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Reggio di Calabria (Italian pronunciation: [ˈrɛdʒːo ˌdikaˈlabrja]; Calabrian dialect: Rìggiu, Greek-Calabrian: Righi, Greek: Ῥήγιον- Rhegion), commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is a city and comune located in southern Italy and the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria. It is the largest and oldest city in the region and is the second oldest city in Italy overall. The third economic center of mainland Southern Italy, it is well known as a port and university city. It is called the "city of Bronzes", for the Riace bronzes, testimonials of its Greek origins; the "city of Bergamot", which is exclusively cultivated in the region; as well as the "city of Fatamorgana", an optical phenomenon visible only from the Reggio seaside in Italy. The city has a population of 186,134 spread over 236 km², while the fast-growing urban area numbers 260,000 inhabitants. Another 370,429 people live in the metropolitan area (the 10th metropolitan city of the Italian nation). Founded in 720 BCE[1] by the Ancient Greeks as Rhegion (meaning "it breaks away"), the settlement was a well established part of Magna Graecia. Later it became a Roman ally and part of the Roman Republic, then metropolis and capital of the possessions of the Byzantine Empire in southern Italy. Reggio emerged as the capital of the Duchy of Calabria for a period until it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sicily. It was then part of the Kingdom of Naples, later known as Two Sicilies, from 1282 to 1860, until the Italian unification. Reggio retains a somewhat rural ambience despite its sizable population. Industry in the city revolves primarily around agriculture and the exportation of fruits and tobacco. Also as Reggio is a port city, it has a fishing industry. The beaches of the city have helped make it a popular tourist destination.[3] The municipality of Reggio Calabria contains the frazioni (subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Catona, Gallico, Archi, Pentimele, Gallina, Mosorrofa (Greek: Messorofè), Ortì (Greek: Orthioi), Pellaro (Greek: Pèllaros), Saracinello.
[edit] GeographyReggio di Calabria is located on the toe of the Italian peninsula and is separated by the Strait of Messina from the island of Sicily. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, craggy mountain range that runs up through the center of the region. The region is subject to earthquakes and tsunami. [edit] ClimateReggio di Calabria possess a typical Mediterranean climate.
[edit] History
[edit] Ancient history After Cumae, Reggio is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy. The colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis and Messenia in 720 BCE on the site of an older settlement, Erythrà (Ερυθρά), meaning "the red one". This dated back to the 3rd millennium BCE and was established by the Ausones. The last Ausonian ruler was the legendary king Italus (from whom the name of Italy is derived)[citation needed]. King Iokastos is buried on the Punta Calamizzi promontory, called "Pallantiòn", where Greek settlers later arrived. The colony retained the earlier name of "Rhegion" (Ρήγιoν). Reggio was one of the most important cities in Magna Grecia, reaching great economic and political power during the 5th and 6th centuries BCE under the Anaxilas government. It allowed Reggio to rule over all the Strait, including Zancle (modern Messina). Later, the polis of Rhegion reached great artistic and cultural heights with its philosophic Pythagorean school, as well as sculpture and poetry schools, from where came leaders such as Pythagoras of Rhegium and Ibycus. Later, Rhegion allied with Athens during the Peloponnesian War but in 387 BC, the city was taken by the Syracusans. As an independent city, Rhegium was an important ally and "socia navalis" of Rome. Then during the Imperial age it became one of the most important and flourishing cities of southern Italy because it was the seat of the "Corrector", the Governor of the "Regio II Lucania et Bruttii" (province of Lucany and Brutium). It was devastated by several major earthquakes and associated tsunami during the Roman Empire when it was called "Rhegium Julium." It was a noble Roman city. During the Byzantine Age, Reggio became the capital of the "metropolis of the Byzantine possessions in southern Italy", and later capital of the Duchy of Calabria and linchpin of the Greek church in Italy. During the 8th century, the city became a Holy See. [edit] Middle Ages Because of the city's strategic importance, numerous occupying groups came to Reggio Calabria during the early Middle Age. For hundreds of years, Reggio was contested between the Saracens and Lombards, and then between the Byzantines and Normans. In 1060, Robert Guiscard and Roger I of Sicily finally captured Reggio, but Greek cultural and religious elements persisted until the 17th century. In the 12th century, Reggio became part of the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1282, during the Sicilian Vespers, Reggio rallied in support of Messina and the other oriental Sicily cities because of the shared history, commercial and cultural interests. It supported the Aragonese forces against the House of Anjou. The city was ranked to Kingdom of Naples. In the 14th century, it obtained larger, new administrative powers. Reggio Calabria is known as the location of the first dated Hebrew book, a Rashi commentary on the Pentateuch, printed in 1475;[5] however, scholars consider Rome as the city where Hebrew printing began. [edit] Modern history Because of continuous Turkish incursions, pestilences, and the oppressive Spanish domination taxes, the power of Reggio began to decay in the 16th century until the disastrous 1783 earthquake. The quake damaged not only Reggio but all southern Calabria and Messina. In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte took Reggio and assigned the city as Ducate and General Headquarters. On August 21, 1860 during the famous "Battaglia di Piazza Duomo" (Cathedral Square Battle), Giuseppe Garibaldi conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Brun Antonio Rossi - the mayor of Reggio - was the first of the Kingdom to proclaim the Francis II decline and the new Garibaldi Dictatorship.  After the December 28, 1908, 80 percent of all buildings in Reggio collapsed and many thousands of people were killed. Damage was even worse in Messina across the Straits. That earthquake remains the worst on record in modern western European history. It took Reggio a generation to fully recover[citation needed]. The city was rebuilt to modern standards but because of its strategic military position, it suffered a devastating air raid by the English 8th Army in 1943. After the Second World War Reggio recovered considerably. Between the 1970s and the 1980s, Reggio went through twenty years of darkness that encouraged an increase in organized crime and urban decay. But since the early 1990s, the so called "Primavera di Reggio" (Reggio Spring) - a spontaneous movement of people and government institutions - encouraged city recovery and most importantly, a renewed and stronger identity. [edit] Names of the city through the agesDuring its three-thousand year history Reggio has often been renamed. Each name corresponds with the city's major historical phases:
[edit] Main sights  The Riace bronzes, that can be seen at the important National Museum of Greater Greece, are some of the main touristic destinations in Reggio; and the Lungomare Falcomatà, a seaside promenade located in the downtown, is a crowded swimming destination and main symbol of the summer movida. The tourism in Reggio is distributed between the Ionian coast (Costa Jonica), the Tyrrhenian coast (the Costa Viola, Purple Coast) and the Aspromonte mountain behind the city, which contains the natural reserve of Aspromonte National Park, where at 1,400 meters above the sea levele there is the Gambarie ski resort with a wonderful panoramic view of the Strait of Messina, from the snowy mount Etna to the Aeolian Islands. [edit] Other sights
[edit] Notable people
[edit] International relationsMain article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Italy [edit] Twin towns — Sister citiesReggio Calabria is twinned with:
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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