Sila

The Calabria National Park offers different scenery and itineraries, including the Sila Grande and the Sila Greca in the Province of Cosenza, and the Sila Piccola in the Province of Catanzaro. Among the most typical places for a relaxing and, at the same time interesting, weekend we suggest Camigliatello, Lorica and San Giovanni in Fiore in the Sila Grande, in the Sila Greca Longobucco, famous for its craft work, in the Sila Piccola, Mancuso and Racise Villages, lovely accommodation centres. Most worthy of interest are the Florense Abbey and the Folklore Museum of San Giovanni in Fiore, the archaeological finds of Longobucco, the Preti Art Gallery dedicated to the famous “Cavaliere calabrese” at Taverna. Finally, for those wishing to admire scenic beauty in absolute tranquillity there is the Sila Small-Gauge Railway that will take you back to bygone times.An ideal break in the Sila is crowned by sampling the food without equal, the locally produced pressed pork meats and cheeses with their unique flavours or the variety of potatoes produced only on the Sila plateau. However, above all other flavours reigns that of the mushroom, real sovereign of the local cuisine. By the way, we suggest the Mushroom Festival, that is held here every October, and the Potato Festival, in November.

Aspromonte

Finally, the Aspromonte National Park, with its extraordinary variety of landscape, will guarantee you a weekend in wild and unspoilt scenery.There are different routes to explore to trace the origins of the “fiumare” – mountain torrents that plunge down to the sea – first and foremost the Torrent Amendolea, and the beauties of the River Menta waterfalls, the Torrents Ferraina and Forgiarelle (the Aspromonte Waterfalls).From Santo Stefano d’Aspromonte, one of the most important villages in the Park, it is easy to reach the highest peak of the massif, the Montalto, from where you can admire the unique panorama that takes in the Straits of Messina on the one hand, and the Ionian sea on the other, and the famous Polsi Sanctuary, an important Marian shrine.The area of Santo Stefano moreover, is important both for the archaeological finds and for the remains of more recent history. In fact, the woods surrounding the village were the theatre of Garibaldi’s adventure as is commemorated here by the Garibaldi Mausoleum. The Aspromonte is also sport and outdoor entertainment. In this regard we suggest Gambarie, a characteristic tourist resort, that has many sports facilities (Sport at Gambarie). But the real attractions are the villages of Greek origin, where echoes still survive, in the customs, costumes and language, of the ancient Hellenic civilisation. The most important centre is Bova. Here both craft work and cookery (the “curcudia” and the “suvlacia” should be tasted) testify to Greek origins. But also Roghudi, Palizzi, Africo and San Lorenzo participate in the preservation of their ancient roots.

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