View source for Calabria

{{Short description|Region of Italy}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->| official_name      = Calabria
| native_name        = {{small|
{{native name list
  |tag1=nap|name1=Calàbbria
  |tag2=scn|name2=Calàvria
  |tag3=aae|name3=Kalavrì
  |tag4=el|name4=Καλαβρία
}}}}
| other_name         = 
| native_name_lang   = 
| settlement_type    = [[Regions of Italy|Region]]
| image_skyline      = 
| image_caption      = 
| image_flag         = Flag of Calabria.svg
| image_shield       = Coat of arms of Calabria.svg
| shield_size        = 50px
| image_blank_emblem = 
| blank_emblem_size  = 
| blank_emblem_type  = 
| nickname           = 
| motto              = 
| anthem             = 
| image_map          = Calabria in Italy.svg
| map_size           = 
| map_caption        = 
| pushpin_map        = 
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_size   = 
| pushpin_map_caption = 
| coordinates        = {{coord|39.0|N|16.5|E|type:adm1st_region:IT-78|display=inline,title}}
| coor_pinpoint      = 
| coordinates_footnotes = 
| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = Italy
| established_title  = 
| established_date   = 
| founder            = 
| named_for          = 
| seat_type          = Capital
| seat               = [[Catanzaro]]
| government_footnotes = 
| government_type    = 
| leader_party       = [[Forza Italia (2013)|FI]]
| leader_title       = President
| leader_name        = [[Roberto Occhiuto]]
| total_type         = 
| unit_pref          = 
| area_magnitude     = 
| area_footnotes     = 
| area_total_km2     = 15222
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_max_m    = 
| elevation_min_m    = 
| population_footnotes = <ref name="population">{{cite web|title=Monthly Demographic Balance|url=https://demo.istat.it/app/?l=en&a=&i=D7B|publisher=[[Italian National Institute of Statistics|ISTAT]]}}</ref>
| population_total   = 1832147
| population_as_of   = 2025
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_demonym = {{Langx|en|[[Calabrians|Calabrian]]}}<br>{{langx|it|Calabrese}}
| population_note    = 
| population_blank1_title = 
| population_blank1  = 
| demographics_type1 = 
| demographics1_footnotes = 
| demographics1_title1 = 
| demographics1_info1 = 
| demographics1_title2 = 
| demographics1_info2 = 
| demographics1_title3 = 
| demographics1_info3 = 
| demographics_type2 = GDP
| demographics2_footnotes = <ref>{{citation|title=Population on 1 January by age, sex and NUTS 2 region|url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/DEMO_R_D2JAN/default/table?lang=en|website=www.ec.europa.eu|access-date=29 December 2023|archive-date=25 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231225221435/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/demo_r_d2jan/default/table?lang=en|url-status=live}}</ref>
| demographics2_title1 = Total
| demographics2_info1 = €32.787 billion (2021)
| timezone1          = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset1        = +1
| timezone1_DST      = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset1_DST    = +2
| postal_code_type   = 
| postal_code        = 
| area_code_type     = [[ISO 3166 code]]
| area_code          = IT-78
| blank2_name_sec1   = [[Human Development Index|HDI]] (2021)
| blank2_info_sec1   = 0.848<ref name="GlobalDataLab">{{Cite web |url=https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/ |title=Sub-national HDI – Area Database – Global Data Lab |website=hdi.globaldatalab.org |language=en |access-date=2023-03-05|archive-date=2018-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923120638/https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/ |url-status=live }}</ref><br />{{color|green|very high}} · [[List of Italian regions by Human Development Index|20th of 21]]
| blank_name_sec2    = [[First-level NUTS of the European Union#Italy|NUTS Region]]
| blank_info_sec2    = ITF
| website            = [http://www.regione.calabria.it/ www.regione.calabria.it]
}}

'''Calabria'''{{efn|English: {{IPAc-en|UK|k|ə|ˈ|l|æ|b|r|i|ə}} {{respell|kə|LAB|ree|ə}},<ref>{{Cite Oxford Dictionaries|Calabria |accessdate=6 May 2019}}</ref><ref name="Collins">{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/calabria |title=Calabria |work=[[Collins English Dictionary]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |access-date=6 May 2019 |archive-date=1 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501195919/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/calabria |url-status=live }}</ref> {{IPAc-en|US|-|ˈ|l|eɪ|b|-|,_|-|ˈ|l|ɑː|b|-|audio=en-us-Calabria.ogg}} {{respell|-|LAYB|-,_-|LAHB|-}};<ref name="Collins"/><ref name="MerWeb">{{Cite Merriam-Webster|Calabria |access-date=6 May 2019}}</ref> {{IPA|it|kaˈlaːbrja|lang|small=no}}; {{langx|nap|label=[[Northern Calabrian]]|Calàbbria}}; {{langx|scn|label=[[Central-Southern Calabrian]]|Calàvria}}; {{langx|aae|Kalavrì}}; {{langx|el|label=[[Calabrian Greek]]|Καλαβρία|Kalavría}}.}} is a [[Regions of Italy|region]] in [[Southern Italy]]. It is a peninsula bordered by the region [[Basilicata]] to the north, the [[Ionian Sea]] to the east, the [[Strait of Messina]] to the southwest, which separates it from [[Sicily]], and the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]] to the west. It has 1,832,147 residents as of 2025 across a total area of {{cvt|15222|km2|sqmi}}.<ref name="population" /> [[Catanzaro]] is the region's capital.

Calabria is the birthplace of the [[name of Italy]],<ref>Guillotining, M., History of Earliest Italy, trans. Ryle, M & Soper, K. in Jerome Lectures, Diciassettesima serie, p.50</ref> given to it by the [[Ancient Greeks]] who settled in this land starting from the [[8th century BC]]. They established the first cities, mainly on the coast, as [[Greek colonisation|Greek colonies]]. During this period Calabria was the heart of [[Magna Graecia]], home of key figures in history such as [[Pythagoras]], [[Herodotus]] and [[Milo of Croton|Milo]].

In Roman times, it was part of the ''Regio III [[Lucania et Bruttii]]'', a [[regions of Augustan Italy|region of Augustan Italy]]. After the [[Gothic War (535–554)|Gothic War]], it became and remained for five centuries a [[Byzantine empire|Byzantine]] dominion, fully recovering its [[Culture of Greece|Greek]] character. [[Cenobitism]] flourished, with the rise throughout the peninsula of numerous churches, hermitages and monasteries in which [[Basilian monks]] were dedicated to transcription. The Byzantines introduced the art of [[silk]] in Calabria and made it the main silk production area in [[Europe]]. In the 11th century, the [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|Norman conquest]] started a slow process of Latinization.

In Calabria there are three historical ethnolinguistic minorities: the [[Griko people|Grecanici]], speaking [[Calabrian Greek]]; the [[Arbëreshë people]]; and the [[Occitans]] of [[Guardia Piemontese]]. This extraordinary linguistic diversity makes the region an object of study for linguists from all over the world.

Calabria is famous for its crystal clear sea waters and is dotted with ancient villages, castles and archaeological parks. Three national parks are found in the region: the [[Pollino National Park]] (which is the largest in Italy), the [[Sila National Park]] and the [[Aspromonte National Park]].

==Etymology==
Starting in the third century BC, the name ''Calabria'' was originally given to the Adriatic coast of the [[Salento]] peninsula in modern [[Apulia]].<ref name="The Italic People of Ancient Apulia: New Evidence from Pottery for Workshops ... - Google Books">{{cite book |editor1-last=Carpenter |editor1-first=T. H. |editor2-last=Lynch |editor2-first=K. M. |editor3-last=Robinson |editor3-first=E. G. D. |year=2014 |title=The Italic People of Ancient Apulia: New Evidence from Pottery for Workshops, Markets, and Customs |location=New York City |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139992701 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WmSnBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 38]–39}}</ref> In the late first century BC this name came to extend to the entirety of the Salento, when the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] emperor [[Augustus]] divided Italy into regions. The whole region of Apulia received the name ''Regio II Apulia et Calabria''. By this time modern Calabria was still known as ''Bruttium'', after the [[Bruttians]] who inhabited the region. Later in the seventh century AD, the [[Byzantine Empire]] created the Duchy of Calabria from the Salento and the [[Ionian Sea|Ionian]] part of Bruttium. Even though the Calabrian part of the duchy was conquered by the [[Lombards]] during the eighth and ninth centuries AD, the Byzantines continued to use the name ''Calabria'' for their remaining territory in Bruttium.<ref>{{cite book |last=Colafemmina |first=Cesare |title=The Jews in Calabria |date=2012 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |isbn=9789004234123 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nSYyAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 1]}}</ref>

Originally the Greeks used ''Italoi'' to indicate the native population of modern Calabria, which according to some ancient Greek writers was derived from a legendary king of the Oenotri, [[Italus]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |author-link=Dionysius of Halicarnassus |title=Roman Antiquities |year=1937 |publisher=Harvard University Press |chapter=1.35 |chapter-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1B*.html#35 |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=15 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215151343/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dionysius_of_Halicarnassus/1B%2A.html#35 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Strabo |author-link=Strabo |title=Geography |title-link=Geographica |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-674-99201-6 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=H. L. |volume=3 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |chapter=6.1.4 |access-date=20 February 2021 |orig-year=1924 |chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+6.1.4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305012753/https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+6.1.4 |archive-date=5 March 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> 

Over time the Greeks started to use ''Italoi'' for the rest of the southern Italian peninsula as well. After the Roman conquest of the region, the name was used for the entire Italian peninsula and eventually the Alpine region too.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pallottino |first=Missimo |title=A History of Earliest Italy |year=2014 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York City |isbn=9781317696827 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=nk7XAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 50]}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5szMbqDSWg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/-5szMbqDSWg |archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live |title=italian travel team Calabria – Italy Travel Guide |last=Antonio Luce |date=25 January 2011 |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="dantemass.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.dantemass.org/html/concise-history-of-italy.html |title=Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts: A Concise History of Italy |publisher=Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts, Inc. |access-date=23 April 2016 |archive-date=11 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611113500/http://www.dantemass.org/html/concise-history-of-italy.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.intowine.com/cir%C3%B2-wine-calabria-toe-boot-southern-italy |title=Cirò: Calabria's Ancient Wine from the Toe of Southern Italy's Boot – Into Wine |date=9 October 2008 |access-date=27 April 2016 |archive-date=14 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514014543/http://www.intowine.com/cir%C3%B2-wine-calabria-toe-boot-southern-italy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.consiglioregionale.calabria.it/hp4/pubblicazioni/GuidaConsiglio_En.pdf |title=Guida Consiglio |website=consiglioregionale.calabria.it |access-date=31 August 2021 |page=7 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830234403/http://www.consiglioregionale.calabria.it/hp4/pubblicazioni/GuidaConsiglio_En.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=264353 |title=Review of Calabria: The First Italy |first=Cornelia C. |last=Coulter |date=1 January 1942 |journal=Classical Philology |volume=37 |issue=2 |pages=223–225 |doi=10.1086/362608}}</ref>

==Geography==
[[File:Cliff at Tropea, Italy, Sep 2005.jpg|thumb|Cliff at [[Tropea]]]]
[[File:Mont Pollino.JPG|thumb|[[Pollino National Park]]]]
[[File:ITALY SILA2.jpg|thumb|[[La Sila]] National Park]]
[[File:Calabria NASA ISS.jpg|thumb|Calabria in a photo from the [[ISS]]<ref>[http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1554.html NASA – Clouds and Sunlight] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405084540/http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1554.html |date=5 April 2012 }}. Nasa.gov (30 December 2009). Retrieved on 28 July 2013.</ref>]]

The region is generally known as the "toe" of the [[Italian Peninsula]], and is a long and narrow peninsula which stretches from north to south for {{cvt|248|km|0}}, with a maximum width of {{cvt|110|km|0}}. Some 42% of Calabria's area, corresponding to 15,080&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>, is mountainous, 49% is hilly, while plains occupy only 9% of the region's territory. It is surrounded by the [[Ionian Sea|Ionian]] and [[Tyrrhenian Sea|Tyrrhenian]] seas. It is separated from [[Sicily]] by the [[Strait of Messina]], where the narrowest point between [[Capo Peloro]] in Sicily and [[Punta Pezzo]] in Calabria is only {{cvt|3.2|km|0}}.

Three mountain ranges are present: [[Pollino]], [[La Sila]], and [[Aspromonte]], each with its own flora and fauna. The [[Pollino Mountains]] in the north of the region are rugged and form a natural barrier separating Calabria from the rest of Italy. Parts of the area are heavily wooded, while others are vast, wind-swept plateaus with little vegetation. These mountains are home to a rare [[Bosnian Pine]] variety and are included in the [[Pollino National Park]], which is the largest national park in Italy, covering 1,925.65 square kilometres.

[[La Sila]], which has been referred to as the "Great Wood of Italy",<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.praiaartresort.com/en/journeys/ |title=Journeys |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702124802/https://www.praiaartresort.com/en/journeys/ |archive-date=2 July 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com/the-calabria--national-park.php |title=The Calabria National Park, sila Grande and Sila Piccola |website=www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com |access-date=6 March 2016 |archive-date=4 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160904015120/http://www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com/the-calabria--national-park.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.costatiziana.it/pages/eng/attivita_montagna.php |title=attivita_montagna – Costa Tiziana |access-date=28 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220065125/http://www.costatiziana.it/pages/eng/attivita_montagna.php |archive-date=20 December 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> is a vast mountainous plateau about {{cvt|1200|m|abbr=off}} [[above sea level]] and stretches for nearly {{cvt|2000|km2|abbr=off}} along the central part of Calabria. The highest point is [[Botte Donato]], which reaches {{cvt|1928|m|abbr=off}}. The area boasts numerous lakes and dense coniferous forests. La Sila also has some of the tallest trees in Italy which are called the "Giants of the Sila" and can reach up to {{cvt|40|m|abbr=off}} in height.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://discoveries-in-sicily-and-calabria.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-giants-of-sila.html |title=The giants of the sila |access-date=12 August 2016 |archive-date=13 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013103024/http://discoveries-in-sicily-and-calabria.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-giants-of-sila.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.igigantidellasila.it/en/actuality-culture/95-the-giants-of-the-sila-memories-and-history-of-a-biogenetic-reserve |title=The Giants of the Sila: memories and history of a biogenetic reserve – I Giganti della Sila |access-date=21 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221155346/http://www.igigantidellasila.it/en/actuality-culture/95-the-giants-of-the-sila-memories-and-history-of-a-biogenetic-reserve |archive-date=21 December 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.italytraveller.com/en/e/the-forest-of-giants |title=The Forest of Giants |website=www.ItalyTraveller.com |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-date=2 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702123259/https://www.italytraveller.com/en/e/the-forest-of-giants |url-status=live }}</ref> The Sila National Park is also known to have the purest air in Europe.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKXrJmG5bmI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809044903/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKXrJmG5bmI |archive-date=2017-08-09 |url-status=dead |title=Water, woodland, silence: the Sila Park |last=Rai |via=YouTube}}</ref>

The [[Aspromonte]] massif forms the southernmost tip of the Italian peninsula bordered by the sea on three sides. This unique mountainous structure reaches its highest point at Montalto, at {{cvt|1995|m|abbr=off}}, and is full of wide, man-made terraces that slope down toward the sea.

Most of the lower terrain in Calabria has been agricultural for centuries, and exhibits indigenous scrubland as well as introduced plants such as the [[prickly pear cactus]]. The lowest slopes are rich in vineyards and orchards of citrus fruit, including the [[Diamante citron]]. Further up, olives and chestnut trees appear while in the higher regions there are often dense forests of oak, pine, beech and fir trees.

===Climate===
Calabria's climate is influenced by the sea and mountains. The [[Mediterranean climate]] is typical of the coastal areas with considerable differences in temperature and rainfall between the seasons, with an average low of {{cvt|8|°C|0}} during the winter months and an average high of {{cvt|30|°C|0}} during the summer months. Mountain areas have a typical mountainous climate with frequent snow during winter. The erratic behavior of the Tyrrhenian Sea can bring heavy rainfall on the western slopes of the region, while hot air from Africa makes the east coast of Calabria dry and warm. The mountains that run along the region also influence the climate and temperature of the region. The east coast is much warmer and has wider temperature ranges than the west coast. The geography of the region causes more rain to fall along the west coast than that of the east coast, which occurs mainly during winter and autumn and less during the summer months.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.italyaround.com/en/calabria-climate-when-to-go-to-calabria/ |title=Calabria climate: when to go to Calabria – Italy: travel, recipes, family and health |date=17 March 2016 |access-date=13 April 2016 |archive-date=26 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426005425/http://www.italyaround.com/en/calabria-climate-when-to-go-to-calabria/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Below are the two extremes of climate in Calabria, the warm mediterranean subtype on the coastline and the highland climate of Monte Scuro.

{{Weather box
|metric first=yes
|single line=yes
|location=Reggio Calabria (1971–2000 normals)
|collapsed = Yes
<!-- Record high temperatures -->
<!-- Note that record temperatures should be used sparingly in main city articles, and should only be used when the data period is of the greatest length possible. -->
|Jan record high C=24.6
|Feb record high C=25.2
|Mar record high C=27.0
|Apr record high C=30.4
|May record high C=35.2
|Jun record high C=42.0
|Jul record high C=44.2
|Aug record high C=42.4
|Sep record high C=37.6
|Oct record high C=34.4
|Nov record high C=29.9
|Dec record high C=26.0
<!-- Average high temperatures -->
|Jan high C=15.3
|Feb high C=15.6
|Mar high C=17.1
|Apr high C=19.3
|May high C=23.8
|Jun high C=27.9
|Jul high C=31.1
|Aug high C=31.3
|Sep high C=28.2
|Oct high C=23.9
|Nov high C=19.7
|Dec high C=16.6
<!-- Mean daily temperature -->
|Jan mean C=11.8
|Feb mean C=11.8
|Mar mean C=13.0
|Apr mean C=15.1
|May mean C=19.2
|Jun mean C=23.2
|Jul mean C=26.4
|Aug mean C=26.7
|Sep mean C=23.7
|Oct mean C=19.8
|Nov mean C=15.9
|Dec mean C=13.1
<!-- Average low temperatures -->
|Jan low C=8.2
|Feb low C=7.9
|Mar low C=9.0
|Apr low C=10.9
|May low C=14.7
|Jun low C=18.6
|Jul low C=21.6
|Aug low C=22.1
|Sep low C=19.3
|Oct low C=15.7
|Nov low C=12.1
|Dec low C=9.6
<!-- Record low temperatures -->
<!-- Note that record temperatures should be used sparingly in main city articles, and should only be used when the data period is of the greatest length possible. -->
|Jan record low C=1.0
|Feb record low C=-0.0
|Mar record low C=0.0
|Apr record low C=4.6
|May record low C=7.8
|Jun record low C=10.8
|Jul record low C=14.6
|Aug record low C=14.4
|Sep record low C=11.2
|Oct record low C=6.6
|Nov record low C=4.4
|Dec record low C=2.6
<!-- Total precipitation, this should include rain and snow. -->
|precipitation color=green <!-- Enter "green" for green precipitation colors, "none" for no colors, remove this line for blue coloring. -->
<!-- IMPORTANT: use mm or cm but NOT both! -->
|Jan precipitation mm=69.6
|Feb precipitation mm=61.5
|Mar precipitation mm=50.7
|Apr precipitation mm=40.4
|May precipitation mm=19.8
|Jun precipitation mm=10.9
|Jul precipitation mm=7.0
|Aug precipitation mm=11.9
|Sep precipitation mm=47.5
|Oct precipitation mm=72.5
|Nov precipitation mm=81.7
|Dec precipitation mm=73.3
<!-- Average daily % humidity -->
<!-- If entering the average daily % humidity, then the humidex table should be used. As of December 2009, few if any countries other than Canada use the Humidex. -->
|humidity color= <!-- Enter "green" for green humidity colors, "pastel" for pastel humidity colors, "none" for no colors, remove this line for blue coloring. -->
|Jan humidity=
|Feb humidity=
|Mar humidity=
|Apr humidity=
|May humidity=
|Jun humidity=
|Jul humidity=
|Aug humidity=
|Sep humidity=
|Oct humidity=
|Nov humidity=
|Dec humidity=
<!-- Average number of precipitation days -->
|unit precipitation days=1 mm <!-- If entering the average number of days, then the unit requirement should be used, because this varies between countries. E.g. 0.2&nbsp;cm, 0.2 mm. -->
|precip days color= <!-- Enter "green" for green colors, "pastel" for pastel colors, "none" for no colors, remove this line for blue coloring. Affects rain and snow days as well -->
|Jan precipitation days=9.3
|Feb precipitation days=9.1
|Mar precipitation days=7.5
|Apr precipitation days=6.6
|May precipitation days=2.8
|Jun precipitation days=1.5
|Jul precipitation days=1.3
|Aug precipitation days=1.9
|Sep precipitation days=4.4
|Oct precipitation days=7.0
|Nov precipitation days=8.7
|Dec precipitation days=8.3
<!-- Average monthly sunshine hours, monthly totals are preferred, and will produce colors, but percentages are accepted. Use either the monthly or daily sunshine (depending on the source) but not both. -->
|Jan sun=
|Feb sun=
|Mar sun=
|Apr sun=
|May sun=
|Jun sun=
|Jul sun=
|Aug sun=
|Sep sun=
|Oct sun=
|Nov sun=
|Dec sun=
<!-- Mandatory fields, source -->
|source 1= [[Servizio Meteorologico]] (1971–2000 data)<ref name=seme1>{{cite web |url=http://clima.meteoam.it/AtlanteClim2/pdf/%28422%29Reggio%20Calabria.pdf |title=Reggio Calabria (RC) 21 m. s.l.m. (a.s.l.) |publisher=Servizio Meteorologico |access-date=7 September 2013 |archive-date=24 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924150145/http://clima.meteoam.it/AtlanteClim2/pdf/(422)Reggio%20Calabria.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

{{Weather box
|location = Monte Scuro (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971-2020); 1671 m asl
|collapsed = Yes
|metric first = Yes
|single line = Yes
|Jan record high C = 21.0
|Feb record high C = 15.4
|Mar record high C = 22.0
|Apr record high C = 21.4
|May record high C = 24.2
|Jun record high C = 29.4
|Jul record high C = 32.0
|Aug record high C = 33.2
|Sep record high C = 26.6
|Oct record high C = 29.4
|Nov record high C = 22.6
|Dec record high C = 17.0
|year record high C = 33.2
|Jan high C = 2.7
|Feb high C = 2.8
|Mar high C = 5.4
|Apr high C = 8.5
|May high C = 13.6
|Jun high C = 17.9
|Jul high C = 20.4
|Aug high C = 20.7
|Sep high C = 15.7
|Oct high C = 12.5
|Nov high C = 7.6
|Dec high C = 3.4
|year high C = 
|Jan mean C =0.1
|Feb mean C =-0.0
|Mar mean C =2.2
|Apr mean C =5.1
|May mean C =9.8
|Jun mean C =14.1
|Jul mean C =16.4
|Aug mean C =16.8
|Sep mean C =12.2
|Oct mean C =9.3
|Nov mean C =5.1
|Dec mean C =1.2
|year mean C =
|Jan low C = -1.9
|Feb low C = -2.2
|Mar low C = -0.2
|Apr low C = 2.3
|May low C = 6.5
|Jun low C = 10.6
|Jul low C = 12.8
|Aug low C = 13.4
|Sep low C = 9.5
|Oct low C = 6.9
|Nov low C = 3.0
|Dec low C = -0.7
|year low C = 4.6
|Jan record low C = -14.2
|Feb record low C = -13.0
|Mar record low C = -13.4
|Apr record low C = -10.0
|May record low C = -1.6
|Jun record low C = 0.0
|Jul record low C = 3.8
|Aug record low C = 0.0
|Sep record low C = -0.2
|Oct record low C = -4.2
|Nov record low C = -9.6
|Dec record low C = -14.2
|year record low C = -14.2
|precipitation color = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 86.2
|Feb precipitation mm = 96.7
|Mar precipitation mm = 73.3
|Apr precipitation mm = 62.6
|May precipitation mm = 50.9
|Jun precipitation mm = 28.3
|Jul precipitation mm = 23.0
|Aug precipitation mm = 30.2
|Sep precipitation mm = 52.7
|Oct precipitation mm = 101.6
|Nov precipitation mm = 107.8
|Dec precipitation mm = 102.1
|year precipitation mm = 815.4
|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
|Jan precipitation days = 10.67
|Feb precipitation days = 9.17
|Mar precipitation days = 8.83
|Apr precipitation days = 8.83
|May precipitation days = 7.13
|Jun precipitation days = 4.57
|Jul precipitation days = 3.00
|Aug precipitation days = 3.57
|Sep precipitation days = 7.57
|Oct precipitation days = 8.23
|Nov precipitation days = 10.57
|Dec precipitation days = 11.8
|year precipitation days =
| Jan humidity    =82.43
| Feb humidity    =80.58
| Mar humidity    =76.74
| Apr humidity    =74.50
| May humidity    =71.93
| Jun humidity    =68.74
| Jul humidity    =66.72
| Aug humidity    =66.32
| Sep humidity    =75.42
| Oct humidity    =75.47
| Nov humidity    =78.10
| Dec humidity    =82.39
| year humidity   =
| Jan dew point C =-3.0
| Feb dew point C =-3.3
| Mar dew point C =-1.8
| Apr dew point C =0.6
| May dew point C =4.6
| Jun dew point C =7.9
| Jul dew point C =9.5
| Aug dew point C =9.7
| Sep dew point C =7.9
| Oct dew point C =4.9
| Nov dew point C =1.5
| Dec dew point C =-1.6
|Jan sun =81.7
|Feb sun =85.9
|Mar sun =133.1
|Apr sun =140.4
|May sun =204.8
|Jun sun =242.0
|Jul sun =279.0
|Aug sun =279.0
|Sep sun =160.7
|Oct sun =140.9
|Nov sun =89.5
|Dec sun =56.8
|year sun =
|source = [[NOAA]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Italy/CSV/MonteScuro_16344.csv |access-date=29 February 2024 |title=WMO climate nornals for 1991-2020: Monte Scuro-16344 |website=ncei.noaa.gov |publisher=[[NOAA|National Oceanic and Atmosoheric Administration]] |no-pp=y |type=Excel |format=CSV |archive-date=29 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229143412/https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-6-WMO-Normals-9120/Italy/CSV/MonteScuro_16344.csv |url-status=live }}</ref> (Sun for 1981-2010<ref>{{cite web |title=WMO Climate Normals for 1981-2010: Monte scuro |url=https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1981-2010/RA-VI/Italy/WMO_Normals_CliNo81-10.xls |format=XLS |website=ncei.noaa.gov |publisher=[[NOAA]] |access-date=29 February 2024 |archive-date=17 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240317065214/https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1981-2010/RA-VI/Italy/WMO_Normals_CliNo81-10.xls |url-status=live }}</ref>), [[Servizio Meteorologico]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://clima.meteoam.it/AtlanteClimatico/pdf/(344)Monte%20Scuro.pdf |title=Climate Normals for Monte Scurto (Italian IP required) |publisher=[[Servizio Meteorologico]] |access-date=24 September 2018 |archive-date=24 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924151614/http://clima.meteoam.it/AtlanteClimatico/pdf/(344)Monte%20Scuro.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}

==Geology==
[[File:CentralMediterranean-GeotectonicMap.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Geotectonic]] map of the Central Mediterranean Area and the Calabrian Arc. The blue area is the geotectonic cross section depicted below. From van Dijk (1992).<ref name ='van Dijk-etal_2000, a'/>]]
[[File:CalabrianArc-GeotectonicSection.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Geotectonic Cross Section of the Calabrian Arc. Left: NW; Right: SE. From van Dijk (1992).<ref name ='van Dijk-etal_2000, a'/>]]

Calabria is commonly considered part of the "Calabrian Arc", an arc-shaped geographic domain extending from the southern part of the [[Basilicata]] Region to the northeast of [[Sicily]], and including the [[Peloritani|Peloritano Mountains]] (although some authors extend this domain from [[Naples]] in the north to [[Palermo]] in the southwest). The Calabrian area shows basement (crystalline and metamorphic rocks) of [[Paleozoic]] and younger ages, covered by (mostly Upper) [[Neogene]] sediments. Studies have revealed that these rocks comprise the upper part of a pile of thrust sheets which dominate the [[Apennines]] and the Sicilian [[Maghrebides]].<ref name ='van Dijk-etal_2000, a'>van Dijk, J.P., Bello, M., Brancaleoni, G.P., Cantarella, G., Costa, V., Frixa, A., Golfetto, F., Merlini, S., Riva, M., Toricelli, S., Toscano, C., and Zerilli, A. (2000, a); A new structural model for the northern sector of the Calabrian Arc. Tectonophysics, 324, 267–320.</ref>

