Reggio Calabria

Port, transport nexus and the main arrival and departure point for Sicily, Reggio seems more functional than fascinating. That is up until the point you set foot inside its fabulous national museum, custodian of some of the most precious artefacts of Magna Graecia known.

The city’s architectural eclecticism is a result of its tectonic liveliness: in 1908 the last big quake triggered a tsunami that killed over 100,000. By Italian standards, little of historical merit remains, although the lungomare, with its views across the Messina Strait to smouldering Mt Etna is, arguably, one of the most atmospheric places in Italy for an evening passeggiata.

Fortunately, there’s no need to doubt the food. Reggio hides some of Calabria’s best salt-of-the-earth restaurants. You can work up an appetite for them by hiking in the nearby Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte, or exploring the coastline at nearby seaside escapes along the Tyrrhenian and Ionian coasts.