Calabria

Calabria is a region in Southern Italy. It's considered the Caribbean of Europe thanks to its pristine beaches, stunning landscape, and rustic charms. Hillside towns, ancient Greek temples and Byzantine churches dot the countryside of Italy's best kept secret.

The region's climate is mild in the winter, with hot, dry summers. The region is surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean Sea: the Ionian Sea is to the east, the Tyhrrenean to the west and the Strait of Messina to the south. As such, the sea is a big part of the region's culture and cuisine.

Understand

Calabria has historically been one of the poorest regions in Italy, although it is improving now. The region is quite undeveloped and undervisited by tourists, but is therefore also unspoiled.

Regions

Calabria is subdivided into five provinces: Catanzaro, Cosenza, Crotone, Reggio di Calabria and Vibo Valentia.

Cities

• Badolato

• Camigliatello

• Isca Marina

• Praja a Mare

• Reggio di Calabria

• Roccella Ionica

• Santa Maria Del Cedro

• Sant' Andrea Apostolo dello Jonio

• Scalea

• Tropea

• Vibo Valentia

Getting there

Calabria is serviced by airports in Reggio Calabria (Tito Minniti), Lamezia Terme (Sant'Eufemia) and Crotone (Sant'Anna).

The main north-south highway through Calabria is the A3 Autostrada from Salerno to Reggio Calabria.

Traveling around

For holiday makers, there is a free bus service that runs from Lamezia Terme Airport to Tropea. Other modes of transport include the train which runs along the whole coast of Calabria and stops of at the main towns or alternatively can hire a car from Lamezia Airport.

See

When you visit Calabria, spending a couple of days in Praja a Mare (known as Praja) is a great time. The off coast Dino Island is popular for its Grotta Azzurra (Blue Cave), where you can swim surrounded by fish in crystal blue water.

Eat

If there is a fundamental ingredient to Calabrese cooking, it would be the peperoncino. Calabrese cooking tends toward the spicy thanks to the generous use of various varieties of hot peppers in regional cuisine. In fact, so popular is the peperoncino, that the village of Diamante honors the hot pepper with its own festival. In the first week of September the locals celebrate the Festival del Peperoncino, dedicated to the unofficial symbol of Calabria -- the cayenne pepper. During the festival, one can taste freshly harvested peppers or try locally-produced products that make use of the spicy condiment -- anything from pasta to (yes) gelato. Olio Santo, olive oil infused with hot pepper, is sometimes added to a plate of pasta to give it a little extra zip.

Sopresatta is a popular dried sausage typical of the region.

Alici ripieni, stuffed anchovies, is a popular seafood dish.

Sardella is produced in some of the towns along the Ionian coast in the province of Cosenza. It is a spicy paste made with olive oil, mashed baby sardines and hot pepper.

Some Neapolitan specialties such as Braciole ('Raciol in Calabrese dialect) are common in the region.

Drink

Calabria is an up-and-coming producer of wines, with a number of regional wines earning the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) label from the Italian government. Among the region's DOC wines are:

• Bivongi

• Cirò

• Donnici

• Greco Bianco

• Lamezia

• Melissa

• Pollino

• Sant'Anna Isola Capo Rizzuto

• San Vito di Luzzi

• Savuto

• Scavigna

• Verbicaro

Most of these wines are not available for purchase or would be exceedingly difficult to purchase at a store in the U.S. as they are primarily produced for domestic consumption. Locally-produced wines can be purchased by the bottle at area stores at a steep discount to what they would retail for (if available) stateside.

Talk

As one of the more remote regions of Italy, English is not as widely spoken in Calabria as it is in the more urbanized north. The Calabresi speak two different forms of Italian, standard Italian as well as their local dialect, which can be difficult to comprehend if you speak only standard Italian.

Safety

Though not as poor as it was in the early part of the last century, Calabria is still one of the least developed regions in Western Europe, and so there is crime in the region. Tourists are rarely the target of crime. The high-profile crime in Calabria that receives the most media attention, at least in Italy, concerns the Mafia, called in Calabria the 'Ndrangheta.

Road safety is a greater concern for tourists visiting the region. The SS 106 which runs along the Ionian coast from Reggio Calabria to Taranto is considered one of the deadliest roads in all of Europe.

Sleeping

, four-star hotel near Lamezia Terme airport.

• Apulia - visit the neighboring region