The [[Neogene]] evolution of the Central Mediterranean system is dominated by the migration of the Calabrian Arc to the southeast, overriding the African Plate and its promontories.<ref name ='Argand_1922'>Argand, E. (1922); La tectonique de l'Asie. Comptes Rendus 3rd Int. Geol. Congr., Liège (Be), 1922, 1, 171–372.</ref><ref name ='Boccaletti-and-Guazzone_1972, b'>Boccaletti, M., and Guazzone, G. (1972, b); Evoluzione paleogeografica e geodinamica del Mediterraneo: i bacini marginali. Mem. Soc. geol. It., 13, 162–169.</ref>) The main tectonic elements of the Calabrian Arc are the southern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt, the "Calabria-Peloritani", or simply Calabrian block and the Sicilian Maghrebides fold-and-thrust belt. The foreland area is formed by the [[Apulia]] Platform, which is part of the [[Adriatic]] Plate, and the [[Ragusa, Italy|Ragusa]] or [[Iblean]] Platform, which is an extension of the African Plate. These platforms are separated by the [[Ionian Basin]]. The [[Tyrrhenian Sea|Tyrrhenian]] oceanized basin is regarded as the [[back-arc basin]]. This [[subduction]] system therefore shows the southern plates of African affinity subducting below the northern plates of European affinity.<ref name ='van Dijk-etal_2000, a'/>

The geology of Calabria has been studied for more than a century.<ref name ='Ogniben_1973'>Ogniben, Leo (1973); Schema geologico della Calabria in base ai dati odierni. Geol. Romana, 12, 243–585.</ref><ref name ='Ippolito_1959'>Ippolito, Felice (1959); Bibliografia geologica d'Italia, Vol. 4, Calabria. C.N.R., Roma</ref><ref name ='Cortese_1895'>Cortese, E. (1895); Descrizione geologica della Calabria. Mem. Descrit. Carta Geol. It., 9, 310 pp., Roma.</ref> The earlier works were mainly dedicated to the evolution of the basement rocks of the area. The Neogene sedimentary successions were merely regarded as "post-orogenic" infill of "neo-tectonic" tensional features. In the course of time, however, a shift can be observed in the temporal significance of these terms, from post-[[Eocene]] to post-Early [[Miocene]] to post-middle [[Pleistocene]].<ref name ='van Dijk-etal_2000, a'/>

The region is seismically active and is generally ascribed to the re-establishment of an equilibrium after the latest (mid-Pleistocene) deformation phase. Some authors believe that the subduction process is still ongoing, which is a matter of debate.<ref name ='van Dijk-and-Scheepers_1995'>{{cite journal |last1=van Dijk |first1=J.P. |last2=Scheepers |first2=P.J.J. |date=1995 |title=Neogene rotations in the Calabrian Arc. Implications for a Pliocene-Recent geodynamic scenario for the Central Mediterranean. |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |volume=39 |issue=3–4 |pages=207–246 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222475994 |doi=10.1016/0012-8252(95)00009-7 |hdl=1874/19084 |s2cid=128811666|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

==History==
Calabria has one of the oldest records of human presence in Italy, which date back to around 700,000 BC when a type of ''[[Homo erectus]]'' evolved leaving traces around coastal areas.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2007/10/08/265003/CalabriaHandbook.pdf |title=History of Calabria |work=Calabria: Italy's Best Kept Secret |date=2007 |access-date=31 August 2021 |archive-date=30 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210830234458/http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2007/10/08/265003/CalabriaHandbook.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> During the [[Paleolithic]] period Stone Age humans created the "[[Romito Cave#Rock engravings|Bos Primigenius]]", a figure of a bull on a cliff which dates back around 12,000 years in the [[Romito Cave]] in the town of [[Papasidero]]. When the Neolithic period came the first villages were founded around 3,500 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.g-site.com/orlando/ |title=Storia della Calabria – Calabrian History |website=www.g-site.com |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727072446/http://www.g-site.com/orlando/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Antiquity===
{{Further|Greek colonisation|Bruttii}}{{Quote|text=[...] as after the death of Oenotrius, Oenotria had another name, and was called Italy, and Morgetia, and after this name it was called Sicily, Chonia, Iapigia, and Salentia, and afterwards cogionta in a name it was called Magna Graecia.|author=Girolamo Marafioti|title=Croniche, et antichita di Calabria<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marafioti |first=Girolamo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LlawjHUbv9UC |title=Chroniche et Antichità Di Calabria |date=1601 |language=it}}</ref>}}

According to the Greeks, the region would have been inhabited before colonization by several communities, including the Ausones-Oenotrians (vine-growers), who were the Italians, Morgetes, Sicels, and Chone. It is said that it was from the mythical ruler [[Italus]] that Calabria was called “Italy”.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, I'talus |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=italus-bio-1 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> The figure of Italus is placed in the first half of the 15th century BC. [[Antiochus of Syracuse]], considered the first historian of the West, depicts him as “A good and wise king, capable of subduing neighboring peoples making use of persuasion and force from time to time”.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Guerrisi |first=Vincenzo |title=Monografia da Altanum a Polistena, territorio degli Itali-Morgeti |publisher=BookSprint Edizioni |year=2021 |isbn=9788824953078 |language=it |trans-title=Monograph from Altanum to Polistena, territory of the Italians-Morgetes}}</ref>[[File:Greek City-states of Calabria 6th c. BC.png|thumb|Greek City-states (underlined) of Calabria 6th {{circa}} BC]]
[[File:Magna Grecia 280aC.jpg|thumb|[[Magna Grecia]] around 280&nbsp;BC]]

Around 1500&nbsp;BC a tribe called the [[Oenotrians|Oenotri]] ("vine-cultivators"), settled in the region.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bianco |first1=Salvatore |last2=Preite |first2=Addolorata |title=Identificazione degli Enotri |journal=Mélanges de l'École française de Rome - Antiquité |date=18 December 2014 |issue=126–2 |doi=10.4000/mefra.2438 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/mefra/2438?lang=en |access-date=19 November 2023 |archive-date=19 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119161116/https://journals.openedition.org/mefra/2438?lang=en |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>  Ancient sources state they were [[Greeks]] who were led to the region by their king, [[Oenotrus]]. However it is believed they were an ancient Italic people who spoke an Italic language.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sciarretta|first1=Antonio|title=Toponomastica d'Italia. Nomi di luoghi, storie di popoli antichi|date=2010|publisher=Mursia|location=Milano|isbn=978-88-425-4017-5|pages=174–194}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lazzarini |first1=Letizia |last2=Poccetti |first2=Paolo |date=2001 |title=Il mondo enotrio tra VI e V secolo a. C. L'iscrizione paleoitalica da Tortora |url= |location= |publisher=Loffredo Editore |isbn=9788880968825}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mollo |first=Fabrizio |date=2001 |title=Archeologia per Tortora: frammenti dal passato |location=Potenza |publisher=Societa Tipografica Ed.}}</ref>
During the eighth and seventh centuries BC, Greek settlers founded many colonies (settlements) on the coast of southern Italy. In Calabria they founded Chone ([[Pallagorio]]), Cosentia ([[Cosenza]]), Clampetia ([[Amantea]]), [[Scyllaeum]] ([[Scilla]]), [[Sybaris]] ([[Sibari]]), [[Hipponion]] ([[Vibo Valentia]]), [[Epizephyrian Locris]] ([[Locri]]), [[Kaulon]] ([[Monasterace]]), [[Krimisa]] ([[Cirò Marina]]), [[Crotone|Kroton]] ([[Crotone]]), [[Laüs]] (''comune'' of [[Santa Maria del Cedro]]), [[Medma]] ([[Rosarno]]), [[Metauros]] ([[Gioia Tauro]]), [[Petelia]] ([[Strongoli]]), [[Rhegion|Rhégion]] ([[Reggio Calabria]]), [[Scylletium]] ([[Borgia, Calabria|Borgia]]), [[Temesa (ancient city)|Temesa]] ([[Campora San Giovanni]]), [[Terina (ancient city)|Terina]] ([[Nocera Terinese]]), [[Pandosia (Bruttium)|Pandosia]] ([[Acri]]) and [[Thurii]], (Thurio, ''comune'' of [[Corigliano Calabro]]).

In the year 744 B.C. a group of [[Chalcidians|Chalcidian]] settlers founded the city of Rhegion (today Reggio Calabria) at the southern end of the Calabrian peninsula. Soon after, again the Chalcidans founded [[Zancle]] (current Messina) on the other side of the strait, securing their dominion over that arm of the sea. Later Chalcidian settlers from Rhegion and Zancle would found [[Metauros]] (Gioia Tauro), divided the [[Metauro|river of the same name]] (today [[Petrace]]) from the Italic city of the Tauri.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref>

In 710 B.C. Ionian colonists founded [[Sybaris]] on the fertile plain of the same name at the mouth of the [[Crati]]. From this colony would later originate the founding of [[Paestum]] (in [[Lucania]]), [[Laüs|Lao]] (at the mouth of the [[Lao (Italian river)|river of the same name]]) and Scidros (between [[Cetraro]] and [[Belvedere Marittimo]]). Ionian colonies were {{ILL|Clampetia|it}} (in the area between [[Amantea]] and [[San Lucido]]), [[Temesa (ancient city)|Temesa]] (between Amantea and [[Nocera Terinese]]), [[Terina (ancient city)|Terina]] (in the plain of [[Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte|Sant'Eufemia]]), [[Krimisa]] ([[Cirò Marina]]), Petelia ([[Strongoli]]).<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3" />

In 743 B.C. [[Achaeans (tribe)|Achaean]] settlers instead founded Kroton (current [[Crotone]]), on the point now known as [[Capo Colonna]]. Crotonians and Sybarites would later become rivals. But meanwhile, the Crotonians founded the colonies of [[Caulonia (ancient city)|Caulonia]] (near today's [[Monasterace]] Marina) and Scillezio ([[Squillace]]). Around 700 B.C. Crotonian colonists founded Bristacia, current [[Umbriatico]].<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3" />

Around 680 B.C. colonists who came from the Greek [[Locris]] founded [[Epizephyrian Locris]], near present-day [[Locri]]. Colonies of the Locrians were Hipponion ([[Vibo Valentia]]) and [[Medma]] ([[Rosarno]]).<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3" />

The Bruttians, similar to the neighboring Lucanians, declared themselves independent of their “cousins” from beyond the [[Pollino]] around the 4th century B.C., forming themselves into a confederate state. The capital of the federates was Consentia, present-day Cosenza. It was one of the main cities along with Pandosia, a city whose traces have been lost; some historical references locate it among the municipalities of [[Castrolibero]], [[Marano Principato]], and [[Marano Marchesato]], while other recent archaeological discoveries would locate the city near the present city of Acri, Aufugum ([[Montalto Uffugo]]), Argentanum ([[San Marco Argentano]]), Bergae, Besidiae ([[Bisignano]]), and Lymphaeum ([[Luzzi, Italy|Luzzi]]).<ref name=":22" /><ref name=":3" />

Between 560 and 550 B.C. a decade-long war was fought between Kroton and Epizephyrian Locris, which was resolved by the [[Battle of the Sagra|battle on the Sagra River]], which saw the alliance between the people of Reggio and Locri emerge victorious.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref>

In 510 B.C. the Crotonians attacked nearby Sybaris, and faced the Sybarites on the River [[Trionto]], in a clash between 100,000 Crotonians and 300,000 Sybarites. The Dorians won the battle and occupied Sybaris by sacking it for 70 days and diverting the waters of the Crati River onto the ruins of the city.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":32" />

In 444 B.C. Athenian and Peloponnesian colonists founded, on the site of the destroyed Sybaris, the colony of [[Turi, Apulia|Turi]], at the behest of [[Pericles]] in the détente plan related to the [[Thirty Years' Peace]] in the [[Peloponnesian War]].<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":32" />

In 338 BC. Locri asked [[Dionysius I of Syracuse|Dionysius of Syracuse]] for help against the expansion of Reggio (no longer allied with the Locrians) and Croton. The Syracusans intervened in the Calabrian peninsula by defeating the Crotonians on the narrowest point of the river Sagra, current [[Allaro]], and occupying Croton for ten years, an event that put an end to the power of the Crotonians; similar fate befell Reggio, which although having resisted the numerous attacks of Dionysius of Syracuse, in 386 BC after eleven months of siege was taken by the Syracusans, and for some years also weakened in its political power.<ref name=":23" /><ref name=":32" />

Rhegion was the birthplace of one of the famed [[nine lyric poets]], [[Ibycus]] and Metauros was the birthplace of another, [[Stesichorus]], who was amongst the first lyric poets of the western world. Kroton spawned many victors during the ancient Olympics and other Panhellenic Games. Amongst the most famous were [[Milo of Croton]], who won six wrestling events in six Olympics in a row, along with seven events in the Pythian Games, nine events in the Nemean Games and ten events in the Isthmian Games and also [[Astylos of Croton]], who won six running events in three Olympics in a row.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.olympic.org/content/olympic-games/ancient-olympic-games/the-athlete/ |title=Olympic Games – Winter Summer Past and Future Olympics |date=20 December 2018 |access-date=27 April 2016 |archive-date=27 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427125306/http://www.olympic.org/content/olympic-games/ancient-olympic-games/the-athlete/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Through [[Alcmaeon of Croton]] (a philosopher and medical theorist) and [[Pythagoras]] (a mathematician and philosopher), who moved to Kroton in 530 BC, the city became a renowned center of philosophy, science and medicine. The Greeks of [[Sybaris]] created "Intellectual Property."<ref name="stanford">{{cite web |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intellectual-property |title=Intellectual Property (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) |publisher=plato.stanford.edu |access-date=24 October 2015 |archive-date=11 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211020840/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intellectual-property/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Sybaris|Sybarites]] founded at least 20 other colonies, including Poseidonia ([[Paestum]] in Latin, on the [[Tyrrhenian Sea|Tyrrhenian]] coast of Lucania), [[Laüs]] (on the border with Lucania) and [[Scidrus]] (on the Lucanian coast in the [[Gulf of Taranto]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naplesldm.com/sybarite.html |title=Who were the Sybarites? |first=Jeff |last=Matthews |access-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306230314/http://www.naplesldm.com/sybarite.html |archive-date=6 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Locri]] was renowned for being the town where [[Zaleucus]] created the first Western Greek law, the "Locrian Code"<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.amalficoast.com/l/calabria-3/reggio-calabria-and-aspromonte-31/locri-1802 |title=Locri |website=www.amalficoast.com |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-date=2 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702123302/https://www.amalficoast.com/l/calabria-3/reggio-calabria-and-aspromonte-31/locri-1802 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_rfT9NQWku8C |title=Primitive Civilizations: Or, Outlines of the History of Ownership in Archaic Communities |first=Edith Jemima |last=Simcox |date=4 November 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-02184-5 |access-date=12 August 2016 |archive-date=27 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227163859/https://books.google.com/books?id=_rfT9NQWku8C |url-status=live }}</ref> and the birthplace of ancient epigrammist and poet [[Nossis]].

The Greek cities of Calabria came under pressure from the [[Lucania]]ns who conquered the north of Calabria and pushed further south, taking over part of the interior, probably after they defeated the [[Thurii|Thurians]] near Laus in 390 BC. A few decades later the [[Bruttii]] took advantage of the weakening of the Greek cites caused by wars between them and took over Hipponium, [[Terina (ancient city)|Terina]] and Thurii. The Bruttii helped the Lucanians fight [[Alexander I of Epirus|Alexander of Epirus]] (334–32 BC), who had come to the aid of [[Taranto|Tarentum]] (in [[Apulia]]), which was also pressured by the Lucanians. After this, [[Agathocles of Syracuse]] ravaged the coast of Calabria with his fleet, took Hipponium and forced the Bruttii into unfavourable peace terms. However, they soon seized Hipponium again. After Agathloces' death in 289 BC the Lucanians and Bruttii pushed into the territory of Thurii and ravaged it. The city sent envoys to Rome to ask for help in 285 BC and 282 BC. On the second occasion, the Romans sent forces to garrison the city. This was part of the episode which sparked the Pyrrhic war.

With the passage of time the name Italy was consolidated in common usage beginning to define the inhabitants of the city-states of the [[Southern Italy|Mezzogiorno]] first as [[Italiotes]], then [[Italic peoples|Italics]] with the arrival of the [[Roman Empire|Romans]], who would later include [[Cisalpine Gaul]].

===Romanization===
[[File:Sybaris archeological park 6.jpg|thumb|Excavated mosaic floor with [[swastikas]], [[Sybaris]].]]
At the beginning of the 3rd century BC the cities of southern Italy, which had been allies of the Samnites, were still independent<ref>{{harvnb|Grant|1993|p=77}}</ref> but inevitably came into conflict as a result of Rome's continuous expansion<ref name="enemiesP14">{{harvnb|Matyszak|2004|p=14}}</ref><ref name="historyOrRomeP78">{{harvnb|Grant|1993|p=78}}</ref> as their expansion in central and northern Italy had not been sufficient to provide new arable lands they needed.<ref name="Musti_536">{{harvnb|Musti|1990|p=536}}</ref>

====Pyrrhic War====
{{Main|Pyrrhic War}}
Between 280 and 275 BC the Tarentine War was fought between [[Rome]] and [[Taranto]]. The latter sought help from [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus]], king of [[Epirus (ancient state)|Epirus]], who in 280, together with his allies, the Bruttians and Lucanians, defeated the Romans at the [[Battle of Heraclea]], thanks to the use of elephants. But Pyrrhus was later defeated by the Romans at Maluentum (current [[Benevento]]) in 275 and retreated to Sicily, where [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] needed help against the Carthaginians. Transiting through Calabria, Pyrrhus' army is said to have sacked the shrine of [[Persephone]] in Locri, running - it is said - into the wrath of the gods. This, combined with the fact that Rome had formed alliances with some of the last poleis of Magna Graecia, including Reggio, caused Pyrrhus to return home.<ref name=":24">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":33">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref> 

After Pyrrhus was eventually defeated, to avoid Roman revenge the Bruttii submitted willingly and gave up half of the Sila, a mountainous plateau valuable for its pitch and timber.<ref>Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Histories, 20.5–6</ref> Rome subjugated southern Italy by means of treaties with the cities.<ref>{{harvnb|Lane Fox|2005|p=307}}</ref>

====Punic Wars====
{{Main|Second Punic War}}Between 264 and 251 BC the [[First Punic War]] was fought in Sicily, between Rome and Carthage, which would end with the creation of the [[Sicilia (Roman province)|Roman province of Sicily]]. Following the Carthaginian provocation with the [[siege of Saguntum]], [[Spain]], the [[Second Punic War]] broke out in 217 BC. The Carthaginian general [[Hannibal]], after taking Saguntum and [[Marseille]], crossed the [[Alps]] and defeated the Romans at the [[Trebbia]] River, the [[Ticino (river)|Ticino]] River, [[Lake Trasimeno]], and in 216 BC at [[Cannae]] in Apulia.<ref name=":25">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":34">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref>

After the victory at Cannae, Hannibal achieved his first important political-strategic results. He then made a brief raid on the [[Ager Romanus|Roman Ager]] before retiring to [[Capua]] for his leisure. Hannibal sent his brother [[Mago Barca|Mago]] with part of his forces into Bruttium to accommodate the surrender of those cities that abandoned the Romans and to force out those that refused to do so. The people of Petelia, who remained loyal to the Romans, were attacked not only by the Carthaginians, who occupied their region, but also by the Bruttians who had instead allied themselves with Hannibal. After withstanding a long siege, which lasted 11 months, because the Romans were unable to help them, with their consent, they surrendered. The city was conquered and Hannibal led the army to Cosenza, which, after a less harsh defense, fell to the Carthaginians. At the same time an army of Bruttians, besieged and occupied another Greek city, Croton, except for the fortress alone, inhabited by less than 2,000 people. The Locrians also passed to the Bruttians and the Carthaginians. Only the Regginians preserved their loyalty to Rome and their independence to the last.<ref name=":25" /><ref name=":34" />

Hannibal also had a history of the Punic Wars written on the Carthaginian side, and ordered it to be kept in the [[Temple of Juno Lacinia (Crotone)|temple of Juno Lacinia]] in Crotone so that the Romans could not falsify the history of the war. [[Plutarch]], writing his work, also drew from that source. But in the summer of 204 B.C. they Romans arrived in Calabria and enslaved the Bruttians to punish them for their rebellion. Vast estates were requisitioned and assigned to members of the Roman aristocracy.<ref name=":25" /><ref name=":34" />[[File:Second Punic war (cropped).png|thumb|Allies of Hannibal (blue) in Second Punic War]]

During the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) the Bruttii allied with [[Hannibal]], who sent [[Hanno, son of Bomilcar|Hanno]], one of his commanders, to Calabria. Hanno marched toward [[Capua]] (in Campania) with Bruttian soldiers to take them to Hannibal's headquarters there twice, but he was defeated on both occasions. When his campaign in Italy came to a dead end, Hannibal took refuge in Calabria, whose steep mountains provided protection against the Roman legions. He set up his headquarters in Kroton and stayed there for four years until he was recalled to Carthage. The Romans fought a battle with him near Kroton, but its details are unknown. Many Calabrian cities surrendered to the Romans<ref>Livy, The History of Rome, 30.19</ref> and Calabria was put under a military commander.

===Roman era===
[[File:Shepherd-c-030-031.jpg|thumb|Calabria in Roman times]]
Nearly a decade after the war, the Romans set up colonies in Calabria: at Tempsa and Kroton (Croto in Latin) in 194 BC, Copiae in the territory of Thurii (Thurium in Latin) in 193 BC, and Vibo Valentia in the territory of Hipponion in 192 BC.<ref>Livy, The History of Rome, 34.45, 53; 35.40</ref> 

Starting in the third century BC, the name ''Calabria'' was given to the Adriatic coast of the [[Salento]] peninsula in modern [[Apulia]].<ref name="The Italic People of Ancient Apulia: New Evidence from Pottery for Workshops ... - Google Books" /> In the late first century BC this name came to extend to the entirety of the Salento, when the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] emperor [[Augustus]] divided Italy into regions and modern Calabria was known as Regio III Lucania et Bruttii.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KWVQOcpVuZoC |title=The Etruscans Outside Etruria |first1=Paolo |last1=Bernardini |first2=Giovannangelo |last2=Camporeale |date=1 January 2004 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=978-0-89236-767-2 |access-date=12 August 2016 |archive-date=27 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227163907/https://books.google.com/books?id=KWVQOcpVuZoC |url-status=live }}</ref>

From 186 B.C., repression of the [[Bacchanalia]], and of the Greek cult of [[Dionysus|Bacchus]], is triggered throughout Magna Graecia as part of a plan to Romanize southern Italy.<ref name=":26">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":35">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref>

Between 136 and 132 BC, the [[First Servile War]] was fought in Sicily. The [[Syrians|Syrian]] slave [[Eunus]] gathered some 200,000 serfs, proclaiming himself king, and for a full four years held out against the Roman legions from the strongholds of [[Enna]] and [[Taormina]]. Eventually Rome crushed the repression and had 20 000 slaves crucified throughout the island. The servile war was an expression of the discontent of the slave class, who were disenfranchised and on whom the entire Roman economy rested.<ref name=":26" /><ref name=":35" />

Still in 132 B.C. the consul Popilius Lenate ordered the construction of the Via Capua-Rhegium, also known as [[Via Popilia]], which, tracing the route now occupied by the A2 Highway and State Road 18 Tirrena, reached Reggio. In this period the main towns in Calabria were Cosenza, Crotone, [[Temesa (ancient city)|Temesa]], [[Turi, Apulia|Turi]], Vibo Valentia Taurianum, and Reggio.<ref name=":26" /><ref name=":35" />

Between 91 and 89 BCE the [[Social War (91–87 BC)|Social War]] was fought, at the end of which the Roman Senate granted the Italics Roman citizenship.<ref name=":26" /><ref name=":35" />

Between 73 and 71 B.C. the [[Third Servile War]] was fought, during which the [[Thracians|Thracian]] [[gladiator]] [[Spartacus]] gathered around him tens of thousands of desperate slaves, including many Bruttians, and set out from Capua northward, defeating many Roman [[Roman legion|legions]]. But the intervention of [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]] will crush in a battle on the Sele River in Campania any claim of Spartacus and his men. 6,000 slaves will be crucified along the [[Appian Way]].<ref name=":26" /><ref name=":35" />

Magna Graecia is commiserated by [[Cicero|Marcus Tullius Cicero]] in a 44 B.C. letter written from Calabria, during the journey to Greece that the orator undertook in the confusing situation determined after Caesar's assassination on the [[Ides of March]].<ref name=":26" /><ref name=":35" />

==== Imperial era ====
[[File:Regio_III_Lucania_et_Bruttii_map.svg|thumb|Map of Regio III Lucania and Bruttius with names of main cities.]]
In rearranging Italy's political geography, [[Augustus|Octavian Augustus]] merged Calabria and Basilicata into Regio III [[Lucania et Bruttium|Lucania et Bruttii]], with the capital and seat of the corrector in Reggio, the region's largest city.<ref name=":27">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-158-6 |editor-last=Settis |editor-first=Salvatore |volume=I: La Calabria antica |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":36">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref>
[[File:Death_of_Alaric.jpg|thumb|Death of [[Alaric I]], buried in the bed of the [[Busento]] river in [[Cosenza]].]]
Also Augustus exiled his daughter [[Julia the Elder|Julia]], guilty of excessive sentimental vivacity, to Reggio.<ref name=":27" /><ref name=":36" />

In 61 [[Paul the Apostle]] passed through Reggio one day on his way to Rome. Christianity spread in Calabria to the port centers and along the Via Popilia, vital areas of the Roman region.<ref name=":27" /><ref name=":36" />

Emperor [[Trajan]] will have the [[Via Traiana]] opened during his rule, which is roughly traced by the old State Road 18 Tirrena halfway up the coast.<ref name=":27" /><ref name=":36" />

In 305 the Calabrian patrician of Bruttian origin Bulla rebelled against the Roman Empire with 600 horsemen and 5,000 infantrymen. He was defeated by the imperial militia, but Rome could never fully control the forests of Sila.<ref name=":27" /><ref name=":36" />

On October 1, 313 [[Constantine the Great|Constantine I]] promulgated the [[Edict of Milan]] in favor of [[Christianity]], which began to spread more and more so that in 391 Emperor [[Theodosius I]] proclaimed it the state religion. In 363 [[Basil of Caesarea|Basil the Great]] landed in Calabria. He was then in [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]]. It was his disciples who from the ninth century founded various [[Monastery|monasteries]] and [[Cenobitic monasticism|cenobia]], laying the foundations of the Calabrian-Greek monastic tradition.<ref name=":27" /><ref name=":36" />

In 365 an earthquake accompanied by a tidal wave shook the southern Mediterranean, affecting the coastal towns of Calabria.<ref name=":27" /><ref name=":36" />

The Roman Empire split into two branches. The [[Western Roman Empire|Western]] branch, ruled by [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]] with its capital in [[Ravenna]], suffered in 410 the invasion of [[Alaric I|Alaric]]'s [[Visigoths]], who sacked Rome and then marched south. Legend has it that Alaric died in Cosenza, being buried at the confluence of the Crati and [[Busento]] under the two rivers.<ref name=":27" /><ref name=":36" />

===Middle Ages===
With the fall of the western part of the Roman Empire in 476, Italy was taken over by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer and later became part of the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]] in 489. The Ostrogothic kings ruled officially as Magistri Militum of the Byzantine Emperors and all government and administrative positions were held by the Romans, while all primary laws were legislated by the Byzantine Emperor. Therefore, during the sixth century, under the Ostrogoths' rule, Romans could still be at the center of government and cultural life, such as the Roman [[Cassiodorus]] who, like Boethius and Symmachus, emerged as one of the most prominent men of his time. He was an administrator, politician, scholar and historian who was born in Scylletium (near Catanzaro). He spent most of his career trying to bridge the divides of East and West, Greek and Latin cultures, Romans and Goths, and official Christianity and [[Arian Christianity]], which was the form of Christianity of the Ostrogoths and which had earlier been banned. He set up his [[Vivarium (monastery)]] in Scylletium. He oversaw the collation of three editions of the Bible in Latin. Seeing the practicality of uniting all the books of the Bible in one volume, he was the first who produced Latin Bibles in single volumes.<ref>Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150–750.</ref> The most well-known of them was the [[Codex Grandior]] which was the ancestor of all modern western Bibles.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xn8i8cLNDM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/9xn8i8cLNDM |archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live |title=Testament The Bible And History episode 6 Power And Glory part one (1 of 2) |last=TheGreatMysteries |date=3 April 2011 |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="faculty.georgetown.edu">{{Cite web |url=http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/cassbook/chap6.html |title=Cassiodorus, Chapter 6: Vivarium |website=faculty.georgetown.edu |access-date=6 March 2016 |archive-date=8 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208100752/http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/cassbook/chap6.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Cassiodorus was at the heart of the administration of the Ostrogothic kingdom. Theodoric made him quaestor sacri palatii (quaestor of the sacred palace, the senior legal authority) in 507, governor of Lucania and Bruttium, consul in 514 and magister officiorum (master of offices, one of the most senior administrative officials) in 523. He was praetorian prefect (chief minister) under the successors of Theodoric: under Athalaric (Theodoric's grandson, reigned 526–34) in 533 and, between 535 and 537, under Theodahad (Theodoric's nephew, reigned 534–36) and Witiges (Theodoric's grandson-in-law, reigned, 536–40).<ref>Cassiodorus, Variae, 9.24–54, 38–39</ref> The major works of Cassiodorus, besides the mentioned bibles, were the Historia Gothorum, a history of the Goths, the Variae and account of his administrative career and the Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum, an introduction to the study of the sacred scriptures and the liberal arts which was very influential in the Middle Ages.

