Welcome
to Calabria!
Welcome to Badolato, Soverato, Torre
di Ruggiero and more in Calabria, Southern Italy!
Benvenuti
Italian Travelers, Calabrese Descendants, Gourmets, and Historians to
our new website!
Join us for a visit and virtual tour of magical 11th century cities
perched above the Ionian Sea. Forgotten by the world for centuries,
empty of residents since the 1940s, ancient Calabrian towns are now
being revitalized by the talents of local historians and architects.
A team of developers, with assistance from the Regional government and
European Community, are working on house renovations and apartment decors
with Italian and International artists to create authentic yet modernized
living quarters.
This site is dedicated to all Calabrians and the millions of people
who have been touched by them!
Three
thousand years ago the ancient Greeks made Calabria the capital of Magna
Grecia or Great Greece. They were followed by the Romans, Etruscans,
Byzantines, Normans, North Africans and every other civilization who
understood that the key to Italy was its southern most peninsula.
Then,
just over a hundred years ago, over half of Calabria's residents left
their beautiful but poor land to find their dreams in Northern Italy,
America, Canada and Australia. Happily, as a testament to a great people,
most Calabrians (Calabrese) found great success. Withstanding
new languages, prejudice and starting from nothing, other cultures took
note of the Calabrese dedication to work, family and tradition.
Today,
this is continuing, not only by the generations of Calabrese throughout
the world, but also here in Calabria. Italy's entrance into the European
Community gave a great boost to the improvement of infrastructure to
Calabria's two million residents.
For
the past few years we have been working with the regional and local
governments in Calabria not only to promote tourism (Calabria has been
number one in Italy for annual tourism growth consecutively for seven
years) but also to create awareness of the region's ancient towns, many
of which were deserted a hundred years ago.
These
initiatives, the Calabria Revitalization Projects, concentrate in bringing
awareness to the world of the lost Medieval towns of Calabria as well
as renovating them.
These
treasure chests of culture, history, religion, art and architecture
overlook stunning rolling hillsides that fall into the bluest and clearest
waters of the Ionian,Tyrrhenian and Mediterranean seas and are more
reasons why to visit Calabria and why Calabria is the Mediterranean
Dream.
