Sights in Calabria
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Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia
A Magna Graecia munificence fills the excellent Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia. The museum’s pride, displayed in an earthquake-proof basement, are the world’s finest examples of ancient Greek sculpture: the Bronzi di Riace, two exquisite bronze statues discovered on the seabed near Riace in 1972. Larger than life, they depict the Greek obsession with the body beautiful, inscrutable, determined and fierce, their perfect form more godlike than human. No-one knows who they are – whether man or god – and even their provenance is a mystery. They date from around 450 BC, and it’s believed they’re the work of two artists.
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Piazza del Duomo
This church originated in the 6th century, was consecrated in the 13th and rebuilt in Baroque-style in the 18th. Here you can see Isabella of Aragon's tomb (1271) and a copy of 13th-century Byzantine Madonna del Pilerio. Mary's face has a spot, a sign of her 1576 sacrifice. She had inflicted herself with plague to save those who carried around her likeness.
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Piazza XV Marzo
This elegant square is fronted by the Palazzo del Governo and the neoclassical Teatro Rendano. Smack bang in its middle is a 1914 statue of hero-philosopher Bernardino Telesio. The northwest corner has his Accademia Cosentina and, within it, an excellent library and museum. South of the piazza stretches shady Villa Vecchia, a huge and welcome oasis of green.
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Castle
From Piazza XV Marzo, follow Via Paradiso, then Via Antonio Siniscalchi for the route to the down-at-heel Norman castle, left in disarray by several earthquakes. It’s empty inside, but the view merits the steep ascent.
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Teatro Rendano
Head along the corso to Piazza XV Marzo, an appealing square fronted by the Palazzo del Governo and the handsome neoclassical Teatro Rendano.
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Convento di San Francesco d'Assisi
Walk up Via del Seggio through a little medieval quarter before turning off to reach the 13th-century Convento di San Francesco d'Assisi.
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Cathedral
The 12th-century cathedral has been rebuilt in restrained baroque style in the 18th century.
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Villa Trieste
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Ruins
About 4km south of the modern, fast-developing town of Sibari are the remnants of the seat of the ancient Sybarites, those luxury-loving Greeks renowned for their wealth and love of pampering. Sybaris was destroyed by a jealous Crotone in the 6th century BC. You can visit the ruins, though 90% remain buried. The small Museo Archeologico della Sibaritide is 7km away (signposted off the autostrada).
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Pentidàttilo
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Museum
The small museum houses well-displayed artefacts from Hipponion – the original Greek settlement – including 6th-century-BC bronze helmets.
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Museo Provinciale
Villa Trieste, an attractive park contains the city’s Museo Provinciale, which has various works by Calabrian artists, including Mimmo Rotella, as well as an archaeological section.
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Museo Archeologico della Sibaritide
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San Giovanni in Fiore
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Camigliatello Silano
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Villa Vecchia
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Convento di San Francesco d’Assisi
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