[[Byzantine]] (Eastern Roman) Emperor Justinian I, retook Italy from the Ostrogoths between 535 and 556. They soon lost much of Italy to the [[Lombards]] between 568 and 590, but retained the south for around 500 years until 1059–1071, where they thrived and where the Greek language was the official and vernacular language. In Calabria and towns such as [[Stilo]] and [[Rossano]] and [[San Demetrio Corone]] achieved great religious status. From the 7th Century many monasteries were built in the Amendolea and Stilaro Valleys and Stilo was the destination of hermits and Basilian monks. Many Byzantine churches are still seen in the region. The 10th-century church in Rossano, together with the "twin" church of Sant'Adriano in San Demetrio Corone (foundation 955, rebuilt by the [[Normans]] on the, still, visible foundations of the previous Byzantine church), are considered between the best preserved Byzantine churches in Italy. They were both built by St. [[Nilus the Younger]] as a retreat for the monks who lived in the tufa grottos underneath. The present name of Calabria comes from the duchy of Calabria.

Around the year 800, [[Saracen]]s began invading the shores of Calabria, attempting to wrest control of the area from the Byzantines. This group of [[Arabs]] had already been successful [[Emirate of Sicily|in Sicily]] and knew that Calabria was another key spot. The people of Calabria retreated into the mountains for safety. Although the Arabs never really got a stronghold on the whole of Calabria, they did control some villages while enhancing trade relations with the eastern world.<ref name="bleedingespresso.com">{{cite web |url=http://bleedingespresso.com/calabria/history-of-calabria |title=Bleeding Espresso |author=metatags generator |publisher=bleedingespresso.com |access-date=24 October 2015 |archive-date=28 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928031330/http://bleedingespresso.com/calabria/history-of-calabria |url-status=live }}</ref> In 918, Saracens captured [[Reggio di Calabria|Reggio]] (which was renamed ''Rivà''), holding many of its inhabitants to ransom or keeping them prisoners as slaves.<ref>''The Italian Cities and the Arabs before 1095'', Hilmar C. Krueger, '''A History of the Crusades: The First Hundred Years''', Vol. I, ed. Kenneth Meyer Setton, Marshall W. Baldwin, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1955), 50–51.</ref> It is during this time of Arab invasions that many staples of today's Calabrian cuisine came into fashion: [[Citrus]] fruits and [[eggplant]]s for example. Exotic spices such as cloves and nutmeg were also introduced.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web |url=http://bleedingespresso.com/calabria/history-of-calabria |title=History of Calabria – Bleeding Espresso |first=metatags |last=generator |access-date=1 March 2015 |archive-date=28 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928031330/http://bleedingespresso.com/calabria/history-of-calabria |url-status=live }}</ref>

Under the Byzantine dominion, between the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, Calabria was one of the first regions of Italy to introduce silk production to Europe.
According to André Guillou,<ref>{{cite book |language=it |first1=André |last1=Guillou |first2=Paolo |last2=Delogu |title=Storia d'Italia |volume=III |chapter=Il mezzoggiorno dai Bizantini a Federico II |year=1983 |publisher=UTET}}</ref> [[Morus (plant)|mulberry trees]] for the production of raw silk were introduced to southern Italy by the Byzantines at the end of the ninth century.
Around 1050 the theme of Calabria had 24,000, mulberry trees cultivated for their foliage, and their number tended to expand.<ref name="Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages">{{cite book |last1=Sakellariou |first1=Eleni |title=Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages: Demographic, Institutional Change in the Kingdom of Naples, c.1440-c.1530 |date=2011 |publisher=Brill}}</ref>

At the beginning of the tenth century ({{circa|903}}),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.initalytoday.com/calabria/catanzaro/ |title=Catanzaro Italy: Catanzaro guide, city of Catanzaro, Calabria Italy |publisher=Initalytoday.com |access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923122332/http://www.initalytoday.com/calabria/catanzaro/ |archive-date=23 September 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the city of Catanzaro was occupied by the Muslim [[Saracens]], who founded an [[emirate]] and took the Arab name of قطنصار – Qaṭanṣār. An Arab presence is evidenced by findings at an eighth-century necropolis which had items with Arabic inscriptions. Around the year 1050, Catanzaro rebelled against Saracen dominance and returned to a brief period of Byzantine control.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://viaggiart.com/en/catanzaro |title=Catanzaro: What to see and what to do |access-date=26 October 2020 |archive-date=29 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029141032/https://viaggiart.com/en/catanzaro |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Immagine -Il Castello di Acri 2.JPG|thumb|Norman tower at [[Acri]]]]

In the 1060s the [[Normans]], under the leadership of [[Robert Guiscard]]'s brother, [[Roger I of Sicily]], established a presence in this [[Marches|borderland]], and organized a government modeled on the Eastern Roman Empire and was run by the local magnates of Calabria. Of note is that the Normans established their presence here, in southern Italy (namely Calabria), 6 years prior to their conquest of England, (see [[The Battle of Hastings]]). The purpose of this strategic presence in Calabria was to lay the foundations for the Crusades 30 years later, and for the creation of two Kingdoms: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of Sicily. Ships would sail from Calabria to the Holy Land. This made Calabria one of the richest regions in Europe as princes from the noble families of England, France and other regions, constructed secondary residences and palaces here, on their way to the Holy Land. Guiscard's son [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond]], who was born in [[San Marco Argentano]], would be one of the leaders in the first crusade. Of particular note is the [[Via Francigena]], an ancient pilgrim route that goes from Canterbury to Rome and southern Italy, reaching Calabria, Basilicata and Apulia, where the crusaders lived, prayed and trained, respectively.

In 1098, [[Roger I of Sicily]] was named the equivalent of an apostolic legate by [[Pope Urban II]]. His son [[Roger II of Sicily]] later became the first [[List of monarchs of Sicily|King of Sicily]] and formed what would become the [[Kingdom of Sicily]], which lasted nearly 700 years. Under the Normans southern Italy was united as one region and started a feudal system of land ownership in which the Normans were made lords of the land while peasants performed all the work on the land.

In 1147, Roger II of Sicily attacked [[Corinth]] and [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], two important centers of Byzantine silk production, capturing the weavers and their equipment and establishing his own silkworks in Calabria,<ref name="AM">Muthesius, Anna, "Silk in the Medieval World". In Jenkins (2003), p. 331.</ref> thereby causing the Norman silk industry to flourish.

In 1194, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]], took control of the region, after inheriting the Kingdom from his mother [[Constance I of Sicily|Constance, Queen of Sicily]]. He created a kingdom that blended cultures, philosophy and customs and would build several castles, while fortifying existing ones which the Normans previously constructed. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, Calabria was controlled by the [[Capetian House of Anjou]], under the rule of [[Charles I of Naples|Charles d’Anjou]] after being granted the crown of the Sicilian Kingdom by [[Pope Clement IV]]. In 1282, under Charles d’Anjou, Calabria became a domain of the newly created [[Kingdom of Naples]], and no longer of the Kingdom of Sicily, after he lost Sicily due to the rebellion of the [[Sicilian Vespers]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/> During the 14th century, would emerge [[Barlaam of Seminara]] who would be [[Petrarch]]'s Greek teacher and his disciple [[Leonzio Pilato]], who would translate Homer's works for [[Giovanni Boccaccio]].

While the cultivation of [[mulberry]] was moving first steps in [[northern Italy]], silk made in Calabria reached the peak of 50% of the whole Italian/European production. As the cultivation of mulberry was difficult in Northern and Continental Europe, merchants and operators used to purchase in Calabria raw materials to finish the products and resell them for a better price. The [[Genoa|Genoese]] silk artisans used fine Calabrian silk for the production of velvets.<ref name="Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages" />
In particular, the silk of [[Catanzaro]] supplied almost all of Europe and was sold in a large market fair to Spanish, [[Venice|Venetian]], [[Genoa|Genoese]], [[Florence|Florentine]] and Dutch merchants.
Catanzaro became the lace capital of Europe with a large silkworm breeding facility that produced all the laces and linens used in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]]. The city was known for its fabrication of silks, velvets, damasks and brocades.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.madeinitalyfor.me/en/info/lantica-e-nobile-arte-serica/ |title=The Ancient and Noble Art of Silk |date=14 May 2015 |access-date=20 October 2020 |archive-date=23 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023023019/https://www.madeinitalyfor.me/en/info/lantica-e-nobile-arte-serica/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Catanzaro-Italy |title=Catanzaro &#124; Italy |access-date=20 October 2020 |archive-date=21 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021132631/https://www.britannica.com/place/Catanzaro-Italy |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Waldensian emigration in Calabria ====
The settlement in the land of Calabria of [[Waldensians|Waldensian]] peoples from the valleys bordering the [[Western Alps]] - predominantly the [[Germanasca]], [[Chisone]] and [[Pellice]] valleys<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Genre |first=Arturo |date=1986 |title=A proposito degli studi sulla parlata e l'origine dei Calabro-Valdesi |trans-title=About the studies on the speech and origin of the Calabro-Valdesians |journal=Bollettino dell'atlante Linguistico Italiano |language=it |volume=8-10 |pages=5–25}}</ref> - might have taken place in the Swabian period, in the 13th century, although it spread mainly from the first half of the 14th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Galli |first=Edoardo |title=Cosenza seicentesca nella cronaca del Frugali |publisher=Collezione Meridionale Edizioni |year=1934 |volume=6 |language=it |trans-title=Seventeenth-century Cosenza in Frugali's chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alvaro |first=Corrado |date=April 1942 |title=Una comunità piemontese in Calabria |trans-title=A Piedmontese community in Calabria |journal=Le Vie d'Italia |language=it}}</ref>

Historian Pierre Gilles, author in 1644 of A History of the Reformed Churches, recounts how in 1315 some landowners in Calabria offered the Waldensians land to cultivate, in exchange for an annual fee, with the power to establish communities there free of feudal obligations. This would have favored the founding, or repopulation, of numerous urban centers, such as San Sisto and La Guardia (now called [[Guardia Piemontese]] because of its Waldensian origins), inhabited mainly by Waldensians, thus giving rise to a linguistic island in central Calabria, where the most common dialect is [[Occitan language|Occitan]], a dialect typical of the [[Aosta Valley]] and northern [[Piedmont]]. Here the Waldensian community would live until the second half of the 16th century, when, during the [[European wars of religion]] between [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] and [[Protestantism|Protestants]], the Waldensians adhered to the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] faith, suffering persecution by the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] [[Viceroyalty|viceroyal]] authorities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilles |first=Pierre |title=Histoire ecclésiastique des Églises Reformées, recueillies en quelques Vallées de Piedmont et circonvoisines, autrefois appellées vaudoises |year=1644 |language=fr |trans-title=Ecclesiastical history of the Reformed Churches, collected in some valleys of Piedmont and surrounding areas, formerly called Waldensian}}</ref>

===Early modern period===
In the 15th century, [[Catanzaro]] was exporting both its silk cloth and its technical skills to neighbouring [[Sicily]]. By the middle of the century, silk spinning was taking place in Catanzaro, on a large scale.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sakellariou |first1=Eleni |title=Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages: Demographic, Institutional Change in the Kingdom of Naples, c.1440-c.1530 |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-900-422-4063 |page=407}}</ref> In the 15th century, Catanzaro's silk industry supplied almost all of Europe and was sold at large fairs to Spanish, [[Venice|Venetian]], Genoan, [[Florence|Florentine]], and [[Netherlands|Dutch]] merchants. Catanzaro became Europe's silk capital with a large silkworm farm that produced all the lace used in the [[Vatican City|Vatican]]. The city was famous for its manufacture of silks, [[Velvet|velvets]], [[Damask|damasks]] and [[Brocade|brocades]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Rubino |first=Angela |title=La seta a Catanzaro e Lione. Echi lontani e attività presente |publisher=Calabria Letteraria |year=2006 |language=it |trans-title=Silk in Catanzaro and Lyon. Distant echoes and present activity}}</ref> In 1519, Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] formally recognized the growth of Catanzaro's silk industry, allowing the city to establish a consulate of silk crafts, charged with regulating and controlling the various stages of a production that flourished throughout the 16th century.<ref name=":5" />

In 1442, the Aragonese took control under [[Alfonso V of Aragon]] who became ruler under the [[Crown of Aragon]]. In 1501 Calabria came under the control of [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]], whose wife Queen Isabella of Castille is famed for sponsoring the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Calabria suffered greatly under Aragonese rule with heavy taxes, feuding landlords, starvation and sickness. After a brief period in the early 1700s under the Austrian Habsburgs, Calabria came into the control of the Spanish Bourbons in 1735.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> It was during the 16th century that Calabria would contribute to modern world history with the creation of the [[Gregorian calendar]] by the Calabrian doctor and astronomer [[Luigi Lilio]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/gregorian-calendar.html |title=The Gregorian Calendar |website=www.timeanddate.com |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-date=26 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626042652/https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/gregorian-calendar.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sussexvt.k12.de.us/science/The%20History%20of%20the%20World%201500-1899/Gregorian%20Calendar%20Adopted.htm |title=Gregorian Calendar Adopted |access-date=6 March 2016 |archive-date=5 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605110751/http://www.sussexvt.k12.de.us/science/The%20History%20of%20the%20World%201500-1899/Gregorian%20Calendar%20Adopted.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.naplesldm.com/lillo.html |title=Luigi Lillo, the Gregorian Calendat & the Carafa Castle |first=Jeff |last=Matthews |access-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401173802/http://www.naplesldm.com/lillo.html |archive-date=1 April 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1466, King [[Louis XI]] decided to develop a national silk industry in [[Lyon]] and called a large number of Italian workers, mainly from Calabria. The fame of the master weavers of Catanzaro spread throughout France and they were invited to Lyon to teach the techniques of weaving.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rossi |first1=Cesare |last2=Russo |first2=Flavio |date=2016 |title=Ancient Engineers' Inventions: Precursors of the Present}}</ref> In 1470, one of these weavers, known in France as Jean Le Calabrais, invented the first prototype of a [[Jacquard machine|Jacquard]]-type loom.<ref>{{cite book |language=it |last=Rubino |first=Angela |date=2006 |title=La seta a Catanzaro e Lione. Echi lontani e attività presente |publisher=Calabria Letteraria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOGJKQAACAAJ&q=seta+catanzaro |isbn=8875741271 |trans-title=Silk in [[Catanzaro]] and Lyon. Distant echoes and present activity |access-date=6 November 2020 |archive-date=27 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227163907/https://books.google.com/books?id=kOGJKQAACAAJ&q=seta+catanzaro |url-status=live }}</ref> He introduced a new kind of machine which was able to work the yarns faster and more precisely. Over the years, improvements to the loom were ongoing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://media.handweaving.net/DigitalArchive/books/wp_Chapter_01.pdf |title=Chapter 1: A Brief History of Figured Textile Production |pages=11–20 |access-date=6 November 2020 |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514220658/http://media.handweaving.net/DigitalArchive/books/wp_Chapter_01.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V of Spain]] formally recognized the growth of the silk industry of [[Catanzaro]] in 1519 by allowing the city to establish a consulate of the silk craft, charged with regulating and check in the various stages of a production that flourished throughout the sixteenth century. At the moment of the creation of its guild, the city declared that it had over 500 [[loom]]s. By 1660, when the town had about 16,000 inhabitants, its silk industry kept 1,000 looms, and at least 5,000 people, busy. The silk textiles of [[Catanzaro]] were not only sold at the [[Kingdom of Naples|kingdom]]'s markets, they were also exported to Venice, France, Spain and England.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sakellariou |first1=Eleni |title=Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages: Demographic, Institutional Change in the Kingdom of Naples, c.1440-c.1530 |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-900-422-4063}}</ref>

This period also saw the migration of entire communities of [[Albanians]] to many towns in northern Calabria, called by the king of Naples himself in recognition of the services that the Albanian leader [[Skanderbeg|Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg]] had rendered to the crown against the Angevins. After 1478 the sovereign allowed these refugees fleeing from the Turkish advance in Albania after Skanderbeg's demise to occupy abandoned villages for the purpose of repopulating them, also granting them numerous royal privileges and franchises: hence the [[Arbëreshë people|Arbëreshë]] community was born.<ref name=":37">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref>

In the 16th century, Calabria was characterized by a strong demographic and economic development, mainly due to the increasing demand of silk products and the simultaneous growth of prices, and became one of the most important Mediterranean markets for silk.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Galasso |first1=Giuseppe |title=Economia e società nella Calabria del Cinquecento |language=it |date=1975 |publisher=L'Altra Europa}}</ref>

After the relative pacification, Calabria followed the historical and political events of the [[Kingdom of Naples]], also becoming the scene of struggles between the great powers of the time, France and Spain, for territorial control of the Italian peninsula. For example, on June 28, 1495, the [[Battle of Seminara]], north of Reggio Calabria, took place, where French troops that had occupied the Kingdom of Naples beat the Hispano-Napolitan army under the command of [[Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba]] and [[Ferdinand II of Naples]], who, however, managed to take revenge and drive out the French the following year. A few years later, in 1502, Córdoba himself conquered Reggio, subjecting it to the rule of the Ferdinand II.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>

From then on, Calabria was placed under Spanish rule for two centuries and was administratively divided into two parts: {{ILL|Calabria Ulteriore|it}} and {{ILL|Calabria Citeriore|it}}, initially governed by a single governor, then, from 1582, by two separate officials. The administrative capital of Calabria Citeriore was Cosenza, which during the 16th century went through an impressive artistic and humanistic flowering, so much so that it was called the “[[Athens]] of Calabria”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caruso |first=Luigi |title=Storia di Cosenza |publisher=Edizioni di Storia Patria |year=1970 |language=it |trans-title=History of Cosenza}}</ref> In fact, the city, in addition to being, until 1557, one of the most important cities of the realm in the head of law, became, after Naples, the second city to have a school of cartography, while in 1511 the [[Accademia Cosentina]] was born, founded by [[Aulo Giano Parrasio]], followed by the philosopher [[Bernardino Telesio]], defined by [[Francis Bacon]] as the first of the "new men". Instead, Calabria Ulteriore had two different administrative headquarters: the first was Reggio Calabria, which held the role of capital for 12 years, from 1582 to 1594, losing it due to [[Turkish people|Turkish]] raids that sacked it several times; for this reason, from 1594 the seat of the administrative offices of the governorate was transferred to Catanzaro, which maintained this role for more than 220 years.<ref name=":6" /> In 1563 philosopher and natural scientist [[Bernardino Telesio]] wrote "On the Nature of Things according to their Own Principles" and pioneered early modern empiricism. He would also influence the works of Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Giordano Bruno, Tommaso Campanella and Thomas Hobbes.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boenke |first=Michaela |title=Bernardino Telesio |url=https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/archives/spr2008/entries/telesio/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727063710/https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/archives/spr2008/entries/telesio/ |archive-date=27 July 2020 |access-date=15 June 2019 |website=stanford.library.sydney.edu.au}}</ref><ref name="colorado.edu">{{Cite web |title=Notes for Bacon Session (7/27 and 7/28) |url=http://www.colorado.edu/neh2015/sites/default/files/attached-files/baconnotes.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306173158/http://www.colorado.edu/neh2015/sites/default/files/attached-files/baconnotes.pdf |archive-date=6 March 2016 |access-date=6 March 2016 |website=colorado.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Garber |first=Daniel |title=Telesio among the Novatores: Telesio's Reception in the Seventeenth Century |url=http://www.colorado.edu/neh2015/sites/default/files/attached-files/garbertelesio.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306164500/http://www.colorado.edu/neh2015/sites/default/files/attached-files/garbertelesio.pdf |archive-date=6 March 2016 |access-date=6 March 2016 |website=colorado.edu}}</ref> In 1602 philosopher and poet [[Tommaso Campanella]] wrote his most famous work, "[[The City of the Sun]]" and would later defend Galileo Galilei during his first trial with his work "A Defense of Galileo", which was written in 1616 and published in 1622.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Homepage |url=http://undpress.nd.edu/books/P00091 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220100335/http://undpress.nd.edu/books/P00091 |archive-date=20 December 2016 |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref> In 1613 philosopher and economist [[Antonio Serra]] wrote "A Short Treatise on the Wealth and Poverty of Nations" and was a pioneer in the Mercantilist tradition.<ref>{{cite book |author=Antonio Serra |title=A 'Short Treatise' on the Wealth and Poverty of Nations (1613) |date=1 January 2011 |isbn=978-1-84331-770-8 |editor=Sophus Reinert |doi=10.7135/UPO9781843317708}}</ref>

Calabria was important to the Spanish monarchs since the reign of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles V of Habsburg]], who also held the title of King of Naples, as when the sovereign granted numerous royal privileges to the city of Catanzaro, which had valiantly resisted on August 28, 1528, the siege by a French army supported by some Calabrian and Apulian nobles of [[Francophile]] tendencies. In gratitude, Charles V granted the city the right to use the imperial eagle as its symbol, exempted it from royal tributes and gave it the power to mint coins worth one carlin. In addition, the emperor personally visited the region in 1535 on his return from the victorious capture of [[Tunis]], where, at the command of a fleet of as many as 500 ships, he had defeated the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] army and freed 20,000 Christian slaves. After the African conquest, Charles V landed in Sicily and then in Calabria, where, having passed [[Aspromonte]], he visited [[Nicastro]], [[Martirano]], [[Carpanzano]],{{efn|An inscription from 1605, under the portico of the Shrine of the Virgin of Grace in Carpanzano, still commemorates its passage: ''Carolus V Imperator Maximo Capta Tuneti Brutiam Repetes Carpanzano ... anno 1535.''}} [[Rogliano]],{{efn|Another inscription of Charles V's passage is also found in the Ricciulli Palace in Rogliano.}} Tessano and Cosenza. From here the monarch passed through [[Bisignano]], [[Castrovillari]] and [[Laino]], and then continued on to Naples. During Spanish rule in Calabria, many towns tried to defend themselves from Saracen raids, for example Gioja (current [[Gioia Tauro]]), which was fortified with city walls reinforced by watchtowers to defend against incursions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=La Storia di Gioia Tauro - dalle Origini al Settecento |trans-title=The History of Gioia Tauro - from the Origins to the Eighteenth Century |url=https://www.comune.gioiatauro.rc.it/index.php?action=index&p=278 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=Comune di Gioia Tauro |language=it}}</ref> Several Calabrian cities such as [[Palmi, Calabria|Palmi]] (where the Saracen Tower still stands today<ref>{{Cite web |title=Torre saracena Palmi, 1565 - 1565 |url=https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/ArchitecturalOrLandscapeHeritage/1800157583A |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=catalogo.beniculturali.it |language=it}}</ref>) and Reggio Calabria were fortified with towers.<ref name=":6" />

Despite the heavy taxation and the growth of baronial power, the population never ceased to show loyalty to the sovereign, seen as a defender of the poor people against the abuses of the powerful. The behavior of the people of Catanzaro in 1647-1648, when, exasperated by the excessive tax burden, they stormed the offices of the tax collectors (known as ''arrendatori''), subsequently setting fire to their houses, must be framed in this light. The governor then intervened, who had the leaders of the revolt hanged, causing the rest of the rebels to flee.<ref name=":6" />

=== Modern era ===
During the 17th century, silk production in Calabria begin to suffer by the strong competition of new-raising competitors in Italian Peninsula and Europe (France), but also the increasing import from Ottoman Empire and Persia.

Foundation of the historical Italo-Albanian College and Library in 1732<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337186795 |last1=Rose |first1=Eugenio |last2=Conforti |first2=Emilia |date=2019 |title=Biblioteca del Collegio Ialo-albanese |volume=37 |issue=1}}</ref> by [[Pope Clement XII]] transferred from San Benedetto Ullano to [[San Demetrio Corone]] in 1794.

[[File:Circular settlement of sandy deposits in the Rosarno Plain (from an original etching in Sarconi, 1784) - 1783 Calabrian earthquake.png |thumb|upright|1783 Calabrian earthquakes, note the phenomenon of [[soil liquefaction]] ]]

In 1783, a series of [[1783 Calabrian earthquakes|earthquakes across Calabria]] caused around 50,000 deaths and much damage to property, so that many of the buildings in the region were rebuilt after this date.

Following the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], the Kingdom of Naples passed in 1707 to [[Austria]], whose Emperor [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VI of Habsburg]] also became King of Naples: the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]], while ruling for a short period, sought to modernize the political structures of the kingdom. In 1733, after the outbreak of the [[War of the Polish Succession|War of Polish Succession]], the Spanish [[House of Bourbon|Bourbons]], allies of France against Austria, decided to attack Naples and secure that kingdom for [[Charles III of Spain|Charles VII]], [[infante]] of Spain and son of [[Philip V of Spain]]. Charles, who entered Naples in 1734, succeeded in defeating the Austrian troops at the [[Battle of Bitonto]], securing control of the kingdom, despite some pockets of resistance, one of which was Reggio Calabria, which fell on June 20, 1734.<ref name=":62">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>

For ten years, however, the young Bourbon monarchy had to cope with the intrigues of the Austrian party present in Naples, which was particularly strong in Calabria, where the Duke of [[Verzino]], who had already armed an infantry regiment against the Infante in 1734, promised the Austrians that he could arm 12,000 rebels for their cause of reconquest during the [[War of the Austrian Succession|War of Austrian Succession]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carignani |first=Giuseppe |title=Il partito austriaco nel Regno di Napoli al 1744 |publisher=Società napoletana di storia patria |year=1881 |location=Naples |language=it |trans-title=The Austrian party in the Kingdom of Naples in 1744}}</ref> But after the [[Battle of Velletri]] in 1744, in which King Charles VII repelled an Austrian invasion of the realm, the Austrian party disappeared, also decimated by the trials and inquisitions of the Bourbon authorities.<ref name=":62" />

The ascension of King Charles VII of Naples aroused considerable enthusiasm throughout the continental Mezzogiorno, as the population hoped that now the resources of the Kingdom of Naples would be used for the development of state and social structures. Sicily, too, was united politically with southern Italy, albeit in personal dominion to the Bourbon ruler; this was an advantage for Calabria, which ceased to be a peripheral region of the realm and became once again at the center of the state structure. This was seen in the journey King Charles made to the region in 1735, as he was on his way to [[Palermo]] to be crowned King of Sicily: having arrived on January 24 in Calabria Citeriore, welcomed by the dean of the province, the royal procession proceeded on, touching on [[Sibari]], [[Corigliano Calabro|Corigliano]], Rossano, [[Cirò, Calabria|Cirò]] and [[Strongoli]], festively welcomed by the local feudal lords and the archbishop of Rossano, Francesco Maria Muscettola. Then Charles met, on the borders of the province of Calabria Ulterior, the Dean of Catanzaro, to stop later in Crotone, festively welcomed by the local patriciate, and in [[Cutro]], where he was hosted by Giovan Battista Filomarino, prince of the Rocca. Continuing on his journey, the Neapolitan sovereign stayed four days in Catanzaro, receiving the homage of the noble families of De Riso and Schipani; he then went to [[Monteleone Calabro|Monteleone]] and finally arrived in [[Palmi, Calabria|Palmi]], as a guest of Prince Giovan Francesco Grimaldi. From here, Charles embarked in late February for Messina, accompanied by a flotilla of boats arranged by the prince of Scylla, Guglielmo Ruffo.<ref name=":38">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref><ref name=":63">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>

From the earliest years the reforming action of King Charles, aided by the able [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] minister [[Bernardo Tanucci]], was aimed at strengthening central power at the expense of baronial and clerical power, as well as alleviating the social and economic conditions of the humblest strata of the population, but it had modest and alternate results, due to the strong pressures and resistance of the local ruling classes, whose privileges and various particularistic interests were harmed. One particularly reformed field was economic and fiscal: in 1739 the Supreme Magistrate of Commerce was created, consisting of magistrates, technicians, merchants and bankers, with absolute jurisdiction over domestic and foreign trade; in 1741 a [[Concordat]] was made with the [[Holy See]], thanks to which from that moment on ecclesiastical properties in the Kingdom of Naples were taxed, while in the same period the so-called ''{{ILL|Catasto onciario|it}}'' was commissioned, so called because it was evaluated in ounces (nominal currency equal to 6 ducats or 60 carlins), which was supposed to reorder the tax burden by lowering taxes on the poorest. However, the wide exemptions enjoyed by nobles and clergymen represented the concrete resistance of the privileged classes to this attempt at tax reform.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

