Crotone is the City of Pythagoras and only this suggests old Kroton has a lot more to it than at first meets the eye. In fact, Crotone is the oldest part of Magna Grecia in Calabria, while at the same time being the youngest province in Italy. Between the two an awful lot has happened in 5000 years.
For a start the land has been constantly eroded by the Neto river which flows from the Sila mountains, once a favorite spot for Virgil. This has left many small coves and beaches popular with tourists. Some of them also harbored the Greek fleet which at one point was set alight by the wives of the sailors who were tired of traveling.
It is land where the Venetian brothers, Attilio and Emilio, tried to stir up the locals in a revolt against the Bourbons and where one of Italy's largest olive groves still exists, the Pidocchiella.
A huge chimney still stands to mark a licorice factory and the second town of the province, Cirò Marina, still displays its Saracen Markets where Turkish traders used to sell their goods. Even off the coast there are numerous Turkish, Greek, Roman, Spanish and Venetian ship wrecks which must still hold priceless artefacts.
Not to miss are the Castle of Charles V and the nearby Archaeological Museum. The Crotone Cultural Heritage Authority simply title their informative brochure "The Castle" and it really is a bastion on a fortified rock on what was once the ancient acropolis of Crotone until 840 AD. What we see today is a unique example of both a secure castle (not built on top of a hill but surrounding it) and the development of military defences from the medieval to renaissance period. It would have remained perfectly intact but for a series of earthquakes in the 19th century.
The Archaeological Museum contains unique finds which were once part of local private collections in the hands of noble families, as well as recent excavations from the city when urban work was commissioned. The jewel in the crown, literally, is the amazing gold tiara or diadem found during excavations of the the sanctuaroy of the Goddess Hera at nearby Capo Colonna.
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