To my mind, Calabria is one of the most beautiful lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. This is the place where I was born and perhaps this may effect my opinion about it. But even if every place in the world could be the best for anyone who is born there, I really think that Calabria is objectively a wealth of interest and intrigue.
With its five hundred miles of coasts, Calabria offers wonderful shores, watered by a blue sea, deep and rich in flora and fauna. Beaches are either large, with fine sand, or narrow and rocky between cliffs. It depends where you go. You are a spoilt for choice. The South West coast is high, with reefs, and the villages are small with quaint fishing ports. Very picturesque. The other side, in the East and North, the coast is low, and you can find solitary beaches, under infinite blue skies.
If you go to Tropea, for instance, in the West, you will find a village situated on a cliff, three hundred feets high, and the streets often lead you to terraces where you can lean over the sea. The beach is not really big, and you will find a type of sand that does not stick to your feet, but anyway very comfortable for sunbathing. And the sand is so diversely coloured and shiny that the beach appears unrealistic, fantastic. Tropea is wonderful.
Even if Calabria is the perfect destination for the sea, I really believe that everyone should take the chance to visit the mountains and the countryside. Would you say that the highest mountain is even more than one thousand feet? Yes, that is true. And you can reach a forest in just one hour from the seaside. In the winter you can also ski and during the other times of the year, you can enjoy hiking through the woods. And maybe rich an ancient medieval abbey.
Calabria has about three thousand years of vibrant history. It is famous for the ancient Greek colonization that gave it the name of “Magna Grecia” or Great Greece. And nowadays, we can still observe the beauty of those towns because many of them have been discovered. Many masterpieces which have been found in those locations, are now admired at the Reggio Calabria Museum, one of the most important in the Southern Italy. You can see all sorts of terracotta furnishings, jewellery and statues, of which the most important are the Riace Bronzes, so-called because they were found near by the Riace village, a few miles far from Reggio. The Riace Bronzes have been the most remarkable examples of the Greek period up to now, and they are worth the trip to Reggio Calabria which is undoubtedly an important location to visit. Its waterfront is a charming promenade in front of Sicily, and Gabriele D'Annunzio called it the most beautiful kilometer of Italy.