In 1759, however, King Charles, as a result of diplomatic agreements and complicated family events, had to abdicate the throne of Naples to encircle the crown of Spain after the death of his half-brother [[Ferdinand VI|Ferdinand VI of Spain]]. The Kingdom of Naples then passed to Charles' son, [[Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies|Ferdinand IV of the Two Sicilies]], eight years old, placed under the tutelage of a regency council in which Tanucci had decisive weight. This allowed the continuation of the reforming policy pursued by the minister, particularly in the ecclesiastical field, which culminated in the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Kingdom in 1769 and the forfeiture of their property. Even after Ferdinand came of age, Tanucci remained in office, but in 1774 he was exonerated at the instigation of the new Queen [[Maria Carolina of Austria]], who wanted to bring Naples into the Austrian sphere of influence. However, the king continued the reform season for a time, pandering to the Neapolitan Enlightenment current, consisting of intellectuals such as [[Ferdinando Galiani]], [[Antonio Genovesi]] and [[Gaetano Filangieri|Gaetano Filangeri]].<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

During this period Calabria experienced a period of strong natural disasters, which were accompanied by profound social and economic changes: this was the case with the plague epidemic of 1743, which struck Reggio Calabria and its surroundings from Messina, delaying for some time the compilation of the ''cadastre onciario'' by the local universities. Also the earthquake of 1783, which struck southern Calabria causing the death of about 50,000 people and the total destruction of Reggio, which had to be completely rebuilt according to more rational and linear architectural criteria, while, to meet the immense reconstruction expenses, King Ferdinand IV, who had already sent the prince of Strongoli, [[Francesco Pignatelli, Prince of Strongoli|Francesco Pignatelli]], to cope with emergencies in the earthquake-affected areas,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Placanica |first=Augusto |title=L'Iliade funesta. Storia del terremoto calabro-messinese del 1783 |year=1984 |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=The Mournful Iliad. History of the Calabro-Messina earthquake of 1783.}}</ref> established on June 4, 1784 the {{ILL|Cassa Sacra|it}}, a governmental body that was to manage the funds derived from the expropriation of abolished ecclesiastical property and monasteries and then devolve them into the reconstruction works; in reality it was the wealthy landowners, members of the nascent agrarian bourgeoisie in search of social climbing, who grabbed the best land at the best price, to the detriment of the baronage and local clergy.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

The reforming action of King Ferdinand of Bourbon came to an end after the events immediately following the [[French Revolution]], whose ideas were spreading across continental Europe thanks to the invasion of French revolutionary armies, causing alarm in the courts of the [[Ancien régime|Old Regime]]. For this very reason, Ferdinand IV in November 1798 joined the anti-French coalition and marched with his army to Rome, where [[Pope Pius VI]] had been deposed and the [[Roman Republic (1798–1799)|Roman Republic]] proclaimed there. But the Bourbon army, after its initial successes, showed its organic deficiencies and had to retreat, pursued by French troops supporting the Italian [[Jacobins|Jacobin]] revolutionaries, who forced it to leave Naples for Sicily, while on January 21, 1799, the [[Parthenopean Republic]] was proclaimed, whose birth certificate was drafted by the Calabrian Jacobin {{ILL|Giuseppe Logoteta|it}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Battaglini |first=M |title=La rivoluzione del 1799 a Napoli |year=1973 |location=Messina-Florence |language=it |trans-title=The revolution of 1799 in Naples}}</ref>
[[File:Sant_antonio_protegge_Sanfedisti.jpg|thumb|Popular illustration of the time depicting [[Anthony of Padua|St. Anthony of Padua]] protecting the Christian and Royal Army, with Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo on horseback, during its advance and fighting.]]
The new republican regime, however, did not consolidate well among the popular strata of the Mezzogiorno, especially in Calabria, where only Cosenza, Catanzaro and Crotone adhered to the republican cause, while the large Ionian centers and the area opposite the Sicilian coast, such as Reggio Calabria, Scilla, [[Bagnara Calabra|Bagnara]] and Palmi, remained loyal to the Bourbons. This boded well for the Bourbon royals, in exile in Palermo, that they would be able to regain the kingdom in a short time: so Ferdinand gladly accepted Cardinal [[Fabrizio Ruffo]]'s proposal to mobilize the peasant masses of Calabria under the name of the king and religion, form an army and recapture Naples. Having received, on February 7, 1799, the title of “Vicar of the King”, Cardinal Ruffo landed the next day in Calabria, recruiting the first ranks in the family fiefs of Scilla and Bagnara.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leoni |first=Francesco |title=Storia della controrivoluzione in Italia (1789-1859) |publisher=Guida |year=1975 |location=Naples |language=it |trans-title=History of Counterrevolution in Italy (1789-1859)}}</ref> Soon Ruffo's army, dubbed the [[Sanfedismo|Army of the Holy Faith]] because it marched under the banners of the Church and the throne, grew to 25,000 men, to which were added bands of brigands, stragglers, deserters. With these men the cardinal succeeded in conquering Paola and Crotone, which were strenuously opposed and cruelly sacked, despite Ruffo's attempts to prevent the looting and violence, and then succeeded, in only four months, in reconquering the entire Kingdom of Naples, granting, in June 1799 an honorable surrender to the last Neapolitan Jacobins barricaded at [[Fort Saint Elmo]]. However, it was not respected by either the Bourbon rulers or Admiral [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Horatio Nelson]], who, reneging on the terms of surrender, had 124 Neapolitan revolutionaries hanged, depriving Ruffo of his command.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Viglione |first=Massimo |title=La "Vandea italiana" |publisher=Effedieffe |year=1995 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=The “Italian Vendee”}}</ref>

=== French interlude and the Bourbon restoration ===
After regaining the throne, however, King Ferdinand was unable to consolidate his newly regained power, so much so that in 1806, faced with a new French invasion by [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s troops, he again had to take refuge in Palermo, under the protection of the [[Royal Navy|British navy]], while the Kingdom of Naples was entrusted by Napoleon to his older brother [[Joseph Bonaparte]]. However, numerous outbreaks of legitimist revolts did not mar in the continental Mezzogiorno, such as in Calabria, where a full-fledged popular insurrection, known as the Calabrian Insurrection, broke out, carried out by brigands, peasants and stragglers from the Bourbon army, supported also by British military units that had landed in the region. In order to tame the revolt, which lasted three years, it was necessary to commit substantial forces and two of the best French generals, [[André Masséna]] and [[Jean Maximilien Lamarque]], who also employed cruel and ruthless means, such as the right of reprisal against entire villages that flanked the brigands and sung the Bourbon, as in the case of the massacre of [[Lauria]], perpetrated by Massena's soldiers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lefebvre |first=Georges |title=Napoleone |publisher=Editori Laterza |year=2009 |location=Bari |language=it |trans-title=Napoleon}}</ref>

In spite of this, the period of Napoleonic rule caused great innovations and upheavals on the social and economic level: in fact, on August 2, 1806, Joseph Bonaparte decreed the subversion of feudalism, thus abolishing baronial jurisdictions, feudal-like personal benefits, and prohibitory rights, i.e., monopolies on certain productive activities. Lands and property put into liquidation and opened for commercial exploitation by the French government were purchased by members of the new agrarian bourgeoisie, which was beginning to gain increasing political clout. This was accompanied by an administrative division of the Kingdom, which by decree of Dec. 8, 1806, was divided into districts and boroughs: Calabria retained the division of the two provinces of “Citeriore,” whose capital remained in Cosenza, and “Ulteriore,”” which instead had Monteleone assigned as its administrative seat in place of Catanzaro, both because of its relative ease of communication and military necessity. Both Calabrian provinces, presided over by an intendant, were divided into four districts, placed under the jurisdiction of their respective sub-districts, which in turn were divided into districts, each of which grouped a certain number of municipalities. In 1810 there was a dynastic change on the throne of Naples: instead of Joseph Bonaparte, placed by the emperor his brother to rule newly conquered Spain, [[Joachim Murat]], Napoleon's brother-in-law as the husband of his sister [[Caroline Bonaparte]], became king of Naples. The new king resumed with more vigor the process of social and economic modernization of his new kingdom: he profoundly reformed the tax system, replacing the Bourbon tax levies such as the ''testatico'', the ''focatico'' and the ''tassa d'industria'', with a single direct land tax that was levied on land ownership; from 1811 he initiated government inquiries to learn about the living conditions of rural populations, while in the economic sphere he showed an interest in the exploitation of mineral resources, as in the case of the mines connected to the [[Mongiana]] ironworks in the Serre.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

The period of Napoleonic rule ended in 1815, after the fall of Napoleon following the defeat at [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]], which saw the return of the deposed Bourbon ruler to the throne, despite Murat's attempt in October of the same year to regain the throne with a small military expedition, which in his intentions was supposed to raise the whole of the continental Mezzogiorno. But the former king of Naples, having landed in [[Pizzo, Calabria|Pizzo Calabro]], was betrayed and captured by Bourbon troops: he was then sentenced to death by a military tribunal presided over by General [[Vito Nunziante]] and shot, on October 13, 1815, in the castle of the Calabrian town. Thus, having returned to the throne and consolidated his power, the Bourbon king initiated the administrative unification of the two kingdoms he ruled: in fact, with the law of December 16, 1816, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was born, of which Ferdinand was the first monarch with the name Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

=== Carbonari uprisings to the Expedition of the Thousand ===
The return of the Bourbons to the throne brought a period of absolute monarchical restoration, but it did not undermine the administrative reforms introduced by the French rulers, as these could be functional for a tighter control of the central government over the peripheral territories. On the contrary, they were increased and strengthened, as in the case of Calabria, which by royal decree of May 1, 1816, had two new administrative divisions: the province of {{ILL|Calabria Ulteriore Prima|it}}, with its capital in Reggio, and that of {{ILL|Calabria Ulteriore Seconda|it}}, with its headquarters in Catanzaro.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

However, the monarchical absolutism of the sovereign generated a clear liberal opposition, formed by those bourgeois cadres of leaders who had prospered during French rule and who now saw themselves outclassed again by aristocratic and clerical exponents for reasons of social class. They were mainly army officers, but also bourgeois, intellectuals and civil servants, many of them adherents of the [[Carbonari]] sect, which was founded with the specific purpose of creating an Italy independent of foreign domination and forcing the various Italian sovereigns to grant a liberal constitution. Thus, on July 1, 1820, after the news of the granting in Spain of the [[Spanish Constitution of 1812|Constitution of Cadiz]], many Carbonari officers, including cavalry second lieutenants {{ILL|Giuseppe Silvati|it}} and {{Ill|Michele Morelli|it}} (the latter from Calabria), marched with their regiments from [[Nola]] to force Ferdinand I to grant the Constitution, gathering numerous supporters along the road to Naples. The ruler had to give in to popular pressure and grant the constitutional charter, but the liberal experiment was short-lived, as Austrian troops, secretly called to the rescue by Ferdinand himself, crushed the Neapolitan Carbonari uprisings. The main leaders of the revolutionary uprising, Morelli and Silvati, were sentenced to death and hanged in September 1822.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

After the death of Ferdinand I in 1825 and the brief reign of his son [[Francis I of the Two Sicilies|Francis I]], the 20-year-old [[Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies|Ferdinand II]], son of Francis I, ascended the throne in 1830; after granting some partial economic and administrative reforms (cutting the civil list, abolishing some unnecessary court expenses, reducing ministers' salaries, recalling former Murattian officers into the army, reorganizing the army), the new ruler, however, did not grant those political and institutional reforms so eagerly awaited by the liberals, instead propping up the police regime established by his predecessors and crushing any hint of political revolt. However, unlike his father and grandfather, Ferdinand II was aware of the conditions in the outlying provinces of his kingdom and therefore decided to make several official trips to visit them: the first of these began on April 7, 1833, when the king, departing from Naples, arrived in Calabria, after passing through [[Sala Consilina]] and [[Lagonegro]]. On April 11 he was in Castrovillari, passed quickly through Cosenza and Monteleone, visited [[Tropea]], [[Nicotera]], [[Bagnara Calabra|Bagnara]] and Reggio Calabria, from where he embarked for Messina. After a few days King Ferdinand II returned to Bagnara and then went to visit the Mongiana ironworks; on April 23 he stopped in Catanzaro, then traveled along the Ionian coast and went to Taranto and [[Lecce]], traveled through Capitanata, the {{ILL|Principato Ultra|it}} and finally returned to the capital on May 6. During his visit the Bourbon ruler did many useful things: he granted pardons, decreed bridges and roads, corrected some arbitrary actions of public administrators and bestowed substantial relief to earthquake victims who had lost everything in the March 8, 1832 earthquake that occurred in the Crati and Coraci basin.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Visalli |first=Vittorio |title=I Calabresi nel Risorgimento italiano. Storia documentata delle rivoluzioni calabresi dal 1799 al 1862 |publisher=Walter Brenner Editore |year=1989 |volume=II |language=it |trans-title=Calabrians in the Italian Risorgimento. Documented history of Calabrian revolutions from 1799 to 1862.}}</ref>

In the years that followed, before the outbreak of the [[revolutions of 1848]], Calabria was the scene of numerous insurrectional uprisings of the liberal and [[Giuseppe Mazzini|Mazzinian]] kind, all of which were suppressed by the Bourbon regime. The protagonists were both patriots from other parts of Italy, such as the Venetian [[Bandiera brothers]], who had arrived in 1844 to lend support to the aborted Cosenza revolt, only to be betrayed by one of their comrades and captured by the Bourbon gendarmerie, which shot them in August of that year in [[Rovito]] after a summary trial, and Calabrians such as the {{ILL|Five Martyrs of Gerace|it|Rivolta di Gerace}} ({{ILL|Michele Bello|it}}, {{ILL|Pietro Mazzoni|it}}, {{ILL|Gaetano Ruffo|it}}, {{ILL|Domenico Salvadori|it}} and [[Rocco Verduci]]), who in 1847 tried to make the [[Gerace]] district rise up as part of the Mazzinian uprising in Reggio Calabria and Messina on Sept. 2, 1847, being shot after the suppression of the liberal uprising.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" /> 

When King Ferdinand II was forced to grant a liberal constitution in January 1848 after numerous popular demonstrations to that effect, many southern liberals viewed the change of government with sincere interest, so much so that many of them were elected in the April parliamentary elections. But the ruler had no plans to abide by the constitutional charter: on May 5, 1848, in a coup d'état, he dissolved Parliament and also had Naples, which had rebelled, bombed, causing more than 1,000 deaths among the commoners. At this news, insurrectional committees arose in Calabria to resist Bourbon repression, the most organized of which were from Cosenza and Catanzaro, which called together arms, funds and volunteers to resist the Bourbon army. Despite their efforts, because of divisions over how to conduct military operations, the Calabrian insurgents in June were dispersed by the arrival of 5,000 Bourbon soldiers under the command of Generals Nunziante and Busacca. After the defeat, political repression followed, manifested in death sentences or life in prison (some in absentia) of the major leaders of the uprisings.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

This caused the final rift between the Bourbon monarchy and the liberal bourgeoisie, stricken and decimated by arrests and persecutions, which would soon join the Italian unified cause. And it was counting on this connection that [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] would manage to land on the Calabrian coast, at [[Melito di Porto Salvo]], on August 19, 1860, after conquering Sicily. Backing the Garibaldi volunteers would be the Calabrian insurgents led by {{ILL|Agostino Plutino|it}} from Reggio, thanks to whom, on August 21, with the {{ILL|Battle of Piazza Duomo|it|Battaglia di Piazza Duomo}}, he managed to conquer the city of Reggio Calabria. Then, after managing to disarm as many as 12,000 of Colonel Vial's men at [[Soveria Mannelli]], Garibaldi's army marched on Naples, where Garibaldi entered on September 6, triumphantly welcomed by the population. Finally, after the victorious [[Battle of the Volturno]] (Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 1860), by which the Bourbon reconquest of Naples was averted, the {{ILL|Meeting of Teano|it}} between Garibaldi and King [[Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy]] took place on Oct. 26, 1860, and after issuing a proclamation to his new southern subjects, he had the Mezzogiorno annexed to his crown.<ref name=":7" />

On 19 August 1860, Calabria was invaded from Sicily by [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] and his Redshirts as part of the [[Expedition of the Thousand]].<ref name="Alfred Knopf">{{cite book |last1=Norwich |first1=John Julius |title=The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean |date=2007 |publisher=Alfred Knopf |location=New York |isbn=978-0307387721 |page=xxvii}}</ref> Through King Francesco II of Naples had dispatched 16,000 soldiers to stop the Redshirts, who numbered about 3,500, after a token battle at Reggio Calabria won by the Redshirts, all resistance ceased and Garibaldi was welcomed as a liberator from the oppressive rule of the Bourbons wherever he went in Calabria.<ref name="Alfred Knopf" /> Calabria together with the rest of the Kingdom of Naples was incorporated in 1861 into the Kingdom of Italy. Garibaldi planned to complete the ''Risorgimento'' by invading Rome, still ruled by the pope protected by a French garrison, and began with semi-official encouragement to raise an army.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |title=Italy and Its Monarchy |date=1989 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0300051328 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack/page/12 12-13] |url=https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack}}</ref> Subsequently, King Victor Emmanuel II decided the possibility of war with France was too dangerous, and on 29 August 1862 Garibaldi's base in the Calabrian town of [[Aspromonte]] was attacked by the ''Regio Esercito''.<ref name="Italy and Its Monarchy">{{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |title=Italy and Its Monarchy |date=1989 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0300051328 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack/page/14 14] |url=https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack}}</ref> The [[Battle of Aspromonte]] ended with the Redshirts defeated with several being executed after surrendering while Garibaldi was badly wounded.<ref name="Italy and Its Monarchy" />

With the plebiscite of October 21, 1860, Calabria, along with the other southern provinces, became part of the [[Kingdom of Sardinia]]: consequently, new political elections were called to allow the newly annexed territories to have representation in Parliament. The round of elections was held on January 27, 1861, while the new Parliament was inaugurated in [[Turin]] on February 18 of the same year: the first and most important measure of the new assembly was the founding of the new Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed on March 17, 1861 with Victor Emmanuel II as constitutional king. However, the way of voting between the plebiscite and the parliamentary elections was very different: in fact, if in 1860 all male citizens who were at least 21 years of age and in possession of civil rights had been able to vote, the next round of elections was governed by the Piedmontese electoral law, which was census-based and provided for voting only for male citizens who were at least 25 years of age, able to read and write and who paid at least 40 liras in taxes. This allowed, thanks to a very narrow electorate, many members of the aristocratic and upper middle class, to which many Calabrian patriots also belonged, such as {{ILL|Francesco Stocco|it}}and the brothers {{ILL|Antonino Plutino|it}} and {{ILL|Agostino Plutino|it}}, who militated in the major political groupings of the time: the historical [[Right-wing politics|Right]], of liberal and conservative tendencies, and the historical [[Left-wing politics|Left]], of progressive and democratic ideas.<ref name=":39">{{Cite book |last=Caligiuri |first=Mario |title=Breve storia della Calabria. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri |publisher=Newton & Compton |year=1996 |isbn=88-8183-479-0 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Brief history of Calabria. From its origins to the present day}}</ref><ref name=":64">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>

{{Multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| total_width       = 325
| image1            = Ferrocalabria1885.JPG
| image2            = Rete calabra 1915.JPG
| header            = Map of Calabrian railways in 1885 (top) and in 1915 (bottom)
}}

The political clash between Right and Left was focused particularly on how to complete the [[Unification of Italy]], which still lacked Venice and Rome: the moderates wanted national completion through diplomatic agreements and the mediation of France, the country's historical ally, while the Democrats were more inclined to armed interventions by the Italian army to liberate those territories with the consent of the local populations. This diversity of views can find a tangible depiction in 1862, when the [[Battle of Aspromonte]] took place, that is, Giuseppe Garibaldi's attempt to repeat the [[Expedition of the Thousand]], starting from Sicily and moving toward Rome to take it away from the pope and hand it over to the Kingdom of Italy. [[Urbano Rattazzi]], head of the historical Left, who had become after [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour|Cavour]]'s death the most influential politician in the Kingdom, as he enjoyed the confidence of the sovereign, was in government at that time. When Garibaldi went to Sicily in the summer of 1862, enthusiastically welcomed by the population, the government basically let it slide, perhaps knowing of his real intentions to liberate Rome; when, however, [[Napoleon III]], a great protector of [[Pope Pius IX]], threatened to send a French expeditionary force to defend the temporal power of the Church, then both King Victor Emmanuel II and [[First Rattazzi government|Rattazzi]] ran for cover: the monarch issued a proclamation disavowing the Garibaldians' action, while the government mobilized the army to stop the general. After landing on August 25, 1862, at Melito di Porto Salvo at the head of 3,000 men, Garibaldi was met with gunfire from a military unit that had come out of Reggio: so the Garibaldini fell back to the mountainous massif of Aspromonte, where they marched for three days, encamping near [[Santo Stefano in Aspromonte|Gambarie]], in the territory of Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Montanelli |first1=Indro |title=Garibaldi |last2=Nozza |first2=Marco |publisher=Rizzoli |year=1982 |language=it}}</ref> Here, on August 29, Garibaldi's volunteers were attacked by a military column commanded by Colonel {{ILL|Emilio Pallavicini|it}}: after a brief firefight in which there were casualties on both sides (7 dead and 20 wounded for the Garibaldini, 5 dead and 23 wounded for the regular soldiers), Garibaldi, who wanted to avoid the clash, ordered a cease-fire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scirocco |first=Alfonso |title=Garibaldi. Battaglie, amori, ideali di un cittadino del mondo |publisher=Editori Laterza |year=2009 |language=it |trans-title=Garibaldi. Battles, loves, ideals of a citizen of the world.}}</ref> Also wounded in the left ankle bone, he surrendered to Pallavicini, who had him transported to Scilla and then to Paola, where he was embarked on a military ship, the {{ILL|pirofregata Duca di Genova|it}}, and transported to [[La Spezia]], where he was imprisoned in the [[Varignano]] fortress. Although he was later amnestied, the affair caused a political earthquake in Italy, culminating in Rattazzi's resignation as head of government and accusations against the King that he had deluded Garibaldi about the feasibility of carrying out the enterprise, only to abandon it when things got complicated.<ref name=":39" /><ref name=":64" />

In the early years of the new Kingdom, Calabria, too, was the scene of the [[Post-unification Italian brigandage|post-unification brigandage]], which, having always been endemic in the Mezzogiorno, was also connoted, in the transitional phase between the Bourbon and Italian kingdoms, by legitimist aspirations: in fact, local Bourbon legitimists and the government of [[Francis II of the Two Sicilies]] in exile in Rome, attempted to guide and coordinate the action of the various bands of brigands that raged in the South and that were especially hard on the exponents of the newly formed liberal regime (the “''galantuomini''”), often exponents of that agrarian bourgeoisie in search of social prestige that had always been invisible to the Bourbon dynasty. The {{ILL|Borjes Expedition|it}}, a Bourbon legitimist attempt to reconquer the Kingdom of Naples operated by [[José Borjes]], a Catalan general distinguished in the [[Carlist Wars|Carlist wars]] in Spain who thought he would succeed by imitating Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo's Sanfedist expedition sixty years earlier, must therefore be framed in this light. After receiving reassurance that the local population would support his cause, Borjes departed from [[Malta]] and landed in [[Brancaleone, Calabria|Brancaleone]] on September 14, 1861 with only 21 men, almost all Spanish: his goal was to make contact with the bands of brigands and unite them into one large army to reconquer all of the Neapolitan territory. To this end, he joined the band of {{ILL|Ferdinando Mittiga|it}}, a brigand chief operating in the area under the command of 120 men, but disagreements soon arose, because the brigand wanted to assault the town of [[Platì]] and take revenge on the local liberals, against the opinion of Borjes, who eventually had to give in. The assault took place on September 17 and was unsuccessful, as the brigands and legitimists were repelled by the National Guards and a regular army unit. This failure soon led to a break in the collaboration between the two commanders: on October 20 Borjes left Calabria to go to [[Basilicata]] and join his forces with those of [[Carmine Crocco]], thanks to whom he also achieved some partial successes, but did not achieve the final objective, as the brigand leader refused to turn his men into a regular army. Therefore, noting the failure of the plan, the [[Catalonia|Catalan]] general attempted to cross the border into the [[Papal States]] and travel to Rome to report to the Bourbon ruler, but he was captured in [[Tagliacozzo]] and immediately shot on December 8, 1861. The failure of Borjes' expedition, however, did not put an end to the phenomenon of brigandage, which continued in the Mezzogiorno with greater virulence: for this reason, the [[first Minghetti government]] on August 15, 1863 promulgated the {{ILL|Pica law|it}}, a regulation that, seeking to combat brigandage, suspended constitutional guarantees for the southern provinces, imposing a state of siege and entrusting captured brigands to the judgment of military tribunals, without the possibility of appeal or defense.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martucci |first=Roberto |title=Emergenza e tutela dell'ordine pubblico nell'Italia liberale |publisher=il Mulino |year=1980 |location=Bologna |language=it |trans-title=Emergency and the protection of law and order in liberal Italy}}</ref> As far as Calabria was concerned, the law was applied in the provinces of Calabria Citeriore and Calabria Ulteriore Seconda, while the Reggio area was exempted, as was the area around Naples and part of Apulia, as the situation in these territories was under control. The Pica law remained in force until December 31, 1865, and contributed to eradicating the phenomenon of banditry, albeit with repressive methods and without providing a substantial answer to the many social and economic problems of the southern territories.<ref name=":39" /><ref name=":64" />

An underlying issue was that of the [[latifundium]], which was in the hands of a few landowners who represented the economic and political elite of the place, forming the backbone of the southern political class. This also explains the widespread illiteracy, which peaked in the Mezzogiorno, where 90 percent of the population could neither read nor write. Even the extension to the entire Kingdom of the {{ILL|Casati Law|it}}, which introduced for the first time compulsory schooling for a maximum of two years, did not produce the hoped-for effects: the municipalities had to provide for the construction and maintenance of school buildings, as well as the recruitment and payment of elementary teachers, which was impossible for many southern municipalities, which did not build schools because they often had negative budgets orlacked the political will to start an effective school education system, as local leaders feared its potential and social claims. The same was true for the next school reform, the {{ILL|Coppino Law|it}} of 1877, which raised compulsory schooling to 9 years of age and granted low-interest loans to municipalities that built school buildings: southern municipalities, however, often did not get the work started, as they feared that the new school measure would make the peasant masses more aware of their rights, and thus local notables would lose their electoral clientele.<ref name=":39" /><ref name=":64" />

In national politics, there were numerous Calabrian politicians, often with a Risorgimento past behind them, who held important roles in the various Italian governments of that period: [[Giovanni Nicotera]], participant of the {{ILL|Sapri Expedition|it}} and comrade of [[Carlo Pisacane]], minister of the interior in the governments of [[Agostino Depretis]] and [[Antonio Starabba, Marchese di Rudinì|Antonio Di Rudinì]], who headed a Left political formation called the [[Pentarchy]] because it included the major leaders of the historical Left (Rudinì, [[Francesco Crispi]], [[Giuseppe Zanardelli]], {{ILL|Alfredo Baccarini|it}} and [[Benedetto Cairoli]]), hostile to Depretis' transformist policies; [[Luigi Miceli]], [[Giuseppe Mazzini|Mazzinian]] and Garibaldian, minister of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce in the [[third Cairoli government]]; [[Bernardino Grimaldi]], minister of Finance in the [[first Crispi government]] and the [[first Giolitti government]], culminated in the 1893 [[Banca Romana scandal|Banca Romana Scandal]].<ref name=":39" /><ref name=":64" />

During the 1880s, the economic conditions of the Mezzogiorno worsened, and its agricultural economy was severely damaged by the customs war that began between Italy and France in 1889: in fact, to protect its fragile industrial fabric, the Italian government raised import duties on foreign goods, to which France responded by shutting down imports of Italian agricultural goods, sending many southern farms into ruin. This, combined with the severe economic repression of those years, stimulated the phenomenon of emigration, especially to America, a fact that, while it decreased the demand for labor, left entire regions and countries depopulated and deprived these territories of their best energies. A case in point is [[Castrovillari]] and its surrounding area, which in 1901 recorded a decrease of 7,190 people due to transoceanic emigration.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stancati |first=Enzo |title=Cosenza e la sua provincia dall'Unità al Fascismo |publisher=Pellegrini editore |year=1988 |location=Cosenza |language=it |trans-title=Cosenza and its province from Unification to Fascism}}</ref>

In the newly unified Kingdom of Italy, there were significant differences in level of economic development between the ''Nord'' (north) of Italy and the ''Mezzogiorno'' (the south of Italy). Calabria together with the rest of the ''Mezzogiorno'' was neglected under the Kingdom of Italy with the general feeling in Rome being that the region was hopelessly backward and poor. In the late 19th century about 70% of the population of the ''Mezzogiorno'' were illiterate as the government never invested in education for the south.<ref name="archive.org">{{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |title=Italy and Its Monarchy |date=1989 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0300051328 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack/page/165 165] |url=https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack}}</ref> Owing to the [[Roman Question]], until 1903 the Roman Catholic Church had prohibited on the pain of excommunication Catholic men from voting in Italian elections (Italian women were not granted the right to vote until 1946).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |title=Italy and Its Monarchy |date=1989 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0300051328 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack/page/165 165-166] |url=https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack}}</ref> As the devoutly Catholic population of Calabria tended to boycott elections, the deputies who were elected from the region were the products of the clientistic system, representing the interests of the land-owning aristocracy. In common with the deputies from other regions of the ''Mezzogiorno'', they voted against more money for education under the grounds that an educated population would demand changes that would threaten the power of the traditional elite.<ref name="archive.org"/> Owing to a weak state, society in Calabria came to be dominated in the late 19th century by an organized crime group known as [['Ndrangheta]] which, like the Mafia in Sicily and the Camorra in Campania, formed a "parallel state" that co-existed alongside the Italian state.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sergi |first1=Anna |last2=Lavorgna |first2=Anita |title='Ndrangheta: The Glocal Dimensions of the Most Powerful Italian Mafia |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-3319325859 |pages=13–15}}</ref> Between 1901 and 1914 Calabrians began emigrating in large numbers, mostly for North America and South America, with the peak year being 1905 with 62,690.<ref name="Palgrave Macmillan">{{cite book |last1=Sergi |first1=Anna |last2=Lavorgna |first2=Anita |title='Ndrangheta: The Glocal Dimensions of the Most Powerful Italian Mafia |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-3319325859 |pages=55}}</ref> 

