Santa Severina

Of Byzantine origins, Santa Severina has around 2,500 inhabitants. Perched on a rocky knoll dominating the Neto Valley, midway between the Ionian Sea and the Sila mountains, it has an illustrious millennial history intertwined with famous personalities of temporal and spiritual power. The centre of the town is the Castle, where visitors can see the archaeological museums, presenting artefacts from ancient indigenous populations, the Ancient Greek colonisation of the West, and Byzantine, Norman, Swabian, Angevin, Aragonese and feudal influences. In the castle's ancient Byzantine cistern is the new Valle del Neto municipal wine winehouse: an important showcase for the area, presenting the wineries bordering the legendary river Neto. The castle dominates Piazza Campo, whose impressive buildings include the Romanesque cathedral and the Archbishop's Palace with the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art, an authentic treasure chest of historical and artistic beauty that tells the story of the Byzantine metropolis established at the end of the 9th century. A majestic presence on the same square is the Baptistry, the oldest ecclesiastical monument open for worship in Calabria, a jewel of 7th-9th century Byzantine art. The beauty of the town, well-kept and harmonious and with a unique environmental heritage, does not end with its monuments: in fact, it also includes one of the SIC (Sites of Community Importance) areas of the Marquisate of Crotone and Monte Fuscaldo, and it represents a watershed between the valleys of the rivers Tacina and Neto.