities of Maierato and Monterosso Calabro. The lake occupies an area of ​​about 1.96 km² and is located in the extreme south of the plain of Sant'Eufemia, about 3 km from the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia. Around the lake, there are olive groves and Mediterranean scrub. There is also a reforestation belt with Aleppo pine.

The Cattolica di Stilo is a small square Byzantine church with a central plan, built with brick masonry, whose roof is made up of five very characteristic domes; it is located at the foot of Mount Consolino in Stilo , in the province of Reggio Calabria and is one of the most important museums and Byzantine sites among those in Calabria.

The Stilaro is an important Fiumara calabrese, which gives its name to the entire valley in which flows: the valley Stilaro. Known in antiquity as Elleporo, and as Kàstron in the Byzantine period and in the Norman period also Stillitanus. Along the river there are three fish farms. Between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries several dams and small hydroelectric plants were built for the exploitation of hydroelectric energy.

The Archaeological Museum of Monasterace or Archaeological Museum of Ancient Kaulon or MAK is the museum built around the "Paolo Orsi" archaeological park, which preserves the remains of the ancient Magna Graecia city of Kaulon . Since December 2014, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities has been managing it through the Calabria Museum Complex, which in December 2019 became the Regional Museum Directorate.