On 28 December 1908, Calabria together with Sicily was devastated by an [[1908 Messina earthquake|earthquake and then by a tsunami]] caused by the earthquake, causing about 80,000 deaths.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |title=Italy and Its Monarchy |date=1989 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0300051328 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack/page/181 181] |url=https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack}}</ref> Within hours of the disaster, ships of the [[British Natives|British]] and Russian navies had arrived on the coast to assist the survivors, but it took the ''Regia Marina'' two days to send a relief expedition from Naples.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The bumbling and ineffectual response of the Italian authorities to the disaster caused by feuding officials who did not wish to co-operate with each other contributed to the high death toll as it took weeks for aid to reach some villages and caused much resentment in Calabria.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> To offset widespread criticism that the northern-dominated government in Rome did not care about the people of Calabria, King [[Victor Emmanuel III]] personally took over the relief operation and toured the destroyed villages of Calabria, which won the House of Savoy a measure of popularity in the region.<ref name="181-182">{{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |title=Italy and Its Monarchy |date=1989 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0300051328 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack/page/181 181-182] |url=https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack}}</ref> Most notably, after the king took charge of the relief efforts, the feuding between officials ceased and relief aid was delivered with considerably more efficiency, winning Victor Emmanuel the gratitude of the Calabrians.<ref name="181-182"/>  

=== World War I and the rise of fascism ===
[[File:64a_Divisione_Fanteria_Catanzaro.png|thumb|upright|Coat of arms of the 64th Infantry Division “Catanzaro”]]
The outbreak of [[World War I]] saw Calabria participate in Italy's war effort with the establishment of five brigades, the most famous of which was the {{ILL|Catanzaro Brigade|it}}, formed by two regiments (the 141st and 142nd) and composed almost exclusively of Calabrian soldiers, one of the military units most committed and exploited by the [[Royal Italian Army|Royal Army]] in the war against [[Austria-Hungary]]. Framed in the Third Army under the command of the [[Duke of Aosta]], the king's cousin, it participated in the [[Third Battle of the Isonzo]], where, on [[Monte San Michele]], between October 17 and 26, 1915, it lost almost half of its personnel (about 6,000 men).<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Mark |title=La guerra bianca. Vita e morte sul fronte italiano 1915-1919 |publisher=Il Saggiatore |year=2009 |language=it |trans-title=The White War. Life and death on the Italian front 1915-1919.}}</ref> In addition, during the [[Battle of Asiago|Strafexpedition]] of June 1916, the 141st Brigade Regiment lost 38 percent of its components, with 333 casualties.<ref>Army General Staff Historical Office, Historical Diary 141st Infantry Regiment, Exhibit B-1 Rec. 136D 1213f (1.12.1915-30.11.1916), Army General Staff Historical Office Archives</ref>
[[File:DC-1916-24-d-Mosciagh.jpg|left|thumb|Cover of ''[[La Domenica del Corriere]]'' dedicated to the Catanzaro Brigade]]
In addition to being one of the most committed Italian military units decorated for valor during the conflict, the Catanzaro Brigade was also the first to trigger the only episode of open rebellion on the Italian front, which occurred in June 1917: the cause was the order to return immediately to the trenches despite the fact that the Calabrian soldiers had just been sent to the rear for a rest period. Many soldiers from some companies of the 142nd Regiment began a revolt against the officers, killing three of them along with four carabinieri.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rossi |first=Marco |title=Gli ammutinati delle trincee |publisher=BFS edizioni |year=2014 |location=Pisa |language=it |trans-title=The mutineers of the trenches}}</ref> Having quelled the rebellion with the help of departments of cavalry, mobile artillery and carabinieri, the General Staff decided on the decimation of the Brigade, as a warning for possible uprisings: 28 soldiers were thus shot, while the survivors were sent back to the front line under armed escort.<ref name=":8" /> The Duke of Aosta, commanding general of the Brigade, sought the causes of the rebellion in the period of prolonged service on the [[Karst Plateau]] and the unequal treatment with other brigades, which enjoyed easier rest shifts; of a different opinion was the report of General Tettoni, commander of VII Army Corps, who blamed the origin of the uprising on socialist propaganda among the troops and newspaper reports of the recent defeat in [[Russia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Melograni |first=Piero |title=Storia politica della Grande Guerra 1915-1918 |trans-title=Political history of the Great War 1915-1918 |journal=Mondadori |language=it |issue=5}}</ref>

After the conclusion of the conflict with the [[armistice of Villa Giusti]] on November 3, 1918, the demobilization of the ex-combatants, mostly of peasant extraction, to whom, during the war, had been promised the allocation of land derived from the fractionation of large estates, began. The lack of political will in the implementation of this promise, together with creeping nationalistic tensions in the country due to the [[Rijeka|Fiume]] and [[Dalmatia|Dalmatian]] question, generated in Italy a climate of resentment and social unrest, which turned into strikes, nationalistic anti-government demonstrations and occupations of uncultivated land by the peasants in revolt, often organized in leagues or federations of different political coloring. For these reasons, on Sept. 2, 1919, the Italian government, headed by Francesco Saverio Nitti, issued the {{ILL|Visocchi Decree|it}} (named after the Minister of Agriculture, {{ILL|Achille Visocchi|it}}), which gave prefects the power to temporarily assign uncultivated land for a period of four years to peasants formed in legally constituted leagues or agrarian bodies. A permit issued by a committee composed equally of peasant and landowner representatives, under prefectorial control, was required to obtain the land assignment, which also stipulated the duration of occupation and the rental price to be paid by the peasants to the landowner. However, seven months after the decree was passed, the land redistribution had very limited effects: it is estimated that only 27,000 hectares were allocated: many scholars have argued that the government measure was not intended to revive agricultural production, but rather to provide a pardon for the numerous occupations of uncultivated land by peasants.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cordova |first=Ferdinando |title=Il fascismo nel Mezzogiorno: le Calabrie |publisher=Soveria Mannelli |year=2003 |location=Rubbettino |language=it |trans-title=Fascism in the Mezzogiorno: the Calabrias}}</ref> The Visocchi Decree was widely criticized by both conservatives and socialists: [[Arrigo Serpieri]], later minister of agriculture in the [[Fascist Italy|Fascist]] period, judged the measure “one of the most infamous of the postwar period”,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Serpieri |first=Arrigo |title=La guerra e la classe rurale italiana |year=1930 |language=it |trans-title=War and the Italian rural class}}</ref> while socialist [[Filippo Turati]] deemed it too “timid”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Degl'Innocenti |first=Maurizio |title=Filippo Turati e il socialismo europeo |publisher=Guida Editori |year=1985 |location=Naples |language=it |trans-title=Filippo Turati and European socialism}}</ref>

The 1920 parliamentary elections saw the affirmation of nationalist candidates, elected thanks to the decisive support of ex-combatants (Saraceni himself would be beaten in his Castrovillari constituency in favor of the candidate supported by veterans from the front), while the [[Italian Socialist Party]], while becoming the country's leading political force with as many as 156 deputies in Parliament, found itself internally divided between the maximalist current, advocating anti-bourgeois revolution, and the reformist current, in favor of dialogue with the government to push forward social reforms. This irreconcilable opposition led first to the expulsion of the reformists, such as Turati and Bissolati (who would go on to found the [[Unitary Socialist Party (Italy, 1922)|Unitary Socialist Party]]), then to the split that took place at the [[XVII Congress of the Italian Socialist Party|Livorno Congress]] in 1921, a fact that led to the birth of the [[Communist Party of Italy (Marxist–Leninist)|Communist Party of Italy]] (which later evolved into the [[Italian Communist Party]]). In the same year the [[National Fascist Party]] was officially founded by [[Benito Mussolini]], a former socialist expelled from the party for his interventionist positions on the eve of World War I, from an evolution of the earlier [[Fasci Italiani di Combattimento|Fasci di Combattimento]], founded in [[Milan]] in 1919 on the basis of an initially revolutionary and nationalist program. The aversion to socialism took concrete form in the assault by the fascist squads, the armed wing of the movement, on newspapers, cooperatives and party headquarters, whose exponents were truncheoned and forced to drink a strong purgative, castor oil. The squadrism was immediately financed by the large industrial groups and agrarians, fearful of a possible [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] revolution in Italy, in the wake of the so-called ''[[Biennio Rosso|biennio rosso]]'', and was often not countered by the police, who on more than one occasion sided with the fascists.<ref name=":65">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>

In Calabria, too, the actions of fascist squads left their mark: on September 21, 1922, in [[Casignana]], a small town in [[Aspromonte]], [[carabinieri]] and fascists opened fire on laborers from the “Garibaldi” agricultural cooperative, who had organized an occupation of land owned by the prince of [[Roccella Ionica|Roccella]], killing the socialist alderman Pasquale Micchia and two peasants, Rosario Conturno and Girolamo Panetta, while the mayor Francesco Ceravolo was seriously wounded; this massacre ended the occupation.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Franzinelli |first=Mimmo |title=Squadristi. Protagonisti e tecniche della violenza fascista 1919-1922 |publisher=Mondadori |year=2003 |location=Milan |language=it |trans-title=Squadrists. Protagonists and techniques of fascist violence 1919-1922.}}</ref> Subsequently, on October 4, 1922, at the inauguration of the Casignana Fascio, which was also attended by [[Giuseppe Bottai]], shots were fired, while a rifle shot wounded a fascist who was part of his entourage in the arm. In retaliation, the squadrists ravaged the house of the president of the “Garibaldi” cooperative, while the Carabinieri arrested a dozen antifascists.<ref name=":9" /> These events freely inspired writer {{ILL|Mario La Cava|it}} for his novel, The Facts of Casignana.<ref>{{Cite book |last=La Cava |first=Mario |title=I fatti di Casignana |publisher=Einaudi |year=1974 |location=Turin |language=it |trans-title=The facts of Casignana}}</ref>

The penetration of fascism into Calabrian society was similar to that which took place in the rest of the country: in the city areas, the promoters of the fasces were the merchants and industrialists, who procured the support of the forces of law and order for the squadracce; in the rural areas, on the other hand, the backbone of fascism was represented by the large landowners and village notables, who decided to join the new party in order to weaken the “red” organizations and to maintain their socioeconomic position.<ref name=":66">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>
[[File:Naples_Fascist_rally_on_24_October_1922_(2).jpg|left|thumb|[[Italo Balbo]], [[Benito Mussolini]], [[Cesare Maria De Vecchi|Cesare Maria de Vecchi]] and [[Michele Bianchi]] review the 40,000 fascists deployed at the Naples sports field.]]
After fascism came to power with the [[March on Rome]] on Oct. 28, 1922, the establishment of a centralized dictatorial regime began in the southern region as well, strengthened after the assassination of socialist deputy [[Giacomo Matteotti]] in 1924 and concretized with the “''Leggi fascistissime''” of 1925-1926, which outlawed political parties except for the fascist party, censored the press, and banned trade union organizations and strikes. In addition, administratively, the electivity of municipal mayors was abolished, replaced by [[podestà]], appointed directly by the prefect, with absolute powers in the political and economic management of the municipality.<ref name=":66" />

During this period, the most representative Calabrian political personality was [[Michele Bianchi]], a native of [[Belmonte Calabro]], who was a close associate of Mussolini and quadrumviral of the 1922 March on Rome, in addition to holding the posts of deputy, undersecretary at the Ministry of the Interior and, finally, minister of Public Works. In this capacity, which he held until his death in 1930, he had a number of infrastructures built in Calabria, such as the [[Camigliatello Silano]] ski resort (initially called Camigliatello Bianchi), as well as promoting public works in Cosenza during the period when {{ILL|Tommaso Arnoni|it}} was mayor (1925-1934).<ref name=":66" />

In December 1924 when a false rumor spread in [[Reggio Calabria]] that [[Benito Mussolini]] had resigned as Prime Minister because of the Matteotti affair, joyous celebrations took place in the city that lasted all night.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mack Smith |first1=Denis |title=Italy and Its Monarchy |date=1989 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0300051328 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack/page/260 260-261] |url=https://archive.org/details/italyitsmonarchy0000mack}}</ref> In the morning, the people of Reggio Calabria learned that Mussolini was still prime minister, but several Fascist officials were dismissed for not suppressing the celebrations. The landed aristocracy and gentry of Calabria, through generally not ideologically committed to Fascism, saw the Fascist regime as a force for order and social stability, and supported the dictatorship.<ref name="Dunnage 1999 38">{{cite book |last=Dunnage |first=Jonathan |editor-last1=Dunnagee |editor-first1=Jonathan |title=After the War: Violence, Justice, Continuity and Renewal in Italian Society |publisher=Troubador Publishing |location=Leicester |date=1999 |pages=38 |chapter=Politics and Policing in the Southern Italian Community |isbn=1899293566}}</ref> Likewise, the prefects and the policemen of Calabria were conservatives who saw themselves as serving King Victor Emmanuel III first and Mussolini second, but supported Fascism as preferable to Socialism and Communism and persecuted anti-Fascists.<ref name="Dunnage 1999 38" /> Traditional elites in Calabria joined the Fascist Party to pursue their own interests, and local branches of Fascist Party were characterized by much jostling for power and influence between elite families.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dunnage |first=Jonathan |editor-last1=Dunnagee |editor-first1=Jonathan |title=After the War: Violence, Justice, Continuity and Renewal in Italian Society |publisher=Troubador Publishing |location=Leicester |date=1999 |pages=369–37 |chapter=Politics and Policing in the Southern Italian Community |isbn=1899293566}}</ref> 

In spite of this, conditions in Calabria under the Fascist regime had not improved, as evidenced by the surveys conducted by [[Meridionalism|meridionalists]] (and [[Anti-fascism|antifascists]]) [[Umberto Zanotti Bianco]] and {{ILL|Manlio Rossi Doria|it}} in 1928 and reported in the work ''{{ILL|Tra la perduta gente|it}}'', where they analyze the social and economic conditions of [[Africo]], a small village in Aspromonte: nestled on houses ruined by the previous 1908 earthquake and geographically isolated, it was plagued by disease, high infant mortality and indiscriminate taxation, lacking a doctor and school (classes were held in the teacher's bedroom), while the inhabitants ate bread made from lentils and chickpeas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zanotti Bianco |first=Umberto |title=Tra la perduta gente |publisher=Soveria Mannelli |year=2009 |location=Rubbettino |language=it |trans-title=Among the lost people}}</ref>

Despite the government's desire to maintain the “rural” character of the country, with the introduction of restrictions and disincentives to peasants and laborers to move to the city, urban areas also experienced development, as demonstrated by the ''{{ILL|Grande Reggio|it}}'' project, that is, the idea of urban expansion and amalgamation strongly desired by the first Reggio podestà, {{ILL|Giuseppe Genoese Zerbi|it}}, who succeeded in obtaining the merger to the city on the Strait of as many as fourteen neighboring municipalities and suburbs, such as [[Catona]], Gallico, {{ILL|Ortì|it}}, [[Podargoni|Podàrgoni]], {{ILL|Mosorrofa|it}}, Gallina, [[Pellaro]], {{ILL|Cannitello|it}}, [[Villa San Giovanni]], [[Campo Calabro]], and [[Fiumara]]; the last four, by government decree of January 26, 1933, broke away to form the municipality of Villa San Giovanni (Campo Calabro and Fiumara became autonomous again after the war). The urban population thus exceeded 100,000. The reasons for this conurbation were many: there was a desire to speed up the post-earthquake reconstruction that the war had blocked, to make trade and communication by sea easier because of the city's expansion along the coast, and to entice emigration from small mountain towns into a single large urban center. Moreover, between the 1920s and 1930s Reggio Calabria was modernized with the construction of new neighborhoods: in fact, social housing districts sprang up and several public facilities such as the new [[Reggio di Calabria Centrale railway station]], the [[Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia|National Museum of Magna Graecia]] and the {{ILL|Francesco Cilea Municipal Theater|it|5=Teatro Comunale Francesco Cilea}} were built. Other cities also benefited from the building policy of the Fascist regime: in fact, through the work of Minister of Public Works [[Luigi Razza]], the town of Monteleone di Calabria (renamed by royal decree Vibo Valentia, a name it still retains today), his place of origin, had a new municipal palace, inaugurated in 1935; after his death in the same year from a plane crash, his town paid tribute to him with a bronze statue, the work of sculptor Francesco Longo, inaugurated by the Duce himself in 1939. Vibo Valentia also named its military airport, stadium, a square and a street in the historic center after Luigi Razza.<ref name=":67">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>

As with the rest of Italy, Calabria's period of maximum support for fascism occurred with the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] of 1935-1936, in which many Calabrians participated, thus providing momentary relief to the prevailing misery in the region with remittances from volunteers to their families. Many members of the Calabrian high clergy also supported the colonial war in [[Africa]], marking the pinnacle of collaboration between Church and State in the aftermath of the [[Lateran Treaty|Lateran Pacts]] of 1929: for example, the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova|Archbishop of Reggio Calabria]], [[Carmelo Pujia (bishop)|Carmelo Pujia]], already an interventionist on the eve of World War, had a prayer composed praising the glory of the homeland and the Italian flag.<ref name=":67" />

Under the Fascist regime, several concentration camps were built in Calabria and used to imprison foreigners whose presence in Italy was considered undesirable, such as Chinese immigrants and foreign [[Jews]] (though not [[Italian Jews]]) together with members of the [[Romani people|Romani]] minority, whose nomadic lifestyle was viewed as anti-social.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Capogreco |first1=Carlo Spartaco |title=Mussolini's Camps: Civilian Internment in Fascist Italy (1940–1943) |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1138333086 |pages=77–78}}</ref> The camps which operated from 1938 to 1943 were not death camps, and the majority of those imprisoned survived, but conditions were harsh for the imprisoned.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Capogreco |first1=Carlo Spartaco |title=Mussolini's Camps: Civilian Internment in Fascist Italy (1940–1943) |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1138333086 |pages=77–79}}</ref>

On June 10, 1940, with Italy's declaration of war on France and the [[United Kingdom]], Calabria also found itself involved in the events of World War II: the civilian population suffered from the first period of the war from starvation and undernourishment, due to the lack of labor, low wages and the increase in basic necessities, which were already scarce and rationed, while other foodstuffs, such as meat and sugar, could only be found on the black market, at triple the price. This was also taken advantage of by the large landowners, who, taking advantage of the wartime period, ambushed part of the crops, which were destined for storage, later reselling them on the black market. Allied aerial bombardments also sapped the morale of civilians, sometimes even claiming some excellent victims: on January 31, 1943, the archbishop of Reggio Calabria, {{ILL|Enrico Montalbetti|it}}, was one of 11 people killed during an strafing run by an Allied fighter-bomber while Montalbetti was on a pastoral visit to Melito di Porto Salvo.<ref name=":68">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref>

On 3 September 1943, British and Canadian troops of the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|Eighth Army]] landed in Calabria in [[Operation Baytown]], marking the first time that the Allies landed on the mainland of Italy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Weinberg |first1=Gerhard |title=A World in Arms |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-61826-7 |pages=599–600}}</ref> However, the landings in Calabria were a feint and the main Allied blow came on 8 September 1943 with the landing of the American 5th Army at [[Salerno]] in Campania that was intended to cut off Axis forces in the ''Mezzogiorno''.<ref name="A World in Arms">{{cite book |last1=Weinberg |first1=Gerhard |title=A World in Arms |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-61826-7 |pages=600}}</ref> The Germans anticipated that the Allies would land at Salerno, and as a consequence, there was relatively little fighting in Calabria.<ref name="A World in Arms" /> The Italian troops in Calabria mostly surrendered to the advancing British [[5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|5th Infantry Division]] and [[1st Canadian Division]] while there were relatively few German forces in the region to oppose their advance.<ref name="A World in Arms" /> The main obstacle to the advancing Anglo-Canadian troops turned out to be the trail of destruction left by German combat engineers who systematically blew up bridges and destroyed roads and railroads as the Wehrmacht retreated north.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murray |first1=Williamson |last2=Millet |first2=Alan |title=War to be Won |date=2000 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-674-00163-X |page=[https://archive.org/details/wartobewonfighti00murr_1/page/378 378] |url=https://archive.org/details/wartobewonfighti00murr_1}}</ref> On the same day the Americans landed at Salerno, General [[Dwight Eisenhower]] announced on the radio the [[Armistice of Cassibile]] that had been signed on 3 September, and with the announcement of the armistice all Italian resistance ceased.<ref name="A World in Arms" /> The Germans committed most of their forces in the ''Mezzogiorno'' to the Battle of Salerno with the aim of driving the Allies back into the sea and pulled their remaining forces out of Calabria to send them to Salerno.<ref name="A World in Arms" /> Under the Allied occupation, some Fascists in Calabria waged a terrorist struggle on behalf of the Salo republic, though significantly many of the Fascists tended to be from well-off families concerned about the possibility of social reforms that might weaken their power and only a minority such as Prince Valerio Pignatelli were ideological Fascists.<ref name="Dunnage 1999 39">{{cite book |last=Dunnage |first=Jonathan |editor-last1=Dunnagee |editor-first1=Jonathan |title=After the War: Violence, Justice, Continuity and Renewal in Italian Society |publisher=Troubador Publishing |location=Leicester |date=1999 |pages=39 |chapter=Politics and Policing in the Southern Italian Community |isbn=1899293566}}</ref> In June 1944, celebrations in Reggio Calabria over the news of the liberation of Rome were disturbed by local Fascists.<ref name="Dunnage 1999 39" /> 

Calabria liberated by the Allied troops was marked by a high economic depression,<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Sergi |first=Pantaleone |url=http://digital.casalini.it/9788867286485 |title=1943: Mediterraneo e Mezzogiorno d'Italia |publisher=I libri di Viella |year=2015 |isbn=9788867286485 |editor-last=Soverina |editor-first=Francesco |language=it |trans-title=1943: Mediterranean and Southern Italy |chapter=La Calabria liberata. Tra ripresa democratica e dinamiche conservatrici |trans-chapter=Liberated Calabria. Between democratic recovery and conservative dynamics |chapter-url=https://www.icsaicstoria.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sergi_Calabria_liberata-2.pdf}}</ref> caused by an extremely backward agricultural sector, an industry in its “infantile state,” sparsely spread and crippled by the long and catastrophic conflict (the power plants in Sila were safe even if “the mass of electricity is partly transported elsewhere” as in the Fascist period), civil infrastructures, such as roads and aqueducts in themselves shoddy and insufficient, which had always connoted the backward degree of development and now appeared even more reduced and precarious due to the war outcomes.<ref name=":10" /> And finally, to seal the disaster, a territory completely disjointed by the violence anyway suffered, far from the front and yet battered first by Allied bombs and then by the destruction of the retreating Germans.<ref name=":10" /> The Allies themselves, faced with the gravity of the situation and general disorientation, were perplexed about the possibility of recovery. In a report to General [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Harold Alexander]], the head of Civil Affairs of the [[Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories|Allied military government]], the English Major General [[Francis Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell|Francis Rennell Rodd]], even fearing a resurgence of brigandage, manifested how difficult it was to “govern a discouraged and apathetic population,” with an “incompetent bureaucracy”.<ref name=":10" /> This misery spurred masses of the dispossessed into action, exacerbating social tensions and leading, with revolutionary effect, to the ultimate crisis of late-feudalism formed by reactionary classes clinging to parasitic rents that kept the land imprisoned and blocked its development.<ref name=":10" />

The Allied military government worked to restart political and administrative life without, however, changing the scaffolding of the Fascist state.<ref name=":10" /> The crowds in front of town halls perhaps demanded only a “bureaucratic rip-off” of the bread card, a food support.<ref name=":10" /> The demonstrations, however, showed increasingly sharp and marked political thrusts. Increasingly they were led by communist and socialist agitators and expressed anti-fascist motives.<ref name=":10" /> Many times these demonstrations degraded into full-fledged riots, becoming violent and resulting in the deaths of several people. The first uprising in Calabria occurred on the morning of September 9 in [[Limbadi]], which quickly turned the newly liberated town into a battlefield, but without causing any deaths. Like a wave, many of the towns liberated by Allied forces revolted against their mayors and municipal secretaries.<ref name=":10" /> The best known is the November 4 insurrection in Cosenza, initially motivated by hunger and the housing crisis, which quickly turned into a political struggle to remove the Fascist mayor {{ILL|Enrico Hendrich|it}}, who was ousted by popular vote.<ref name=":10" />

The fall of fascism and the entry of Allied troops into Calabria also allowed the rebirth of a critical and conscious public opinion in the region, thanks in part to the coming out of hiding of the anti-fascist parties, such as the [[Italian Socialist Party]], the Italian Communist Party and the [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]], a Catholic-inspired political organization founded in 1942 in semi-clandestinity and heir to [[Luigi Sturzo|Don Luigi Sturzo]]'s [[Italian People's Party (1919)|Italian People's Party]], each with its own newspapers and political headquarters.<ref name=":69">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":102">{{Cite book |last=Sergi |first=Pantaleone |url=http://digital.casalini.it/9788867286485 |title=1943: Mediterraneo e Mezzogiorno d'Italia |publisher=I libri di Viella |year=2015 |isbn=9788867286485 |editor-last=Soverina |editor-first=Francesco |language=it |trans-title=1943: Mediterranean and Southern Italy |chapter=La Calabria liberata. Tra ripresa democratica e dinamiche conservatrici |trans-chapter=Liberated Calabria. Between democratic recovery and conservative dynamics |chapter-url=https://www.icsaicstoria.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sergi_Calabria_liberata-2.pdf}}</ref>

All this had an impact on the socioeconomic conditions in the areas of Italy liberated by the Allied troops: the peasant masses, which made up about 60 percent of the Italian population, began, while still fighting the [[Nazism|Nazi]]-Fascists in the center-north of the peninsula, to stage a series of violent uprisings in protest against their miserable living conditions and to demand the division of large land holdings, often giving way to large-scale occupations of uncultivated land, as had already happened after World War I. The peasant class reclaiming its rights was countered by the elite of agrarians and large landowners, who, at first staunch supporters of fascism, sought with the Allied advance to realign themselves according to the political dictates of the moment in order to maintain their economic and social privileges.<ref name=":69" /><ref name=":102" />

To cope with this social situation, in July 1944, a month after the liberation of Rome and the handover between Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy and his son [[Umberto II of Italy|Umberto II of Savoy]], who obtained the Lieutenancy of the Kingdom, Calabrian Communist [[Fausto Gullo]], formerly minister of Agriculture in the [[second Badoglio government]] and holder of the same department also in subsequent executives ([[second Bonomi government]], [[third Bonomi government]] and [[Parri government]]), proposed a series of decrees (named after him) to improve the condition of the peasant class. Among the noteworthy decrees were: the reform of sharecropping, which was changed from annual to biennial; the granting of uncultivated land to individual peasants who had joined in agricultural cooperatives; compensation to farmers who took their produce to storage, which had previously been diverted to the black exchange; and the prohibition of the figure of the caporale, i.e., the day laborer recruiter. With these decrees, defined by historian [[Paul Ginsborg]] as “the only attempt made by leftist government officials to advance on the path of reform”,<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Ginsborg |first=Paul |title=Storia d'Italia dal dopoguerra ad oggi |publisher=Einaudi |year=2006 |location=Turin |language=it |trans-title=History of Italy from the postwar period to the present}}</ref> Gullo, who became the “Minister of the Peasants”,<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Rossi-Doria |first=Anna |title=Il ministro e i contadini: decreti Gullo e lotte nel Mezzogiorno, 1944-1949 |publisher=Bulzoni |year=1983 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=The minister and the peasants: Gullo decrees and struggles in the Mezzogiorno, 1944-1949}}</ref> achieved two important results: the southern peasants' awareness of the state's non-stranger status to their problems and the realization by the laborers of their own strength if they acted united in cooperatives, in which all worked for the common goal. Thanks in part to cooperation with the trade unions, especially [[Giuseppe Di Vittorio]]'s [[Italian General Confederation of Labour]], Gullo's reform efforts were revived with two other decrees, concerning the taxable labor rate and placement lists: with the former, the trade unions were empowered to dictate the number of laborers who were to work a landowner's farmland, while with the latter, trade unionists could manage the placement of the men needed for laboring on the basis of seniority. With these measures they were at least able to avoid the war between the poor and make the union feel on the side of the peasants.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":12" />

