Cherrye Moore

A southern Italy travel consultant living in Calabria. If Calabria sounds interesting to you, is intriguing to you, then join her in 2012 for the Calabrian Table Tour, an 8-day cooking, food, wine and culture tour of Calabria.

The Pollino – A Secret Worth Keeping

Reggio Calabria, Calabria

The Pollino Mountains – Calabria’s youngest and Italy’s largest national park – stretches through northern Calabria into neighboring Basilicata. The land, rugged and wild, is indifferent to its grandeur and much like the strong Calabrian women who call this land home, it can’t be properly appreciated – or understood – by those who rush. Dolomite… (more)

Mystery Monastery

Morano Calabro, Calabria

If you’ve ever traveled south on the A3 Highway through Calabria, you might have noticed ancient ruins looming above the motorway. This sight – il Monastero di Colloreto – was built in 1545 as an Augustan convent. The ruins are remarkable and the site is much larger than it seems from the street, however, reaching… (more)

Vibo Valentia

Vibo Valentia, Calabria

Vibo Valentia, the capital of Calabria’s smallest and youngest province, is located between Pizzo and Tropea on Calabria’s Tyrrhenian Coast. It is often bypassed for its star-studded neighbors, whose Miocene cliffs and tufa caves dominate the guide books, but Vibo and its seaside counterpart, Vibo Marina, also merit a stop. The old town was named… (more)

Tempting Tropea

Tropea, Calabria

Tropea is one of the most famous names in Calabria travel and is known throughout the south for its sparkling blue-green waters, dramatic views and quintessential Italian village. According to legend, Ercole (Hercules) came through and became so enamored with the area that he settled the land and named it after himself, hence the name… (more)

Little Village … Big Culture

Civita, Calabria

Civita, a pint-sized village located in the Pollino Mountains in the province of Cosenza was settled in the 1400s by Albanian refugees and is now home to Calabria’s largest Albanian community. Locals still speak (and teach their children through the local school system) their native language, costumes and traditions are carried on in festivals and… (more)

Morano Calabro

Morano Calabro, Calabria

Pronounced “MORE-Raan-O Cal-a-BRO”, this is one of Calabria’s most enchanting city centers and has been listed as “One of Italy’s 100 Most Beautiful Villages.” It has monochromatic houses stacked into the mountainside … charming alleyways and quaint hidden corners … a monumental church and ruined fortress that dominate the top of the hilltop town. Morano’s… (more)

Tasty Tartufo Truffles on Tyrrhenian Turf

Pizzo Calabro, Calabria

Pizzo, a sleepy fisherman’s village on the Tyrrhenian coast is known for Castello Murat, the site where Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother-in-law, Jacques Murat, came to his hastened end in 1815. That said, if you’ve visited the caste (umm… that’s why you came here, right?) well then you’re already in the area… and so you might as… (more)

The Chiesetta di Piedigrotta

Pizzo Calabro, Calabria

Tucked below the road just outside Pizzo Calabro and all but invisible to unwitting travelers, La Chiesetta di Piedigrotta is one of Calabria’s most interesting attractions. According to a 17th Century legend, a group of sailors were caught in a storm just off of the coast of Pizzo. Fearing an imminent death, the captain gathered… (more)

Scalea’s Hidden Treasure

Scalea

Named after the Italian word scale (steps or stairs), Scalea sits on a step terraced cliff packed right up against the Tyrrhenian Sea and is accessible only by, you guessed it, climbing stairs. As with much of southern Italy, throughout the ages this Calabrian town has been controlled by Normans, Arabs, Spanish, and Greeks, but… (more)

Le Castella, Calabria

Crotone

What do Greek mythology, majestic sand castles, and Turkish warships have in common? The answer lies in an almost-forgotten land, twenty minutes outside of Crotone, Calabria. Le Castella, whose history is debated by scholars, is shroud with mystery and enchantment. According to Homer, Le Castella was once the home of the Greek goddess, Calypso, and… (more)

Messina’s Bell Tower

Messina

Someone obviously pushed for something with bit more punch than the standard dlin dlon (yes, in Italian bells make this sound) for Messina, Sicily. Well, they obviously had it their way, because every day at noon the bell tower of the Cathedral in Messina might both dlin and dlon, but it also puts on a… (more)

The Madonna of the Letter