Tropea is a candidate for Italian Capital of Culture for 2021. This beautiful city in Calabria, pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is not only sea and charming beaches, but it has a thousand-year history, it is home to noble palaces, museums, cathedrals and, over the centuries, it has also brought together important personalities of art and science. Visiting Tropea means taking a step back in time, between history and legends.
One of these claims that the founder of Tropea was Hercules, returning from Colonne (present-day Gibraltar), when it stopped on the coast of southern Italy.
Another legend says that, in the middle of the 18th century, there was a storm and that, off the coast of Capo Vaticano, some fishermen caught in their nets a large branch of coral, rare and appreciated at that time. The fishermen sold it to merchants in Torre del Greco. With the profits they built a house for their families. They decided to superimpose the buildings on top of each other, creating, over time, an architectural miracle that has even defied earthquakes, remaining intact. Precisely because of its shape, this building, which is a group of superimposed houses, takes the name Corallone.
Due to its position as a terrace overlooking the sea, Tropea played an important role in both Roman and Byzantine times and there are many remains left by the Byzantines, such as the church on the promontory and the city walls called “walls of Belisarius".
But the historic center of Tropea is a gem: churches, starting with that of Santa Maria dell'Isola, which is the symbol of the city. Built on the rock of the same name, once inhabited by hermits, the Sanctuary can be reached via a staircase dating back to 1810. Once at the top, the view is impressive.
Then there are the noble palaces from the 18th and 19th centuries and the portals built in different historical periods make the city unique. And this is not its only peculiarity: here the sunsets over the sea are unmissable, with the sun seeming to cast itself into the Stromboli volcano. From its port it embarks towards the Aeolian Islands.
We tend to think of Tropea as a summer holiday destination and rightly so. There are many beaches and each one is characterized by some particularity. There is the most suggestive, the roundabout beach, with a stunning view offered by the cliff overlooking the sea; there is the biggest one, the 'Linguata beach, which has very white sand in front of a turquoise sea, perfect for snorkeling; and there is the most romantic one, the diver's cave, which can only be reached by swimming (or pedal boating) along the islet. From Tropea extends a wonderful coastal strip called Costa degli Dei. But this is another journey.