The provisions envisaged by the Gullo decrees were opposed by the agrarians, either by using the organized underworld or by enlisting the support of the more conservative currents of the [[Christian democracy|Christian Democrats]], who were frightened by the revolutionary repercussions of the government measures. Indeed, local Christian Democrats, often notables involved with the past regime, succeeded in getting the decrees amended with provisions that effectively made them unenforceable: in fact, agricultural cooperatives received uncultivated land from a special provincial commission, composed of the president of the [[Appellate court|Court of Appeals]], a representative of the agrarians and one of the peasants, which often and willingly issued resolutions very favorable to the landowners; at other times, some decrees were declared illegal, such as the one on compensation to peasants, thanks in part to the submissiveness of the national Communist leadership, which did not want to radicalize the social clash so as not to invalidate the government alliance with the Christian Democrats.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last=Spriano |first=Paolo |title=Storia del Partito Comunista Italiano |publisher=Einaudi |year=1975 |volume=V |location=Turin |language=it |trans-title=History of the Italian Communist Party}}</ref>

The Communists thought of supporting revolutionary attempts that had their own origins in these social and economic demands, following instead the strategy of Secretary [[Palmiro Togliatti]], who preferred a slow transaction toward democracy together with Christian Democrat leader [[Alcide De Gasperi]] to revolution. This was the case of the [[Red Republic of Caulonia]], proclaimed on March 6, 1945, by Pasquale Cavallaro, mayor of [[Caulonia]], a town where the clash between agrarians and laborers had been increasingly bitter since January 1944, when he had been appointed to the post by the prefect of Reggio Calabria, despite his communist faith, in place of Pasquale Saverio Asciutti, who was strongly colluding with fascism. In order to maintain public order, Mayor Cavallaro had empowered members of the local partisan section, commanded by his son Ercole Cavallaro, to go around armed with police and search duties. Not infrequently these searches ended in violence against the most prominent members of fascism and the agrarian class. During one such operation against two landowners, Ercole, with two comrades, was arrested by the Carabinieri on charges of theft. The mayor immediately did his utmost to obtain his son's release, causing the outbreak of the revolt: on March 5, 1945, Cavallaro's loyalists freed Ercole, closed the access roads to Caulonia, occupied the post office, the telegraph office and the Carabinieri barracks, while the following day, they hoisted the red flag with hammer and sickle on the bell tower, proclaiming the Republic. The Communist Party was immediately made aware of the event by telegram.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Serri |first=Mirella |title=I profeti disarmati. 1945-1948, la guerra fra le due sinistre |publisher=Corbaccio |year=2008 |location=Milan |language=it |trans-title=The unarmed prophets. 1945-1948, the war between the two lefts}}</ref> Each had differentiated tasks: the partisan section took care of the armed defense of the territory, the women assisted the men with provisions, and the communist members had to keep in touch with the party federation. The revolutionaries also established a “People's Tribunal,” which was based in the town square and had the power to try “enemies of the people,” while an internment camp was also set up where many local agrarians and notables were locked up. The revolutionary experience worried both the conservatives and the communist leaders themselves, who pressed Cavallaro to calm tempers and end the flaring revolution: the mayor then became spokesman for the rebels and convinced almost all of them to return home and lay down their arms, although the most diehard refused to surrender and went into hiding. Finally, on March 9, 1945, after only three days, everything came to an end: the prefect of Reggio Calabria sent departments of carabinieri and police to Caulonia, who arrested 365 men, who were referred to the Locri court for constitution of an armed gang, murder, violence to private individuals and usurpation of public office, while on April 15, 1945 Cavallaro resigned as mayor.<ref name=":13" />

The British historian Jonathan Dunnage wrote that there was an "institutional continuity" between the civil servants of the Liberal, Fascist and post-Fascist eras in Calabria as each change of regime saw the bureaucrats of the region adjust to whatever regime was in power in Rome and there was no purge of civil servants either after 1922 or 1943.<ref name="Dunnage 1999 37">{{cite book |last=Dunnage |first=Jonathan |editor-last1=Dunnagee |editor-first1=Jonathan |title=After the War: Violence, Justice, Continuity and Renewal in Italian Society |publisher=Troubador Publishing |location=Leicester |date=1999 |pages=37 |chapter=Politics and Policing in the Southern Italian Community |isbn=1899293566}}</ref> The "institutional continuity" of the bureaucracy of Calabria were committed to preserving the social structure.<ref name="Dunnage 1999 37" /> On 2 June 1946 referendum Calabria, like the rest of the ''Mezzogiorno'', voted solidly to retain the monarchy. The clientistic political system in Calabria under which elite families handed out patronage to their supporters and used violence against their opponents, which was the prevailing norm in the Liberal and Fascist eras continued after 1945.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dunnage |first=Jonathan |editor-last1=Dunnagee |editor-first1=Jonathan |title=After the War: Violence, Justice, Continuity and Renewal in Italian Society |publisher=Troubador Publishing |location=Leicester |date=1999 |pages=41 |chapter=Politics and Policing in the Southern Italian Community |isbn=1899293566}}</ref> During the Second World War, the already low living standards of Calabria declined further and the region was notorious as one of the most violent and lawless areas of Italy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dunnage |first=Jonathan |editor-last1=Dunnagee |editor-first1=Jonathan |title=After the War: Violence, Justice, Continuity and Renewal in Italian Society |publisher=Troubador Publishing |location=Leicester |date=1999 |pages=41=42 |chapter=Politics and Policing in the Southern Italian Community |isbn=1899293566}}</ref> 

Attempts by the peasants of Calabria to take over the land owned by the elite were usually resisted by the authorities. On 28 October 1949 in Melissa the police opened fire on peasants who had seized the land of a local baron, killing three men who were shot in the back as they attempted to flee.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dunnage |first=Jonathan |editor-last1=Dunnagee |editor-first1=Jonathan |title=After the War: Violence, Justice, Continuity and Renewal in Italian Society |publisher=Troubador Publishing |location=Leicester |date=1999 |pages=43 |chapter=Politics and Policing in the Southern Italian Community |isbn=1899293566}}</ref> Between 1949 and 1966 another wave of migration took place with the peak year of migration being 1957 with some 38, 090 Calabrians leaving that year.<ref name="Palgrave Macmillan" />    

After the birth of the Italian Republic, the southern monarchist [[Enrico De Nicola]] became the provisional head of state, while De Gasperi regained the task of forming the government, becoming, with the entry into office on July 12, 1946 of the [[second De Gasperi government]], the first [[Prime Minister of Italy|Prime Minister of the Italian Republic]]. In the governmental structure, which still rested on the agreement between the major anti-fascist parties, the left-wing parties were strongly downsized in favor of the Christian Democrats, in view of the opposition between the two blocs (Western and Communist) typical of the [[Cold War]]. The Communists and Socialists went from 8 to 6 ministries, whose holders were chosen from among the Christian Democrats: as a result [[Mario Scelba]], a Sicilian Christian Democrat, became Minister of the Interior, the Communist [[Emilio Sereni]] was Minister of Public Works, while Gullo, who had presided over the Agriculture ministry since 1943, was appointed Minister of Justice; in his place was the Christian Democrat [[Antonio Segni]], a [[Sardinia|Sardinian]] landowner and future President of the Italian Republic, an exponent of the more conservative faction of the Christian Democracy.<ref name=":103">{{Cite book |last=Sergi |first=Pantaleone |url=http://digital.casalini.it/9788867286485 |title=1943: Mediterraneo e Mezzogiorno d'Italia |publisher=I libri di Viella |year=2015 |isbn=9788867286485 |editor-last=Soverina |editor-first=Francesco |language=it |trans-title=1943: Mediterranean and Southern Italy |chapter=La Calabria liberata. Tra ripresa democratica e dinamiche conservatrici |trans-chapter=Liberated Calabria. Between democratic recovery and conservative dynamics |chapter-url=https://www.icsaicstoria.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Sergi_Calabria_liberata-2.pdf}}</ref><ref name=":112">{{Cite book |last=Ginsborg |first=Paul |title=Storia d'Italia dal dopoguerra ad oggi |publisher=Einaudi |year=2006 |location=Turin |language=it |trans-title=History of Italy from the postwar period to the present}}</ref>

Segni's appointment as Minister of Agriculture seemed to halt the agrarian reform drive that Gullo had imparted, especially in the South: the new minister, coming to meet the demands of the agrarian class, between September 1946 and December 1947 issued two decrees that allowed landowners to reclaim those lands that had not been improved or cultivated by peasants. While this secured the support of the southern elites for the Christian Democrat party on the one hand, enabling it to win the April 18, 1948 general elections, it only increased the tension between the two parties and restarted the occupation of uncultivated land by the laborers. The {{ILL|Massacre of Melissa|it|5=Strage di Melissa}}, which took place in Calabria in the fall of 1949, fits into this context: on October 24 of that year, some 14,000 Calabrian peasants from the provinces of Catanzaro and Cosenza descended from their villages, accompanied also by women, children and work animals, to head for the large latifundia, occupy them and begin planting work.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cinanni |first=P |title=Lotte per la terra nel Mezzogiorno, 1943-1953 |year=1977 |location=Milan |language=it |trans-title=Land struggles in the Mezzogiorno, 1943-1953}}</ref> A group of Calabrian Christian Democracy parliamentarians from the agrarian class went to Rome, protesting and asking Interior Minister Mario Scelba to use force against the demonstrators. Scelba then sent units of the [[Mobile Unit (Italy)|Mobile Units]], mechanized riot police, to Calabria, which stopped at [[Melissa, Calabria|Melissa]], in the province of Crotone, where there was a large number of protesters, camped out on the Fragalà estate, owned by local landowner Baron {{ILL|Luigi Berlingeri|it}}. The fund, in fact, according to the subversion of feudality and the [[Napoleonic Code|Napoleonic laws]] of 1811 was supposed to be assigned to the municipality, but the Berlingeri family had usurped it in its entirety over the years: now the peasants claimed at least half of it as municipal property, but the baron, as a sign of accommodation, was willing to cede only a third, resulting in a clear refusal. So it was that, on Oct. 29, 1949, police, after intimidating the crowd of peasants to clear out, fired at eye level, resulting in 15 wounded and 3 dead: 15-year-old Giovanni Zito, 29-year-old Francesco Nigro, and 23-year-old Angelina Mauro, who died later in the hospital.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bevilacqua |first=Piero |title=Le campagne del Mezzogiorno tra fascismo e dopoguerra: il caso della Calabria |publisher=Einaudi |year=1980 |location=Turin |language=it |trans-title=The countryside of southern Italy between fascism and the postwar period: the case of Calabria}}</ref>

This massacre, combined with that of [[Portella della Ginestra massacre|Portella della Ginestra]], in Sicily, which took place on May 1, 1947, provoked a series of strikes and peasant demonstrations throughout Italy, repressed by the police. The continuing state of unrest, however, induced De Gasperi to pass the first agrarian reform measures, which, however, did not result in an overall reform, but in individual laws valid for specific territories: therefore, on May 12, 1950, the Sila Law was passed, which initially concerned the territory located in the eastern Sila, and provided for the expropriation of latifundia exceeding 300 hectares, lacking improvements or reclamation. These two clauses provided a legal loophole for the agrarians who did not want to lose their estates, as they could subdivide the latifundia among relatives or plant temporary improvements on them. In addition to this, the geographical area to be expropriated was predominantly mountainous and forested, and therefore unsuitable for cultivation. A real agrarian law valid for the whole country, partly financed by funds from the [[Marshall Plan]], was passed on October 21, 1950, with most of the conservative Christian Democracy current abstaining or voting against, supported also by conservative members of Harry Truman's administration.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book |last=Bernardi |first=Emanuele |title=La riforma agraria in Italia e gli Stati Uniti |publisher=Il Mulino |year=2006 |location=Bologna |language=it |trans-title=Land reform in Italy and the United States}}</ref> The reform, which according to some scholars was the most important of the entire post-[[World War II]] period, proposed, through forced expropriation, the redistribution of land to farmworkers, thus making them de facto small businessmen no longer subject to the large landowner.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last=Barberis |first=Corrado |title=Teoria e storia della riforma agraria |publisher=Vallecchi |year=1957 |location=Florence |language=it |trans-title=Theory and history of land reform}}</ref> While this was a beneficial result, it also greatly reduced the size of farms, thus removing any possibility of transforming them into advanced entrepreneurial vehicles. However, this negative element was mitigated and in some cases eliminated by forms of cooperation: in fact, agricultural cooperatives arose which, by scheduling production and centralizing the sale of products, gave agriculture the entrepreneurial character that had been lost with the division of land. Thus there was a better yield of crops, which from extensive became intensive and thus a better exploitation of the land used. Agricultural labor, which until then had been unprofitable though very heavy, began to bear fruit. However, as a result of the development of industry, agriculture ended up becoming a marginal sector of the economy, but as a result of the development of modern cultivation techniques, it saw the income produced per hectare cultivated and thus the profitability of labor multiply.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":16" />

In addition to this, the [[fourth De Gasperi government]] had established by Law No. 646 of August 10, 1950, the [[Cassa per il Mezzogiorno]], a public body created for the purpose of financing the infrastructural and industrial development of southern Italy in order to bridge the economic gap with the rest of the country, originally over a 10-year period (until 1960), although the Cassa was refinanced with public funds until its total liquidation by law in 1992. One of the planning instruments used for the finalization of interventions was the A.S.I. plan, or a plan for the creation of Industrial Development Areas: it provided for the establishment of consortia, carried out under Law No. 634 of July 29, 1957 (called “Provvedimenti per il Mezzogiorno”), in the type of sectoral plan, promoted by entities such as municipalities, provinces and chambers of commerce for the initiation of industrial development and the construction of basic infrastructure in the areas involved in the action of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno.<ref name=":103" /><ref name=":112" /><ref name=":16" />

The outcome of the Cassa was by no means questionable in terms of the use of public capital, considering the backwardness of southern Italy in 1950 compared to the rest of the country in terms of infrastructure resources and per capita income: in Calabria, for example, important works were the doubling of 212 km of the [[Battipaglia]]-Reggio Calabria railway line (completed in 1965). However, subsequently the politicization of the agency's apparatuses led to a degradation and low quality of public spending, including widespread phenomena of illegality (such as financing entrepreneurs through contracts in order to develop enterprises in the Mezzogiorno, which later turned out to be “ghost” companies). Therefore, often huge procurements and other state initiatives ended up creating huge infrastructures that would not find practical application, either because they were alien to the economic realities of the South, or because they remained unfinished: therefore, this type of infrastructure was referred to as a cathedral in the desert.<ref name=":103" /><ref name=":112" /><ref name=":16" />

The 1950s and 1960s were known as the period of the “economic miracle”: a short but intense period of time characterized by industrial development, economic growth, and an increase in consumption.<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Crainz |first=Guido |title=Storia del miracolo italiano. Culture, identità, trasformazioni fra anni Cinquanta e Sessanta |publisher=Donzelli |year=1996 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=History of the Italian Miracle. Cultures, identities, transformations between the 1950s and 1960s}}</ref> It was during that period that Italian industry, thanks to the modernization of its industrial apparatus, achieved through the purchase and use of American technological skills and equipment financed by the Marshall Plan, achieved a remarkable rate of growth in production, so much so that in one decade it increased by up to 10 percent, leading to the economic and social transformation of Italy, which was transforming from a predominantly agricultural country into an industrial one. Those who benefited most were the large industrial complexes in northern Italy, which obtained most of the U.S. funding, while small and medium-sized enterprises, although they could not count on programmed interventions, also managed to emerge, thanks to their flexibility and ability to adapt to the market. In addition, the construction of roads and highways made the movement of people and goods faster, favored the production and employment of vehicles the various employment sectors, and profoundly affected the lifestyle of the population.<ref name=":113">{{Cite book |last=Ginsborg |first=Paul |title=Storia d'Italia dal dopoguerra ad oggi |publisher=Einaudi |year=2006 |location=Turin |language=it |trans-title=History of Italy from the postwar period to the present}}</ref><ref name=":17" />

Growth and prosperity, however, did not spread evenly across the country, and did not affect all social strata and all productive sectors of the economy. We need only think of the crisis in the agricultural sector, which led to the substantial failure of the 1950 land reform in many parts of the South, due to the exponential growth of the role of industry in the Italian economy; in fact, between 1951 and 1991, workers employed in agriculture fell from 8,261,000 to 1,629,000, and in particular, those employed in the sector under 30 years of age plummeted from 3,299,000 in 1951 to 341,000 in 1991.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barberis |first=Corrado |title=Le campagne italiane dall'Ottocento ad oggi |publisher=Laterza |year=1999 |location=Rome-Bari |language=it |trans-title=The Italian countryside from the 19th century to the present}}</ref> However, this was also due to the process of mechanization of agriculture, which between 1954 and 1964 produced a contraction of the agricultural labor force in rural areas (from 8 million to 5 million).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gallo |first=Stefano |title=Senza attraversare le frontiere |publisher=Laterza |year=2012 |location=Rome-Bari |language=it |trans-title=Without crossing borders}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Vecchio |first=Bruno |title=Storia dell'agricoltura italiana in età contemporanea |publisher=Marsilio |year=1992 |editor-last=Bevilacqua |editor-first=Piero |volume=I |location=Venice |language=it |trans-title=History of Italian agriculture in contemporary times |chapter=Geografia degli abbandoni rurali |trans-chapter=Geography of rural abandonment}}</ref>

Such was the situation in Calabria, where there had also been an increase in population in a land that offered no employment outlets or opportunities for survival, a factor that fostered a strong emigration of labor from the region after the forced blockade during the years of the fascist regime. The causes of the increased flow of migration were many and stemmed from numerous shortcomings: the unstable hydrogeology of the land, the lack of infrastructure works, the inclemency of the climate and, above all, the very high unemployment and underemployment prevailing in the Calabrian labor scene. The Parliamentary Commission for the Study of Misery certified this state of affairs: in fact, the inquiry showed that 179,500 Calabrians (37.7 percent of the region's total population) lived in a state of misery. It was the highest percentage in the entire country, compared to 1.5 percent in the North, 5.9 percent in the Center and the Mezzogiorno itself, where the percentage of misery was around 28.3 percent.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Attuazione della legge speciale per la Calabria nel periodo 1955-1967 |editor-last=Cassa per il Mezzogiorno |language=it |trans-title=Implementation of the special law for Calabria in the period 1955-1967}}</ref>

In the decade between 1951 and 1961 as many as 400,000 Calabrians emigrated to seek their fortune elsewhere, especially to America (such as Canada or the United States) or to the industrial cities of [[Northern Italy]], especially those concentrated in the [[Industrial triangle of Northeast Italy|industrial triangle]], which saw their population increase considerably, especially [[Turin]] (+42.6 percent) and Milan (+24.1 percent).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barberis |first=Corrado |title=Le migrazioni rurali in Italia |publisher=Feltrinelli |year=1961 |location=Milan |language=it |trans-title=Rural migration in Italy}}</ref> In addition to this outward trend, Calabrian emigration also had an interregional one, that is, of people moving from inland areas, often mountainous and hilly, to settle in coastal centers, which were better connected and closer to the main arteries of communication, where there were more job opportunities in construction, urban services and commercial activities. This resulted in the complete abandonment of inland rural areas, with hydrogeological effects that are still felt today, while the ancient mountain and hillside villages lost autonomy and identity, falling into an irreversible crisis. One example is the ancient medieval village of [[Badolato]] Superiore, near [[Soverato]], which has become, according to anthropologist Vito Teti, the “metaphor of the abandonment, ruin, flight, and hope of all of Calabria, of the entire Mezzogiorno”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Teti |first=Vito |title=Il senso dei luoghi |publisher=Donzelli |year=2004 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=The sense of places}}</ref>

Under the First Republic, starting in the 1960s, investment plans were launched under which Italian state sponsored industrialisation and attempted to improve the infrastructure of Calabria by building modern roads, railroads, ports, etc.<ref name="'Ndrangheta: The Glocal Dimensions">{{cite book |last1=Sergi |first1=Anna |last2=Lavorgna |first2=Anita |title='Ndrangheta: The Glocal Dimensions of the Most Powerful Italian Mafia |date=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-3319325859 |pages=16}}</ref> The plan was a notable failure with the infrastructure projects going wildly over-budget and taking far longer to complete then scheduled; for an example, construction started on the A3 highway in 1964 intended to link Reggio Calabria to Salerno, which was as of 2016 still unfinished.<ref name="'Ndrangheta: The Glocal Dimensions" /> The failure to complete the A3 highway after 52 years of effort is regarded as a scandal in Italy, and many parts of Calabria were described as an "industrial graveyard" full of the closed down steel mills and chemical plants that all went bankrupt.<ref name="'Ndrangheta: The Glocal Dimensions" /> 

The Calabrian political landscape of that period was marked by the debate on the establishment of the regional entity and the choice of the capital, due not only to terms of prestige, but also to concrete job opportunities in the public and clerical sectors in a part of the peninsula where labor shortages and emigration were on the rise.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ferraris |first=P |date=1971 |title=I cento giorni di Reggio: i presupposti della rivolta e la sua dinamica |trans-title=The hundred days of Reggio: the preconditions of the revolt and its dynamics |journal=Giovane Critica |pages=2–42}}</ref> Local Calabrian contrasts and rivalries were also reflected at the national level, when, in 1963, in the [[first Moro government]], ministers and undersecretaries from Reggio Calabria and Catanzaro were excluded from the executive: the only Calabrians with institutional appointments were the Socialist [[Giacomo Mancini]] (who became Minister of Health) and the Christian Democrat [[Riccardo Minasi|Riccardo Misasi]] (holder of the Ministry of Grace and Justice), both originally from Cosenza. In addition, economically there were also numerous frictions between Cosenza, Catanzaro and Reggio Calabria, among other demographically diverse areas. On March 21, 1968, the Reggio Calabria City Council, which was considering the law establishing the region, voted on an agenda declaring that the city on the Strait should be the regional capital. Thus, to preserve city interests, the “Agitation Committee for the Defense of Reggio's Interests,” headed by Christian Democrat lawyer {{ILL|Francesco Gangemi|it}}, was born. However, the law establishing the Regions, which came into effect in 1970, confirmed the 1949 decision by which the parliamentary investigation committee appointed by the House Institutional Affairs Committee, with the delivery of the report called “Donatini-Molinaroli,” determined that, based on historical and geopolitical parameters, Catanzaro was the capital of the Calabria Region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=De Virgilio |first=Alessandro |title=Le quattro giornate di Catanzaro. 25-28 gennaio 1950: la città in rivolta per il capoluogo |publisher=Rubbettino |year=2014 |isbn=978-8849840520 |language=it |trans-title=The Four Days of Catanzaro. January 25-28, 1950: the city in revolt for the capital city}}</ref>

This situation, which reverberated in the local and regional elections, in which the minor secular leftist parties (social democrats and republicans) elected their first representatives, mainly in the provinces of Reggio and Cosenza, induced the city's mayor, Christian Democrat {{ILL|Pietro Battaglia|it}}, to give, on July 5, 1970, a heartfelt speech in Piazza Duomo in front of 7,000 people, to claim the city's just right to be the regional capital. On July 12, the prodrome of the uprising began in the city, with the creation of the first roadblocks and numerous public demonstrations, while, on the same day, in Villa San Giovanni, Senate President [[Amintore Fanfani]], who had come to the city to collect an award, was harshly challenged by the crowd. In retaliation to Fanfani's indifference, the regional deputies from Reggio Calabria (5 Christian Democrats and 1 Socialist), deserted the regional council meeting scheduled for July 13, as opposed to the Communist representatives, who went instead.<ref name=":610">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":114">{{Cite book |last=Ginsborg |first=Paul |title=Storia d'Italia dal dopoguerra ad oggi |publisher=Einaudi |year=2006 |location=Turin |language=it |trans-title=History of Italy from the postwar period to the present}}</ref>

Finally, on July 14, 1970, the actual uprising, which went down in history as the [[Reggio revolt]], broke out, supported by all of the city's social classes (bourgeoisie, clergy, students, political parties, civic committees). On that day there were clashes between the demonstrators and the forces of law and order, which left one person dead, railroad worker Bruno Labate: this prompted the Archbishop of Reggio, Vincenzo Ferro, in September to join the showdown.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baldoni |first=Adalberto |title=Storia della destra, Dal postfascismo al Popolo della libertà |publisher=Edizioni Vallecchi |year=2009 |location=Florence |language=it |trans-title=History of the Right, From Post-Fascism to the People of Freedom}}</ref> The uprising was also supported by newspapers of liberal-conservative tendency (such as the [[Gazzetta del Sud]] and [[Il Tempo]]), and by various intellectuals, who asserted the city's political and social claims. Gradually the leadership of the protests passed from Mayor Battaglia, who did not want to go too far, to the far-right movements, particularly the [[Italian Social Movement|Movimento Sociale Italiano]], seen as the least compromised with the republican regime; soon the Missini imposed their authority on the uprising, including through various slogans (famous was the ''boia chi molla'' of D'Annunzian memory). [[Francesco Franco|Ciccio Franco]], a CISNAL trade unionist and Reggio Calabria-based Missini exponent, emerged as the undisputed leader of the situation. At this point barricades were erected, the railway station was occupied and all convoys and ferries leaving for Sicily were blocked. In the first months of the uprising, moreover, there were 19 days of general strike, 12 bomb attacks, 32 roadblocks, 14 occupations of the station, 2 of the post office, 1 of the television station, and 4 assaults on the prefecture, with a death toll of 5 (in addition to Labate, Angelo Campanella, a driver for the city's municipal bus company, also perished in the clashes, Vincenzo Curigliano, a policeman struck by a heart attack during an assault on the Questura; Antonio Bellotti, a 19-year-old officer hit by a stone while leaving Reggio by train with his department; and Carmelo Jaconis, a bartender killed by a gunshot), 426 arrested and 200 wounded during the police charges (whose members were insulted and vilified even by hospital doctors).<ref name=":18">{{Cite book |last=D'Agostino |first=Fabrizio |title=Reggio Calabria. I moti del luglio 1970 - febbraio 1971 |publisher=Feltrinelli |year=1972 |location=Milan |language=it |trans-title=Reggio Calabria. The uprisings of July 1970 - February 1971}}</ref> Even, in some parts of the city, “autonomous republics” were proclaimed, such as the “Republic of Sbarre” and the “Grand Duchy of St. Catherine,” a clear symptom of the prevailing anti-statism among the protesters. The Italian government, presided over by [[Emilio Colombo]] after the resignation of [[Mariano Rumor]], after appealing to the people of Reggio Emilia urging them to appease, threatening, in the event of a continuation of the violence, the use of force, decided, for the first time in the history of the Italian Republic, to repress the street demonstrations and urban guerrilla warfare by having the army and carabinieri intervene. Even far-left parties, such as the Communists and the [[Italian Socialist Party of Proletarian Unity|PSIUP]], condemned the Reggio uprising, branding it as parochial and non-proletarian, often clashing with their own city voter base. Eventually, on February 23, 1971, after 10 months of rioting and agitation, the revolt ceased: the people of Reggio had to come to a political compromise with the government, which occurred, however, not in Parliament but in the regional council, where they had little political clout. The Prime Minister, meeting with the president of the Calabria Region, Christian Democrat {{ILL|Antonio Guarasci|it}}, and various regional politicians from various parties, worked out a compromise agreement, known as the {{ILL|Colombo Package|it|5=Pachetto Colombo}}, which sought to bring all parties together: Catanzaro would be the regional capital, while Reggio would host the seat of the regional council; Cosenza, on the other hand, would be the site of Calabria's first university hub (today's [[University of Calabria]]), while Gioia Tauro would be the fifth national steel hub and a massive chemical factory would be established in Saline Joniche. The agreement was accepted by the city's population, but the Gioia Tauro steel plant was never built, due to the international steel market crisis, while the Saline Joniche chemical plant, although built, ceased production almost immediately due to the Ministry of Health's provision that had declared the chemical feed supplements it produced to be [[Carcinogen|carcinogenic]].<ref name=":611">{{Cite book |title=Storia della Calabria |publisher=Gangemi Editore |year=1988 |isbn=88-7448-703-7 |editor-last=Placanica |editor-first=Augusto |volume=II: La Calabria moderna e contemporanea. Età presente; approfondimenti |location=Rome-Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=History of Calabria}}</ref><ref name=":115">{{Cite book |last=Ginsborg |first=Paul |title=Storia d'Italia dal dopoguerra ad oggi |publisher=Einaudi |year=2006 |location=Turin |language=it |trans-title=History of Italy from the postwar period to the present}}</ref><ref name=":18" />

The consequences of the Reggio uprising were reflected in electoral performance, when in the 1972 general elections the needle of the scales shifted in favor of the extreme right, which won 27 percent of the vote and became the leading party in the city, outperforming other political formations and electing Ciccio Franco to the Senate. In October of the same year, a two-day demonstration was organized in Reggio by some 40,000 northern metalworkers who were members of the CGIL, in solidarity with the inhabitants' reasons for revolt: the reactions of the latter were diverse, as some welcomed the gesture, while others ignored or opposed it, a sign of the distance between the southern and northern socioeconomic realities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guerrazzi |first=Vincenzo |title=Nord e Sud uniti nella lotta |publisher=Frilli |year=2003 |isbn=978-8887923728 |location=Padua |language=it |trans-title=North and South united in struggle}}</ref>

