REGGIO CALABRIA
Reggio Calabria was founded by Greek colonists in the eighth century BC.It was an important city in Magna Graecia - the Greek colonies in Sicily and Italy.
In the National Museum in Reggio Calabria you can see many artefacts from that period.The most important are two big bronze statues of warriors, which were found in the sea near Reggio about 30 years ago. They are known as the Bronzes of Riace - after the village on the coast near where they were found.
Other Greek remains are the ancient walls on the seafront.These were excavated after the earthquake and tsunami of 1908(nineteen-oh-eight). Also on the seafront are the remains of Roman baths.
After the Roman period, Reggio was part of the Byzantine Empire, and the castle in Reggio probably dates from that period - although nothing remains of that first castle.It is called the Aragonese Castle because the present building dates from the period of Aragonese domination in the 1400s(fourteen hundreds).
The splendid "Italo Falcomatą" seafront was described as "the most beautiful kilometre in Italy" by Gabriele D'Annunzio, a famous Italian poet. The "Via Marina" has a wonderful view of the Straits of Messina and the volcano Etna with is particular snowy summit for several months of the year.The seafront is full of many different species of plants of which many are tropical, of varying dimension and shape, like palm trees, magnolia, dates and ficus. Along the seafront there are the remains of a Greek wall and Roman baths. Therefore the Art Nouveau buildings along the Viale Vittorio Emanuele are of great interest.
Close to the seafront we'll find the "Lido Comunale", the only beach in Italy in the centre of a city. It's a meeting place for young people especially in summer. In the past few years the seafront has been(done up) thanks to the care of the Major Italo Falcomatą who unfortunately died few years ago.
The decadence of the building began in the early 19th century, with the restoration ordered by the Bourbons that started the first demolitions and the progressive filling of the ditch; the structure of the castle remained however more or less unchanged till the final trasformation into military barracks in 1869.
