Calabria - 51 Attractions You Must Visit

The Monte Pollino - whose peak reaches 2,248 m above sea level - despite being second in height after greenhouse Dolcedorme, is the mountain that gives its name to the solid, in the middle of the homonymous national park, one of the many geosites of the Pollino Geopark. One of the good trekking destination and also a good view point too.

The Valli Cupe Regional Nature Reserve was established with the regional law of 21 December 2016. It is an important naturalistic area of ​​Calabria, in particular in the Presila Catanzaro area, a step away from the Gariglione and with the city of Sersale at its center. The particularity of the area is linked to the presence of waterfalls, gorges, ancient trees, botanical rarities, and monoliths.

The Valle del Fiume Argentino nature reserve is a protected natural area located in the municipality of Orsomarso, in the province of Cosenza. The reserve, close to the Lungro mountains, occupies an area of ​​3,980 hectares within the Pollino National Park and is the ideal starting point for many hiking trails that can be done in this portion of the park.

The Romito cave is a site dating back to the upper Paleolithic containing one of the oldest evidence of prehistoric art in Italy, and one of the most important in Europe, located in Nuppolara in the municipality of Papasidero, in Calabria, province of Cosenza. Outside there are some rock engravings, among which the most important is a graffiti on a large boulder depicting a majestic bovid, and burials, dating back to about 11,000 years ago.

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 sanctuary of Santa Maria Delle Armi is a monumental complex of medieval origin in Calabria. It is located in the territory of Cerchiara di Calabria on the slopes of Mount Sellaro at 1015 m above sea level with a view of the Sibari plain and the Gulf of Taranto. Today's sanctuary stands on an ancient Byzantine monastic site, on the slopes of Mount Sellaro, also known as the holy mountain.

Serra Dolcedorme is the highest peak of the Pollino massif, as well as of the southern Apennines. It is located in Calabria, between the municipalities of Castrovillari and Cerchiara, not far from the border with Basilicata. The southern slope, which flows into the Piana di Sibari, is very steep and is characterized by a grandiose wall, the most imposing in southern Italy.

Sila National Park is actually part of one of Italy’s oldest national parks, the National Park of Calabria. This zone, with its rugged and wild, yet pristine side, charms visitors with its quaint and welcoming villages, and with the opportunities to practice a number of outdoor sports. Here, any time of year is right to enjoy this multi-faceted Park.

The long beach is located between two cliffs. The right cliff, that of Torrazzo, is a rocky wall full of cavities. Here swallows, sea birds and the peregrine falcon find shelter. The vegetation is mainly composed of herbs, prickly pears, carnations from the cliffs, mastic trees, olive trees and euphorbias. The left cliff is occupied by villas and houses that slope towards the sea and continue towards the Pietragrande side.

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 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.