The Reggio revolt remain to this day one of the most controversial pages in the history of Calabria and even Italy, partly because of the lack or absence of related documentation, which is often destroyed or secreted. In order to understand this historical episode, one must refer to historiography, which denies or approves of certain views: it was not a parochial uprising, but complex political and social motivations converged behind it; it was not a fascist uprising, although the Italian Social Movement was at the head of it, as the leftists (especially the communists) said, since it was an interclass, inter-party and intergenerational movement, while it was instead an anti-state uprising (see the case of the “autonomous republics”), spontaneous and without direction behind it, despite Mayor Battaglia's call to strike. In addition to this, recent studies have found that there were also strong infiltrations of the 'ndrangheta, colluding with the extremist subversive right (see the case of the Baracca anarchists), in the uprising;<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Caprara |first1=MArio |title=Neri, la storia mai raccontata della destra radicale, eversiva e terrorista |last2=Semprini |first2=Gianluca |publisher=Edizioni tascabili Newton |year=2011 |location=Rome |language=it |trans-title=Neri, the never-told story of the radical, subversive, terrorist right wing}}</ref> therefore, there are those who believe that deviated sectors of the state and secret services were also involved in the uprising, so much so that the Reggio revolt can be ascribed to a part of the strategy of tension that gripped the country in those years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cuzzola |first=Fabio |title=Cinque anarchici del Sud |publisher=Città del Sole Edizioni |year=2001 |location=Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=Five anarchists from the South}}</ref>

In the 1980s, the social and economic situation in Calabria was anything but prosperous: as Piero Gagliardo, a professor at the University of Calabria, wrote, the region had no development plan of its own, was apparently abandoned to the various party clienteles, but was effectively run by power groups linked to organized crime and deviant [[freemasonry]]. As a result, in Calabria, which is made to play the role of the poorest and most depressed region in Italy, social and economic initiatives, even very significant ones, are undertaken with exasperating slowness, and often based on a human and territorial fabric that is not always suitable for receiving them. In fact, in the region, many works, including those of significant public expenditure, had been initiated, but more for the benefit of the entrepreneurial hundred in the center than for the real needs of the periphery. In addition to this socioeconomic analysis, Gagliardo notes the persistence of widespread electoral clientelism, which the electoral political class, instead of eliminating, wanted to nurture for its own personal gain.<ref name=":19">{{Cite book |last=Gagliardo |first=Piero |title=In Calabria alle origini di una storia e di una fede |publisher=Laruffa |year=1987 |isbn=978-8872210437 |editor-last=Bodone |editor-first=P |location=Reggio Calabria |language=it |trans-title=In Calabria at the origins of a history and a faith |chapter=Cenni sulla situazione sociale ed economica della Calabria |trans-chapter=Notes on the social and economic situation in Calabria |editor-last2=Denisi |editor-first2=A}}</ref>

Alongside this political, cultural and economic landscape, there was the gradual infiltration into the Calabrian social and economic fabric of the [['Ndrangheta]], a criminal organization akin to the [[Mafia]] and [[Camorra]], which began to make headlines thanks to the season of kidnappings of important hostages in order to demand a ransom to finance their criminal activities (such as the one of [[John Paul Getty III]], grandson of an U.S. oilman, kidnapped in 1973 and released along the [[Autostrada A2 (Italy)|Autostrada A2]] after the payment of a ransom of one billion seven hundred million [[Lira|lire]]). In the 1980s, the Calabrian [['Ndrina|'ndrine]] turned instead to international [[Narcotic|narcotics]] trafficking, forging contacts with [[South America|South American]] drug cartels and enacting numerous internal feuds among the various Mafia clans for control of territory and drug areas. As in Sicily, the 'ndrangheta in Calabria infiltrated into the local political fabric, not infrequently placing its own affiliates in key posts in municipal administrations in order to pilot and profit on public contracts. The case of the Gioia Tauro harbor, completed in 1985, which was conceived as a trading port for the never-planned steel center envisaged by the Colombo Package, and later used as a transit hub for containers transported by transoceanic ships plying the [[Mediterranean Sea]], is well known: from the outset, the port facility was under the control of the [[Piromalli 'ndrina|Piromalli]] and {{ILL|Molè|it|'Ndrina Molè}} clans, who used it to bring drugs and counterfeit goods into Italy. In the 1990s, in order to quell the criminal phenomenon, which was flanking the Mafia in its massacre phase against men of the state (an act that materialized in the 1991 murder of Judge [[Antonino Scopelliti]], who was working on the Palermo [[Maxi Trial]]), {{ILL|Operation Riace|it|Operazione Riace}} was implemented, where the army was employed, with a total of 1350 military personnel, while numerous maxiprocesses were subsequently carried out: “Wall Street,” ‘Count Down,’ ‘Hoca Tuca,’ ‘North-South,’ ‘Belgium,’ and ‘Fine,’ which involved many 'ndrine and the end of the [[Siderno Group]], an underworld consortium between Canada and Calabria that ran international drug trafficking.<ref name=":19" />

Yet, in the last years of the 20th century there have been some changes, partly due to volunteerism and to an awareness of a large part of the Calabrian people, increasingly participating in public affairs. One example is the election on November 28, 1993, of [[Italo Falcomatà]] as mayor of Reggio Calabria, who was reconfirmed for three terms until his untimely death on December 11, 2001. Falcomatà, at the head of a center-left junta, was the protagonist of the so-called “Springtime of Reggio,” or a period in which the first citizen spurred his fellow citizens to re-enamor themselves with the city, after years of torpor in public participation and social apathy. During his tenure, he succeeded in unlocking funds from the “Reggio Decree” that had been awaited for years for the redevelopment and development of the city on the Strait, while he tenaciously fought against illegal construction and downsized the open market, which, with its street stalls run by organized crime expanded without limits and permits and congested traffic.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gaspari |first1=Oscar |title=Storie di sindaci per la storia d'Italia |last2=Forlenza |first2=Rosario |last3=Cruciani |first3=Sante |publisher=Donzelli |year=2009 |isbn=978-8860364258 |language=it |trans-title=Stories of mayors for the history of Italy}}</ref>

==Economy==
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Calabria is subdivided as follows: service industry (28.94%), financial activities and real estate (21.09%), trade, tourism, transportation and communication (19.39%), taxation (11.49%), manufacturing (8.77%), construction (6.19%) and agriculture (4.13%). GDP per capita is 2.34 times less and unemployment is 4 times higher than in [[Lombardy]].<ref name="appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu">{{cite web |url=https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=lfst_r_lfu3rt&lang=en |title=Unemployment NUTS 2 regions Eurostat |access-date=13 May 2021 |archive-date=12 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112004629/https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=lfst_r_lfu3rt&lang=en |url-status=live }}</ref> Calabria's economy is still based mainly on agriculture.

The economy of the region is strongly affected by the presence of the [['Ndrangheta]] (the local [[Mafia]] syndicate).<ref name="newyorktimes">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/world/europe/in-italy-calabria-is-drained-by-corruption.html |title=In Italy, Calabria is drained by corruption |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=28 May 2017 |date=7 October 2012 |last1=Donadio |first1=Rachel |archive-date=4 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304111547/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/world/europe/in-italy-calabria-is-drained-by-corruption.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Agriculture===
[[File:Kalabrien-Olivenernte.JPG|thumb|Calabrian olive tree plantations]]
Calabria is agriculturally rich, with the Italy's second highest number of [[organic farm]]ers after [[Sicily]].<ref name="imagelinenetwork">{{cite web |url=http://agronotizie.imagelinenetwork.com/agricoltura-economia-politica/2010/07/13/biologico-l-italia-resta-prima-in-europa/9665 |title=Biologico, l'Italia resta prima in Europa – AgroNotizie – Economia e politica |publisher=agronotizie.imagelinenetwork.com |access-date=24 October 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074558/http://agronotizie.imagelinenetwork.com/agricoltura-economia-politica/2010/07/13/biologico-l-italia-resta-prima-in-europa/9665 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[red onion]] of [[Tropea]] is cultivated during summer period on the Tyrrhenian coast of central Calabria.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.consorziocipollatropeaigp.com/cipolla-rossa-di-tropea-calabria-igp/il-territorio.html |title=Il Territorio |publisher=Consorzio Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria IGP |language=it |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703173435/http://www.consorziocipollatropeaigp.com/cipolla-rossa-di-tropea-calabria-igp/il-territorio.html |archive-date=3 July 2019 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It has been awarded with the [[protected geographical indication]] (PGI).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.consorziocipollatropeaigp.com/ |title=Consorzio Cipolla di Tropea IGP |access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=12 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612032846/http://www.consorziocipollatropeaigp.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[olive tree]] represents 29.6% of utilized agricultural area (UAA) and approximately 70% of tree crops.<ref name="Ref-1">{{cite web |url=http://circa.europa.eu/irc/dsis/regportraits/info/data/en/itf6_eco.htm |title=Portraits of the Regions |date=March 2004 |publisher=DG REGIO of the [[European Commission]] |access-date=8 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721131819/http://circa.europa.eu/irc/dsis/regportraits/info/data/en/itf6_eco.htm |archive-date=21 July 2011}}</ref> Olive tree cultivation extends from coastal lowland areas to hilly and lower mountainous areas.
The region is the second-highest for [[olive oil]] production with Carolea, Ogliarola, and Saracena olives as the main regional varieties.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20151102230120/http://oliveoilsindia.com/Italian-Olives.htm Italian olives]}} Retrieved 3 July 2018</ref>

In Calabria, there are 3 [[Protected designation of origin|PDO]] oils: "Bruzio" in the province of [[Cosenza]], "Lametia" in the area of [[Lamezia Terme]] and the more recent "Alto Crotonese".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peperoncinodicalabria.it/olio-calabrese/olio-dop/ |title=PDO Oil: Calabrian extra virgin olive oil |date=26 February 2018 |language=it |access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514233719/https://www.peperoncinodicalabria.it/olio-calabrese/olio-dop/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition to DOP oils there are also [[Protected geographical indication|PGI]] oils. The production area of "Olio di Calabria" PGI includes the entire territory of the Calabria region. The production is made exclusively from indigenous olives.

Calabria produces about a quarter of Italy's [[citrus fruit]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.incalabria.eu/2016/01/19/calabria-vertici-produzione-agrumi/ |language=it |title=Calabria at the top of citrus fruit production |work=incalabria - La terra dell'impossibile |date=19 January 2016 |access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=29 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229195935/https://www.incalabria.eu/2016/01/19/calabria-vertici-produzione-agrumi/ |url-status=live |author1=Redazione }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://smaf-ltd.com/wordpress/?p=2087 |title=Fascinating Calabria: The Oranges perfume – SMAF Ltd |access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=15 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211015181145/http://smaf-ltd.com/wordpress/?p=2087 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ourlivesinitaly.com/bergamot-and-cedro-the-citrus-fruits-of-calabria |title=Bergamot and Cedro – The Citrus Fruits of Calabria |website=ourlivesinitaly.com |date=8 August 2020 |access-date=31 August 2021 |archive-date=20 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920162144/https://ourlivesinitaly.com/bergamot-and-cedro-the-citrus-fruits-of-calabria |url-status=live }}</ref> The contribution of this region to growing citrus fruit in Italy can be attributed mainly to [[clementine]]s, [[orange (fruit)|oranges]], [[mandarin orange|mandarins]] and [[lemon]]s. Calabria is by far the country's most important clementine-growing region, which account for about 62% (16,164 ha) of the Italian surface dedicated to its cultivation and 69% (437,800 tons) of the total production.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dati.istat.it/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=DCSP_COLTIVAZIONI |title=ISTAT. Istituto Nazionale di Statistica. Statistical Database. 2018 |access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=16 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516151758/http://dati.istat.it/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=DCSP_COLTIVAZIONI |url-status=live }}</ref> Clementina di Calabria is the PGI variety grown in the Calabria region.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hicham Benabdelkamel |author2=Leonardo Di Donna |author3=Fabio Mazzotti |author4=Attilio Naccarato |author5=Giovanni Sindona |author6=Antonio Tagarelli |author7=Domenico Taverna |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223994935 |title=Authenticity of PGI "Clementine of Calabria" by Multielement Fingerprint |journal=J. Agric. Food Chem. |year=2012 |volume=60 |number=14 |pages=3717–3726 |doi=10.1021/jf2050075 |pmid=22458691|bibcode=2012JAFC...60.3717B }}</ref> Also [[Citrus myrtifolia|chinotto]] is cultivated and used to produce [[carbonated soft drink]] with the [[Chinotto (drink)|same name]].
 
[[File: Etrog5812.jpg|thumb|upright|Citron]]
Minor fruits such as [[Bergamot orange|bergamot]] and [[citron]] and lemon-citron hybrids are found exclusively in Calabria. The south coast of the region produces 90% of the world's bergamots, with a huge industry built around the extraction of bergamot oil.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.givaudan.com/sustainability/sourcing-for-shared-value/working-together/italy-bergamot |title=Italy: Responsibly sourcing bergamot from Calabria |access-date=3 December 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027091954/https://www.givaudan.com/sustainability/sourcing-for-shared-value/working-together/italy-bergamot |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Harvard Atlas of Economic Complexity, last year with Italian net export of bergamot oil was 2009 in value of $253,000, after that between 2010 and 2018 was no export of it.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore?country=undefined&product=6457&year=2009&productClass=HS&tradeFlow=Net&target=Product&partner=undefined&startYear=undefined |title=Net bergamot oil export in 2009 |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514193155/https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore?country=undefined&product=6457&year=2009&productClass=HS&tradeFlow=Net&target=Product&partner=undefined&startYear=undefined |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore?country=undefined&product=6457&year=2018&productClass=HS&tradeFlow=Net&target=Product&partner=undefined&startYear=undefined |title=Net bergamot oil export in 2018 |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514193155/https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore?country=undefined&product=6457&year=2018&productClass=HS&tradeFlow=Net&target=Product&partner=undefined&startYear=undefined |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Bergamot orange]] has been intensively cultivated since the 18th century,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/storiadireggiod00bolagoog |title=Storia di Reggio di Calabria da'tempi primitivi sino all'anno di Cristo 1797 |publisher=Stamp. del Fibreno |page=[https://archive.org/details/storiadireggiod00bolagoog/page/n320 297] |year=1857 |last1=Bolani |first1=Domenico Spano}}</ref> but only in the coastal area nearby to [[Reggio di Calabria|Reggio]], where geological and weather conditions are optimal. The [[Chabad]] Hasidic dynasty have a preference to take [[citron]]s ("Etrog") from this region for the [[Sukkot]] festival.<ref>{{Cite web |title=For Crown Heights Jews, An Italian Twist on an Ancient Tradition |url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120927/crown-heights/for-crown-heights-jews-italian-twist-on-ancient-tradition |access-date=2021-08-11 |website=DNAinfo New York |archive-date=18 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118060750/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120927/crown-heights/for-crown-heights-jews-italian-twist-on-ancient-tradition/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

There is special research [[Stazione Sperimentale per le Industrie delle Essenze e dei Derivati dagli Agrumi|Experimental Station for the Industry of the Essential oils and Citrus products]] in [[Reggio di Calabria]].
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Italian Export of<br> citrus oils<br> in 2018<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore?country=undefined&product=1037&year=2018&productClass=HS&tradeFlow=Net&target=Product&partner=undefined&startYear=undefined |title=Export of essential oils in 2018 |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514195753/https://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore?country=undefined&product=1037&year=2018&productClass=HS&tradeFlow=Net&target=Product&partner=undefined&startYear=undefined |url-status=live }}</ref>
!Value
|-
|[[Bergamot orange|Bergamot]]
|style="text-align:right;"|$2,555,000
|-
|Orange
|style="text-align:right;"|$3,770,000
|-
|[[Lemon]]
|style="text-align:right;"|$60,100,000
|-
|[[Lime (fruit)|Lime]]
|style="text-align:right;"|$0
|-
|Citrus, nes
|style="text-align:right;"|$75,400,000
|-
|[[Jasmine]]
|style="text-align:right;"|$0
|}

The [[province of Cosenza]] represents an important area for [[Common fig|figs]] growing belonging to cultivar "Dottato" that is used to produce the quality-branded dried figs "Fichi di Cosenza" PDO ([[protected designation of origin]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.quattrocalici.it/denominazioni/fichi-di-cosenza-dop/ |title=Fichi di Cosenza DOP |language=it |access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507032508/https://www.quattrocalici.it/denominazioni/fichi-di-cosenza-dop/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Cherimoya|anona cherimoya]], a plant of tropical origin cultivated in Europe only in [[Reggio di Calabria]] and Spain.

In the [[province of Catanzaro]], between [[San Floro]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/art/business-and-economy/2016-02-08/the-silkworm-tradition-restarts-catanzaro-but-there-is-need-for-spinning-mill-da-titolare-163157.php?uuid=ACeHF0PC |title=Two young silkworm breeders revive an ancient silk tradition in rugged Calabria |access-date=2 February 2021 |archive-date=13 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513092345/http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/art/business-and-economy/2016-02-08/the-silkworm-tradition-restarts-catanzaro-but-there-is-need-for-spinning-mill-da-titolare-163157.php?uuid=ACeHF0PC |url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Cortale]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/02/news/italian-fashion-many-yarns-spin-a-revival-in-calabria.html |title=ITALIAN FASHION: Many Yarns Spin a Revival in Calabria |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2 March 2001 |access-date=2 February 2021 |last1=Singleton |first1=Kate |archive-date=7 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207210819/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/02/news/italian-fashion-many-yarns-spin-a-revival-in-calabria.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the ancient tradition of [[sericulture]] is still kept alive, thanks to young generations.

Calabria is the largest producer of [[Boletus edulis|porcini mushrooms]] in Italy, thanks to the heavily wooded forests of the mountains ranges of [[Pollino]], [[La Sila|Sila]], [[Serre calabresi|Serre]] and [[Aspromonte]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://globalepicurean.com/locations/calabria |title=Calabria |website=Global Epicurean |access-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920024346/http://globalepicurean.com/locations/calabria/ |archive-date=20 September 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com/from-the-tyrrhenian-to-the-ionian.php |title=Calabria itineraries from the Tyrrhenian to the Ionian |website=www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com |access-date=5 March 2016 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307080339/http://www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com/from-the-tyrrhenian-to-the-ionian.php |url-status=live }}</ref>  In addition to porcini mushrooms, [[Lactarius deliciosus|red pine mushrooms (rositio)]] are also produced.  [[Chestnut]] production is also widespread in the Calabrian mountains.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Agriculture-forestry-and-fishing |title=Italy – Agriculture, forestry and fishing |access-date=3 December 2020 |archive-date=4 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204161317/https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/Agriculture-forestry-and-fishing |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Peaches]] and nectarines from Calabria have greatly improved in terms of flavour, quality, safety and service. A part of the production is sold on the domestic market, mainly to retailers. The remaining is exported to Northern Europe, mainly [[Scandinavia]] and Germany.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.freshplaza.com/article/2137774/italy-peaches-and-nectrarines-from-calabria-to-northern-europe/ |title=Italy: Peaches and nectrarines from Calabria to Northern Europe |date=3 April 2015 |access-date=3 December 2020 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418062844/https://www.freshplaza.com/article/2137774/italy-peaches-and-nectrarines-from-calabria-to-northern-europe/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The region boasts a very ancient tradition in the cultivation and production of [[liquorice]]. The eighty percent of the national production is concentrated in this region.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/features/amarelli-liquorice-black-gold-calabria |title=Liquorice: black gold in Calabria |access-date=1 December 2020 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126092332/https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/features/amarelli-liquorice-black-gold-calabria |url-status=live }}</ref>

Calabria has long coast and produce some distinctive fish products:
<gallery class="center" widths="180px">
Bottarga tonno (fette).jpg|''[[Bottarga#Italy|Bottarga]] di [[Atlantic bluefin tuna|tonno]]''
Sardella.jpg|[[:it:Sardella|''Sardella calabrese'']]
Xiphias_gladius_stuffed.jpg|[[Swordfish]]
Percoca.jpg|''Percoca'' (variety of [[peach]])
</gallery>

===Manufacturing===
Food and textile industries are the most developed and vibrant. Within the industrial sector, manufacturing contributes to a gross value added of 7.2%. In the manufacturing sector the main branches are foodstuff, beverage and tobacco with a contribution to the sector very close to the national average.<ref name="Ref-1"/>
Over the recent decades some petrochemical, engineering and chemical industries have emerged, within the areas of [[Crotone]], [[Vibo Valentia]] and [[Reggio Calabria]].

The province of Catanzaro boasts a great tradition in the textile manufacturing, especially silk. Recently, several young people have given new life to this activity, developing green and sustainable economy projects. In fact, among the municipalities of [[Girifalco]], [[San Floro]] and [[Cortale]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/art/business-and-economy/2016-02-08/the-silkworm-tradition-restarts-catanzaro-but-there-is-need-for-spinning-mill-da-titolare-163157.php?uuid=ACeHF0PC |title=Two young silkworm breeders revive an ancient silk tradition in rugged Calabria |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=13 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513092345/http://www.italy24.ilsole24ore.com/art/business-and-economy/2016-02-08/the-silkworm-tradition-restarts-catanzaro-but-there-is-need-for-spinning-mill-da-titolare-163157.php?uuid=ACeHF0PC |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catanzaroinforma.it/arte-e-cultura/2021/02/09/lantica-arte-della-tessitura-recuperata-da-un-giovanissimo-artigiano/186399/ |title=A very young artisan rediscovers the ancient art of silk |date=9 February 2021 |language=Italian |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=13 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213202803/https://www.catanzaroinforma.it/arte-e-cultura/2021/02/09/lantica-arte-della-tessitura-recuperata-da-un-giovanissimo-artigiano/186399/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[sericulture]] is still practiced, the breeding of [[silkworms]] combined with the cultivation of [[Morus (plant)|mulberry trees]].

[[Tiriolo]] and [[Badolato]] are known above all for the manufacturing of the "''vancale''", the typical Calabrian shawl, made of [[wool]] or silk, worn by women in ancient times on traditional costumes during the dance of [[tarantella]], or as an ornamental decoration of the houses.
Typical in Tiriolo is also the manufacturing of carpets, [[linen]] and [[Spartium junceum|broom]] fibers, [[bobbin lace]] making, [[embroidery]], precious [[ceramics]], furnishing objects and artistic sculptures. The artistic production of weaving is also active in other centers such as in [[Platania]] and [[Petrizzi]] where once [[hemp]] fibers were also produced.

In [[Soveria Mannelli]], Lanificio Leo,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lanificioleo.it/ |title=Lanificio Leo |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=27 July 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040727023525/https://www.lanificioleo.it/ |url-status=live }}</ref> the oldest textile factory in Calabria founded in 1873, is still active. The factory still retains majestic and evocative tools dating back to the late nineteenth century.

The traditional production of artistic ceramics dating back to the [[Magna Graecia]] period is handed down in the ancient towns of [[Squillace]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/discovering-authentic-calabria-squillace-ceramics-destination-toe-italys-boot |title=Discovering Authentic Calabria: Squillace is a Ceramics Destination on the Toe of Italy's Boot |access-date=20 February 2021 |archive-date=12 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512085833/https://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/discovering-authentic-calabria-squillace-ceramics-destination-toe-italys-boot |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Seminara]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://turismo.reggiocal.it/en/culture/craftsmanship/seminara-ceramics |title=The Ceramics of Seminara |access-date=23 February 2021 |archive-date=29 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429092833/https://turismo.reggiocal.it/en/culture/craftsmanship/seminara-ceramics |url-status=live }}</ref>

The small town of [[Serrastretta]], a green village in the woods of Presila, is known for its wood production, in particular for its chairs characterized by a very original [[straw]].

There is a plant of [[Hitachi Rail Italy]] in [[Reggio di Calabria]], which manufactures [[Passenger car (rail)#Coach|railcars]] of regional trains such as [[:it:Vivalto|Vivalto]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.railwaypro.com/wp/hitachi-completed-production-vivalto-cars-trenitalia/ |title=hitachi completed production vivalto cars |date=14 July 2017 |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514181836/https://www.railwaypro.com/wp/hitachi-completed-production-vivalto-cars-trenitalia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Tourism===
[[File:Pista Azzurra Gambarie.jpg|thumb|Ski trails near [[Gambarie]] overlooking the [[Strait of Messina]]]]
[[File:Reggio calabria museo nazionale bronzi di riace.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Riace bronzes]], Greek bronzes, about 460–430&nbsp;BC]]
[[File:Stilocattolica.jpg|thumb|The Byzantine church known as the ''[[Cattolica di Stilo|Cattolica]]'']]

Tourism in Calabria has increased over the years. The main tourist attractions are the coastline and the mountains. The coastline alternates between rugged cliffs and sandy beaches, and is sparsely interrupted by development when compared to other European seaside destinations. The sea around Calabria is clear, and there is a good level of tourist accommodation. The poet [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]] called the coast facing Sicily near Reggio Calabria "... the most beautiful kilometer in Italy" (''il più bel chilometro d'Italia'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deliciousitaly.com/guide/south-italy-regions/calabria-guide/calabria-itineraries/item/1459-guide-to-reggio-calabria.html |title=Guide to Reggio Calabria |publisher=Delicious Italy |date=8 May 2012 |access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-date=12 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012031655/http://www.deliciousitaly.com/guide/south-italy-regions/calabria-guide/calabria-itineraries/item/1459-guide-to-reggio-calabria.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.insidersabroad.com/italy/regions/calabria |title=Regions – Calabria |publisher=Insiders Abroad |access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319140053/http://www.insidersabroad.com/italy/regions/calabria |archive-date=19 March 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The primary mountain tourist draws are [[Aspromonte]] and [[La Sila]], with its national park and lakes. Some other prominent destinations include:
*[[Reggio Calabria]] is on the strait between the mainland and [[Sicily]], the largest and oldest city in Calabria dating from the 8th century BC, known for its panoramic seaside with botanical gardens between the [[art nouveau]] buildings and the beaches, and its 3,000 years of history with its Aragonese Castle and the [[Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia]] where the [[Riace bronzes]] (''Bronzi di Riace'') are located.
*[[Cosenza]], birthplace of scientist and philosopher [[Bernardino Telesio]] and seat of the [[Cosentian Academy]], known for its cultural institutions, the old quarter, a [[House of Hohenstaufen|Hohenstaufen]] Castle, an open-air museum and an 11th-century Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral. On 12 October 2011, the Cathedral of Cosenza received UNESCO World Heritage status for being "Heritage Witness to a Culture of Peace".<ref name="youritaly">{{cite web |url=http://www.youritaly.com/Guide_Turistiche/CITIES_OF_ART/Cosenza_City |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222062738/http://www.youritaly.com/Guide_Turistiche/CITIES_OF_ART/Cosenza_City |archive-date=22 February 2014 |url-status=dead |title=Youritaly.com &#124; Cosenza City &#124; Calabria |access-date=24 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="italy-holiday">{{cite web |url=http://en.italy-holiday.com/calabria/Cosenza |title=Cosenza – Calabria: Your holiday in Italy |publisher=en.italy-holiday.com |access-date=24 October 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045554/http://en.italy-holiday.com/calabria/Cosenza |url-status=dead}}</ref> This is the first award given by UNESCO to the region of Calabria.
*[[Scilla, Calabria|Scilla]], on the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]], "pearl" of the "Violet Coast", has a delightful panorama and is the site of some of [[Homer]]'s tales.
*[[Tropea]], on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast, is home to a dramatic seaside beach, and the Santa Maria dell'Isola sanctuary. It is also renowned for its sweet red onions (mainly produced in [[Ricadi]]).
*[[Capo Vaticano]], on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is a wide bathing place near Tropea.
*[[Gerace]], near [[Locri]], is a medieval city with a Norman Castle and Norman Cathedral.
*[[Squillace]], a seaside resort and important archaeological site. Nearby is the birthplace of [[Cassiodorus]].
*[[Stilo]], the birthplace of philosopher [[Tommaso Campanella]], with its Norman Castle and [[Byzantine architecture|Byzantine]] church, the ''[[Cattolica di Stilo|Cattolica]]''.
*[[Pizzo Calabro]], on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast, known for its ice cream called "Tartufo". Interesting places in Pizzo are Piazza Repubblica and the Aragonese castle where [[Joachim Murat|Murat]] was shot.
*[[Paola, Italy|Paola]], a town situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast, renowned for being the birthplace of St. Francis of Paola, patron saint of Calabria and Italian sailors, and for the old Franciscan sanctuary built during the last hundred years of the Middle Ages by the will of St. Francis.
*[[Sibari]], on the Ionian coast, a village situated near the archaeological site of the ancient city of ''[[Sybaris]]'', a Greek colony of the 8th century BC.
*[[Lamezia Terme]], the main transportation hub of the region with its international [[Lamezia Terme Airport|airport]] which links it to many destinations in Europe plus Canada and Israel and the [[Lamezia Terme Centrale railway station|train station]]. Several are the historical sights of the city, like the Norman-Swabian castle, the [[La Giudecca|Jewish historical quarter]] and the [[Lamezia Terme Town Library|Casa del Libro Antico (House of the Ancient Book)]] where books from the 16th to the 19th centuries, as well as old globes and ancient maps reproduction are well preserved and available to be seen by the public.
*[[Catanzaro]], an important silk center since the time of the Byzantines, is located at the center of the narrowest point of Italy, from where the Ionian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea are both visible, but not from Catanzaro. Of note are the well-known one-arch bridge (Viaduct Morandi-Bisantis, one of the tallest in Europe), the cathedral (rebuilt after World War II bombing), the castle, the promenade on the Ionian sea, the park of biodiversity and the archaeological park.
*[[Soverato]] on the [[Ionian Sea]], also known as the "Pearl" of the Ionian Sea. Especially renowned for its beaches, boardwalk and nightlife.
*[[Badolato]] near [[Soverato]] is a well-preserved medieval hilltop village with 13 churches. It was selected as one of the 1000 marvels of Italy to mark the [[anniversary of the unification of Italy]].
*[[Nicotera]] on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is a small medieval town with an ancient Ruffo's castle.
*Ancient temples of the Roman gods on the sun-kissed hills of [[Catanzaro]] still stand as others are swept beneath the earth. Many excavations are going on along the east coast, digging up what seems to be an ancient burial ground.
*[[Samo, Calabria|Samo]], a village on the foot of the Aspromonte, is well known for its spring water and ruins of the old village destroyed in the [[1908 Messina earthquake]].
*[[Mammola]], art center, tourist and gastronomic, has an ancient history. The old town, with its small houses attached to each other, the ancient churches and noble palaces. Of particular interest is the Museum Park Santa Barbara, a place of art and cultural events of many international artists and the Shrine of St. Nicodemo of the 10th century, in the highlands of Limina. Its gastronomy with the "Stocco" typical of Mammola, cooked in various ways, other typical products are smoked ricotta and goat cheese, salami pepper and wild fennel, bread "pizza" (corn bread) and wheat bread baked in a wood oven.
*[[Praia a Mare]] on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is a well-known [[tourist city]], thanks to the [[Dino, Calabria|Isola di Dino]] and the seaside beach.
*[[Spilinga]] is known for its spicy pork pâté, [['Nduja]].

Calabria attracts year-round tourism, offering both summer and winter activities, in addition to its cultural, historical, artistic heritage, it has an abundance of protected natural habitats and 'green' zones. The {{cvt|485|mi|abbr=off}} of its coast make Calabria a tourist destination during the summer. The low industrial development and the lack of major cities in much of its territory have allowed the maintenance of indigenous marine life.

The most sought-after seaside destinations are: [[Tropea]], [[Pizzo, Calabria|Pizzo Calabro]], [[Capo Vaticano]], [[Reggio Calabria]], [[Soverato]], [[Scilla, Calabria|Scilla]], [[Scalea]], [[Sellia Marina]], [[Montepaone]], [[Montauro]], Copanello (''comune'' of [[Staletti]]), [[Palmi, Calabria|Tonnara di Palmi]], [[Diamante, Calabria|Diamante]], [[Paola, Calabria|Paola]], [[Fiumefreddo Bruzio]], [[Amantea]], [[Praia a Mare]], [[Belvedere Marittimo]], [[Roseto Capo Spulico]], [[Corigliano Calabro]], [[Cirò Marina]], [[Amendolara]], [[Roccella Ionica]], [[Bagnara Calabra]], [[Nicotera]], [[Cariati]], [[Zambrone]], [[Isola di Capo Rizzuto]], Caminia (''comune'' of [[Staletti]]), [[Siderno]], [[Parghelia]], [[Ricadi]] and [[San Nicola Arcella]].

In addition to the coastal tourist destinations, the interior of Calabria is rich in history, traditions, art and culture. Cosenza is among the most important cultural cities of Calabria, with a rich historical and artistic patrimony. Medieval castles, towers, churches, monasteries and other French castles and structures from the Norman to the Aragonese periods are common elements in both the interior and coastline of Calabria.

The mountains offer skiing and other winter activities: [[Sila National Park|Sila]], [[Pollino National Park|Pollino]] and [[Aspromonte]] are three national parks that offer facilities for winter sports, especially in the towns of Camigliatello (''comune'' of [[Spezzano della Sila]]), Lorica (''comune'' of [[San Giovanni in Fiore]]), [[Gambarie]].

Calabria has many small and picturesque villages, 15 of them have been selected by {{lang|it|[[I Borghi più belli d'Italia]]}} ({{langx|en|The most beautiful Villages of Italy}}),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://borghipiubelliditalia.it/calabria/|title=Calabria|date=10 January 2017 |access-date=1 August 2023|language=it|archive-date=16 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016070021/https://borghipiubelliditalia.it/calabria/|url-status=live}}</ref> a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.repubblica.it/viaggi/2023/01/16/news/borghi_piu_belli_italia_14_nuovi_2023-383794441/|title=Borghi più belli d'Italia. Le 14 novità 2023, dal Trentino alla Calabria|date=16 January 2023 |access-date=28 July 2023|language=it|archive-date=28 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231128130709/https://www.repubblica.it/viaggi/2023/01/16/news/borghi_piu_belli_italia_14_nuovi_2023-383794441/|url-status=live}}</ref> that was founded on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://borghipiubelliditalia.it/|title=I Borghi più belli d'Italia, la guida online ai piccoli centri dell'Italia nascosta|access-date=3 May 2018|language=it|archive-date=25 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225095744/http://www.borghipiubelliditalia.it/index.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Unemployment rate===
The unemployment rate stood at '''20.1%''' in 2020 and was the highest in Italy and one of the highest inside the European Union.<ref name="appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu"/>
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!2006
!2007
!2008
!2009
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
!2020
|-
|'''unemployment rate'''<br />(in %)
|12.8%
|11.1%
|12.0%
|11.3%
|11.9%
|12.6%
|19.4%
|22.3%
|23.4%
|22.9%
|23.2%
|21.6%
|21.6%
|21.0%
|20.1%
|}

==Infrastructure and transport==

===Motorways and rail===

The region is served by three heavily used roads: two national highways along the coasts (the SS18 between [[Naples]] and Reggio Calabria and the SS106 between Reggio Calabria and [[Taranto]]) and the [[Autostrada A2 (Italy)|A2 motorway]],<ref>{{in lang|it}} ''...una vera e propria «vergogna italiana»'', in [http://www.almcalabria.it/calabriaradicale/a3/la-storia-della-salerno-reggio-calabria/ La storia della Salerno Reggio Calabria] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722023438/http://www.almcalabria.it/calabriaradicale/a3/la-storia-della-salerno-reggio-calabria/ |date=22 July 2011 }}, book about Salerno-Reggio Calabria</ref> which links [[Salerno]] to Reggio Calabria, passing by [[Cosenza]] along the old inland route. [[Autostrada A3 (Italy)#Overview)|Building this motorway]] took 55 years and was extremely over budget due to organized crime infiltration.<ref>''Organised crime may be behind problems with southern motorway: Awkward questions remain about Italian infrastructure'', in [http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/organised-crime-may-be-behind-problems-with-southern-motorway-1.1478824] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054517/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/organised-crime-may-be-behind-problems-with-southern-motorway-1.1478824|date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

The main road infrastructures can be classified into two separate groups, the first including the road infrastructures that cross the whole of Calabria from north to south:
{|class="wikitable"
!Number
!Name e<br />length
!Start
!End
!Toll
!Services
|-
|[[File:Autostrada A2 Italia.svg|alt=Simbolo dell'Autostrada A2 del Mediterraneo|50x50px|A2]]|| [[Autostrada A2 (Italy)|Autostrada A2 del Mediterraneo]]<br />(278+400 km su 432+600 km) || Start from [[Autostrada A30 (Italy)|A30]] near [[Fisciano]]|| [[Reggio Calabria]] || Free || [[File:Zeichen 361-51.svg|20px]]  Yes
|-
|[[File:Strada Statale 106 Italia.svg|50px|SS 206]] || [[Strada statale 106 Jonica]]<br />(415,000 km su 491+000km) ||[[Taranto]] ||  [[Reggio Calabria]] || Free || [[File:Zeichen 361-51.svg|20px]]  Yes
|-
|[[File:Strada Statale 18 Italia.svg|50px|SS 18]] || [[Strada statale 18 Tirrena Inferiore]]<br />(535,132 km) || [[Napoli]] || [[Reggio Calabria]] || Free || [[File:Zeichen 361-51.svg|20px]]  Yes
|}

The second group includes the roads, which run through the region from the Tyrrhenian coast to the Ionian coast (west-east) .

There is high-speed rail on Calabria's Tyrrhenian Coast with the [[Frecciargento]] (Silver Arrow) offering a route from Rome to Reggio Calabria. There are also many ferries connecting Calabria with Sicily through the [[Strait of Sicily]] with the main one being from [[Villa San Giovanni]] to Messina.

===Shipping and ports===
[[File:Gioiatauro seaport.jpg|thumb|The seaport of [[Gioia Tauro]]]]
The main Calabrian ports are in [[Gioia Tauro]] and in [[Reggio Calabria]]. 

The [[port of Gioia Tauro]] has seven loading docks with an extension of {{cvt|4646|m|ft|abbr=off}}; it is the largest in Italy and the eighth largest [[container port]] in Europe, with a 2018 throughput of {{TEU|4.0 million}}s<ref>{{cite web |url=https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do |title=The largest European ports |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-date=21 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121154457/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/eurostat/web/main/help/faq/data-services |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Top_20_ports_handling_containers,_2008-2018_(thousand_TEUs).png |title=Top_20_ports_handling_containers |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505171325/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Top_20_ports_handling_containers,_2008-2018_(thousand_TEUs).png |url-status=live }}</ref> from more than 3,000 ships. In a 2006 report, Italian investigators estimated that 80% of Europe's [[cocaine]] arrived from [[Colombia]] via Gioia Tauro's docks. The port is also involved in the [[illegal arms trafficking]]. These activities are controlled by the '''Ndrangheta'' criminal syndicate.<ref name=gua191206>[https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,1974925,00.html Bitter harvest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911230212/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/19/italy.ethicalliving |date=11 September 2019 }}, [[The Guardian]], 19 December 2006</ref>

The [[port of Reggio]] is equipped with five loading docks of a length of {{cvt|1530|m|ft|abbr=off}}.

Other ports:
*Port of Vibo Valentia
*Port of Villa San Giovanni
*Port of Corigliano Calabro
*Port of Crotone

===Air travel===
*[[Lamezia Terme International Airport]], currently the busiest airport in Calabria in terms of number of passengers per year.
*[[Reggio Calabria Airport]], located a few kilometres from Reggio Calabria's city centre, built in 1939 and was Calabria's first airport.
*[[Crotone Airport]]

===Bridges===
Calabria has the two highest bridges in Italy:
*[[Italia Viaduct]]
*[[Sfalassa Viaduct]] (also the highest and longest span frame bridge in the world)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sfalassa_Bridge |title=Sfalassa Bridge |publisher=HighestBridges.com |date=28 March 2010 |access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-date=22 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322001145/http://highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sfalassa_Bridge |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Planned bridge===

[[File:Strait of Messina - NASA.jpg|upright|thumb|left|Picture of the Strait of Messina.]] 
<!--Please leave the title as "Planned bridge, not "The bridge" otherwise people skimming this article will assume the bridge exists (as I did!)
-->
{{Main|Strait of Messina Bridge}}
Plans for a bridge linking Sicily to Calabria have been discussed since 1865. Throughout the last decade, plans were developed for a road and rail link to the mainland via what would be the world's longest [[suspension bridge]], the [[Strait of Messina Bridge]]. Planning for the project has experienced several false starts over the past few decades. On 6 March 2009, [[Silvio Berlusconi]]'s government declared that the construction works for the Messina Bridge would begin on 23 December 2009, and announced a pledge of €1.3&nbsp;billion as a contribution to the bridge's total cost, estimated at €6.1&nbsp;billion.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7928949.stm Italy revives Sicily bridge plan from BBC News]. Retrieved 8 March 2009.</ref>
The plan has been criticized by environmental associations and some local Sicilians and Calabrians, concerned with its environmental impact, economic sustainability and even possible infiltrations by organized crime.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/italy/story/0,,1920199,00.html |work=Guardian.co.uk |title=Italian MPs kill plan to bridge Sicily and mainland |date=2 January 2008 |location=London |first=John |last=Hooper |access-date=30 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120777463250502755?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one&apl=y&r=769642 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |title=No Italian Job Takes Longer Than This Bridge |date=10 April 2008 |first=Gabriel |last=Kahn}}</ref> 

In August of 2025, the Strait of Messina Bridge was given final approval by the Meloni government. Construction is expected to commence in the fall of 2025. The bridge will connect [[Villa San Giovanni]] and [[Torre Faro]] when it opens in 2032 and it will be the [[List of longest suspension bridge spans|longest suspension bridge in the world]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Italy gives final go-ahead for landmark Sicily bridge project |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italy-gives-final-go-ahead-landmark-sicily-bridge-project-2025-08-06/ |website=reuters.com |date=6 August 2025 |access-date=6 August 2025}}</ref>

==Demographics==
{{Historical populations
|1861 |1154840|1871 |1218842|1881 |1281799|1901 |1439329|1911 |1525745|1921 |1627117|1931 |1723428|1936 |1771651|1951 |2044287|1961 |2045047|1971 |1988051|1981 |2061182|1991 |2070203|2001 |2011466|2011 |1959050|2021|1855454|source=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Popolazione residente e presente dei comuni. Censimenti dal 1861 al 1971|trans-title=Resident and present population of the municipalities. Censuses from 1861 to 1971|url=https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/Censimentipopolazioneresidentedal1861/PUV0027177Pop_res_pres_cens_1861_1971_Tomo1.pdf|date=1971-10-24|lang=it|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Dashboard Permanent census of population and housing|url=https://esploradati.censimentopopolazione.istat.it/databrowser/#/en/censtest/dashboards|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]}}</ref>}}

The following is a list of Calabrian communes with a population of over 20,000:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Statistiche demografiche ISTAT |url=http://demo.istat.it/bilmens2010gen/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726150755/http://demo.istat.it/bilmens2010gen/index.html |archive-date=2017-07-26 |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=demo.istat.it}}</ref>
# [[Reggio Calabria]] – 168,572
# [[Catanzaro]] – 83,247
# [[Corigliano-Rossano]] – 74,002
# [[Lamezia Terme]] – 67,168
# [[Cosenza]] – 63,241
# [[Crotone]] – 58,181
# [[Rende]] – 36,819
# [[Vibo Valentia]] – 30,913
# [[Castrovillari]] – 20,566
# [[Montalto Uffugo]] – 20,050

==Government and politics==
{{Main|Politics of Calabria}}

===Sister jurisdictions===
*{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Burwood, New South Wales|Burwood]], Australia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.burwood.nsw.gov.au/our_burwood/sister_cities.html |title=Sister and Friendship Cities |publisher=[[Burwood Council]] |date=17 August 2012 |access-date=9 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327151049/http://www.burwood.nsw.gov.au/our_burwood/sister_cities.html |archive-date=27 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|USA}} State of [[West Virginia]], United States.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.consiglioregionale.calabria.it/upload/testicoordinati/LR%206-2006.pdf |title=Patto d'amicizia tra la Calabria ed il West Virginia |access-date=16 October 2012 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402163335/http://www.consiglioregionale.calabria.it/upload/testicoordinati/LR%206-2006.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Administrative divisions==

Calabria is divided into five provinces:



{|class="wikitable center" style="text-align:center; width:50%;"
|-
!Coat of arms
!Province
!Municipalities
!Inhabitants
!Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
!Map
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of the Province of Catanzaro.svg|70px]]
|[[Provincia di Catanzaro|Catanzaro]]
|80
|340.679
|2415,45
|[[File:Map of province of Catanzaro (region Calabria, Italy).svg|140px]]
|-
|[[File:Provincia di Cosenza-Stemma.svg|70px]]
|[[Provincia di Cosenza|Cosenza]]
|150
|668.992
|6709,75
|[[File:Map of province of Cosenza (region Calabria, Italy).svg|140px]]
|-
|[[File:Italy.Province.Crotone.COA.png|70px]]
|[[Provincia di Crotone|Crotone]]
|27
|160.775
|1735,68
|[[File:Map of province of Crotone (region Calabria, Italy).svg|140px]]
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of the Province of Reggio-Calabria.svg|70px]]
|[[Province of Reggio Calabria|Reggio Calabria]]
|97
|516.601
|3210,37
|[[File:Map of province of Reggio Calabria (region Calabria, Italy).svg|140px]]
|-
|[[File:Provincia di Vibo Valentia-Stemma.svg|70px]]
|[[Provincia di Vibo Valentia|Vibo Valentia]]
|50
|149.899
|1150,64
|[[File:Map of province of Vibo Valentia (region Calabria, Italy).svg|140px]]
|-
|[[File:Flag of Calabria.svg|70px]]
|'''Calabria'''
|'''404'''
|'''1.836.946'''
|'''15221,90'''
|[[File:Map of region of Calabria, Italy, with provinces-it.svg|140px]]
|}

==Language==
{{Main|Languages of Calabria}}
[[File:Carta Occitania.pdf|thumb|La Gàrdia (Guardia Piemontese) and the other main cities of [[Occitania]], in the [[Occitan language|Occitan]] language]]

Although the official national language of Calabria has been Standard Italian since before unification in 1861, Calabria has dialects that have been spoken in the region for centuries. The Calabrian language is a direct derivative of Latin. Most linguists divide the various [[dialects of Calabria|dialects]] into two different language groups. In the northern area of the region,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/scn/23 |title=report for language code:sic<!-- Titre généré automatiquement --> |work=Ethnologue |access-date=15 September 2020 |archive-date=16 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916233112/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/scn/23 |url-status=live }}</ref> the Calabrian dialects are considered part of the [[Neapolitan language]] and are grouped as Northern Calabrian. In the rest of the region, the Calabrian dialects are often grouped as Central and Southern Calabrian, and are considered part of the [[Sicilian language]]. However, in [[Guardia Piemontese]], as well as some quarters of Reggio Calabria, a variety of [[Occitan language|Occitan]] called [[Gardiol]] can also be found. In addition, since Calabria was once ruled by the French and Spanish, some Calabrian dialects exhibit Spanish and French influences.
Another important linguistic minority, in the nine towns of [[Bovesia|Bovesìa]] in the province of [[Reggio Calabria]], speaks a derivative of [[ancient Greek]] called [[Griko language|Grecanico]], a remnant of [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] rule and ancient [[Magna Graecia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eu.greekreporter.com/2019/12/10/calabrian-greek-a-language-on-the-brink-of-extinction/ |title=Calabrian Greek, a Language on the Brink of Extinction |work=Greek Reporter |first=Kerry |last=Kolasa-Sikiaridi |date=December 10, 2019 |access-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-date=30 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930061714/https://eu.greekreporter.com/2019/12/10/calabrian-greek-a-language-on-the-brink-of-extinction/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Religion===
The majority of Calabrians are [[Roman Catholic]]. Historically, Calabrians were [[Greek Orthodox Church|Greek Orthodox]], and in 732 the dioceses of southern Italy were even moved to the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. There are also communities of [[Evangelical]]s in the region.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://rabbibarbara.com/secret-jews-evangelical-christians/ |title=Secret Jews Evangelical Christians |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=27 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127100019/https://www.rabbibarbara.com/secret-jews-evangelical-christians/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Calabria has also been called "The Land of Saints" as the region was the birthplace of many saints spanning nearly 2,000 years.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://orthodoxengland.org.uk/oeitaly.htm |title=Orthodox Europe :: Italy |website=orthodoxengland.org.uk |access-date=28 February 2016 |archive-date=28 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128083018/http://orthodoxengland.org.uk/oeitaly.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://orthochristian.com/7354.html |title=Orthodox Christianity in Southern Italy. Part 1 |website=OrthoChristian.Com |access-date=8 February 2021 |archive-date=2 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702123302/http://orthochristian.com/7354.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.roadtoemmaus.net/back_issue_articles/RTE_30/Land_That_Gave_Birth_To_Saints.pdf |title=A JOURNAL OF ORTHODOX FAITH AND CULTURE – Road to Emmaus |access-date=28 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220080647/http://www.roadtoemmaus.net/back_issue_articles/RTE_30/Land_That_Gave_Birth_To_Saints.pdf |archive-date=20 December 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://modeoflife.org/calabria-italys-holy-mountains-the-link-between-east-and-west/ |title=CALABRIA: ITALY'S HOLY MOUNTAINS |date=28 June 2012 |access-date=15 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202103436/http://modeoflife.org/calabria-italys-holy-mountains-the-link-between-east-and-west/ |archive-date=2 February 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The most famous saint in Calabria and also the patron saint of the region is St. [[Francis of Paola]]. Calabria also has another patron saint called Saint [[Bruno of Cologne]] who was the founder of the [[Carthusian]] Order. Saint Bruno would build the charterhouse of [[Serra San Bruno]], a town which bears his name, in 1095 and later die there in 1101.

Even though it is currently a very small community, there has been a long history of the presence of [[History of the Jews in Calabria|Jews in Calabria]]. The Jews have had a presence in the region for at least 1600 years and possibly as much as 2300 years. Calabrian Jews have had notably influence on many areas of Jewish life and culture. Although virtually identical to the Jews of Sicily, the Jews of Calabria are considered a distinct Jewish population due to historical and geographic considerations. There is a small community of Italian [[Anusim]] who have resumed the Jewish faith.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishroots.it/ |title=Center for the Study of Jewry in Calabria and Sicily |access-date=11 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612053046/http://www.jewishroots.it/ |archive-date=12 June 2010}}</ref>

It is important to highlight the presence of Calabrians in [[Renaissance humanism]] and in the [[Renaissance]]. Indeed, the Hellenistics in this period frequently came from Calabria maybe because of the Greek influence. The rediscovery of Ancient Greek was very difficult because this language had been almost forgotten. In this period the presence of Calabrian humanists or refugees from Constantinople was fundamental. The study of Ancient Greek, in this period, was mainly a work of two monks of the monastery of [[Seminara]]: [[Barlaam of Calabria|Barlaam]], [[bishop of Gerace]], and his disciple, [[Leonzio Pilato]]. [[Leonzio Pilato]], in particular, was a Calabrian born near [[Reggio Calabria]]. He was an important teacher of Ancient Greek and translator, and he helped [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] in the translations of [[Homer]]'s works.

==Cuisine==
{{See also|Calabrian wine|U cumbitu}}
[[File:'Nduja.JPG|thumb|[['Nduja]]]]
The cuisine is a typical southern Italian [[Mediterranean cuisine]] with a balance between meat-based dishes (pork, lamb, goat), vegetables (especially [[eggplant]]), and fish. Pasta (as in central Italy and the rest of southern Italy) is also very important in Calabria. In contrast to most other Italian regions, Calabrians have traditionally placed an emphasis on the preservation of their food and packing vegetables and meats in [[olive oil]], and on making sausages and cold cuts (''[[soppressata]]'', [['Nduja|'nduja]], ''[[capocollo]]''). Along the coast fish is cured, especially [[swordfish]], [[sardine]]s (''sardelle rosamarina'') and [[cod]] (''[[Dried and salted cod|baccalà]]''). Local desserts are typically fried, honey-sweetened pastries such as ''cudduraci'', nacatole, ''scalille'' or ''scalidde'', or baked [[biscotti]]-type treats such as ''nzudda''.

Some local specialties include [[Caciocavallo|''caciocavallo'' cheese]], ''[[Red onion|cipolla rossa di Tropea]]'' (red onion), ''[[Frittole (meat dish)|frìttuli]]'' and ''[[curcùci]]'' (fried pork), [[liquorice]] (''liquirizia''), ''[[Lagane e ceci|lagane e cicciari]]'' (a pasta dish with [[chickpea]]s),'' [[pecorino crotonese]]'' (sheep cheese), morzello (bowels of veal), and ''[[pignolata]]''.

In ancient times Calabria was referred to as ''Enotria'' (from [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|Οἰνωτρία}}, ''{{transliteration|grc|[[Oenotria]]}}'', 'land of wine'). According to [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] tradition, {{lang|grc|Οἴνωτρος}} (''{{transliteration|grc|[[Oenotrus]]}}''), the youngest of the sons of [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)|Lycaon]], was the [[eponym]] of Oenotria.<ref name="theoi">{{cite web |url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias8A.html |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Arcadia, 8.3.5, at Theoi Project |publisher=theoi.com |access-date=24 October 2015 |archive-date=13 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113093013/http://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias8A.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Some vineyards have origins dating back to the ancient Greek colonists. The best known [[Denominazione di origine controllata|DOC]] wines are [[Calabrian wine#Cirò|Cirò]] ([[province of Crotone]]) and Donnici from the [[Cosenza|Donnici]] region ([[province of Cosenza]]). 3% of the total annual production qualifies as DOC. Important grape varieties are the red [[Gaglioppo]] and white [[Vino Greco|Greco]]. Many producers are resurrecting local, ancient grape varieties which have been around for as long as 3000 years.<ref>[http://www.the-wine-library.co.uk/A-E/C/Terms/Calabria.html The-Wine-Library] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605012224/http://www.the-wine-library.co.uk/A-E/C/Terms/Calabria.html |date=5 June 2009 }} Short Description of wine in Calabria</ref>

==Sport==
[[File:Stadio San Vito-Marulla - Cosenza.jpg|thumb|Cosenza Calcio Stadium]]
The most popular sport in Calabria is [[Association football|football]]. In the [[2023–24 Serie B]] season, Calabria hosts 2 out of 20 teams: [[Cosenza Calcio]] and Catanzaro. Other big teams of the region are Crotone and Vibonese, who are playing in the [[2023–24 Serie C]].

[[Viola Reggio Calabria]]  is an Italian professional [[basketball]] club based in [[Reggio Calabria]], Calabria.

==Universities==
There are 3 public universities in the region of Calabria
*[[University of Calabria]] (Cosenza)
*[[Magna Graecia University]] (Catanzaro)
*[[Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria]]

There is also the private [[Università per stranieri "Dante Alighieri" di Reggio Calabria|University for Foreigners "Dante Alighieri" in Reggio Calabria]].

==Health==
[[File:Ospedali della Calabria.png|thumb|right| public hospitals in Calabria ]]
The health service in Calabria is organized into four main public hospitals and thirty secondary ones, and there are numerous private hospital facilities. Because of their debts, since 2009 they were administered by an extraordinary commissioner. It has been seen as an unavoidable step to return to an ordinary and cost-effective administration at a regional level, as it is provided by the Italian Constitution.

The four main public hospitals are

*Azienda Ospedaliera "Pugliese-Ciaccio", [[Catanzaro]]
*Azienda Ospedaliera "Mater Domini", [[Catanzaro]]
*Azienda Ospedaliera di Cosenza, [[Cosenza]]
*Ospedali Riuniti di Reggio Calabria, [[Reggio Calabria]]



==Notable people==
{{Main|List of people from Calabria}}

==See also==
* [[1783 Calabrian earthquakes]]
* [[1905 Calabria earthquake]]
* [[1908 Messina earthquake]]
* [[Arbëreshë people]]
* [[Duke of Calabria]]
* [[Bruttians]]
* [[Griko people|Grecanici]]
* [[Magna Graecia]]
* [[Oenotrians]]
* [[Strait of Messina Bridge]]
* [[Theme of Sicily]]
* [['Ndrangheta]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Grant |first=Michael |title=The History of Rome |publisher=Faber and Faber |year=1993 |isbn=0-571-11461-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Lane Fox |first=Robin |title=The Classical World |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2005 |isbn=0-14-102141-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Matyszak |first=Philip |title=The Enemies of Rome |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=New York |year=2004 |isbn=0-500-25124-X}}
* {{cite book |last=Musti |first=Domenico |chapter=La spinta verso il Sud: espansione romana e rapporti "internazionali" |title=Storia di Roma |volume=I |publisher=Einaudi |location=Turin |year=1990 |isbn=978-88-06-11741-2}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*Dal Lago, Enrico, and Rick Halpern, eds. ''The American South and the Italian Mezzogiorno: Essays in Comparative History'' (2002) {{ISBN|0-333-73971-X}}
*Dunston, Lara, and Terry Carter. ''Travellers Calabria'' (Travellers – Thomas Cook) (2009), guidebook
*Moe, Nelson. ''The View from Vesuvius: Italian Culture and the Southern Question'' (2002)
*Schneider, Jane. ''Italy's 'Southern Question': Orientalism in One Country'' (1998)

==External links==
* [http://www.regione.calabria.it/ Calabria Region]
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Calabria|short=x}}

{{Calabria}}
{{Regions of Italy}}
{{Italy topics}}
{{Sister bar|auto=y}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Calabria| ]]<!--please leave the empty space as standard-->
[[Category:Peninsulas of Italy]]
[[Category:Bruttium|*]]
[[Category:Regions of Italy]]
[[Category:NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union]]
[[Category:Wine regions of Italy]]