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Catanzaro is a city in Calabria
Calabria

Calabria , is a Regions of Italy in Southern Italy Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, the capital of both the province of Catanzaro
Province of Catanzaro

The Province of Catanzaro is a Provinces of Italy of the Calabria region, in Italy. The city of Catanzaro is capital both of the province and of the region....
 and the whole region of Calabria. This ancient town rises on a rock and is split into two parts by the steep Fiumarella valley, the two sections being connected by a huge concrete steel bridge (the Viadotto Morandi), among the highest in Europe, built in 1960 on a design by architect Riccardo Morandi
Riccardo Morandi

Riccardo Morandi was an Italian civil engineer best known for his interesting use of reinforced concrete. Amongst his best known works were the General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge, an 8 km crossing of Lake Maracaibo incorporating seven cable-stayed bridge spans with unusual piers, and the Subterranean Automobile Showroom in Turin....
. The beach side neighborhood Catanzaro Lido, located about 5 kilometers south, has a wide promenade and a harbor for small fishing and pleasure boats.






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Catanzaro is a city in Calabria
Calabria

Calabria , is a Regions of Italy in Southern Italy Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, the capital of both the province of Catanzaro
Province of Catanzaro

The Province of Catanzaro is a Provinces of Italy of the Calabria region, in Italy. The city of Catanzaro is capital both of the province and of the region....
 and the whole region of Calabria. This ancient town rises on a rock and is split into two parts by the steep Fiumarella valley, the two sections being connected by a huge concrete steel bridge (the Viadotto Morandi), among the highest in Europe, built in 1960 on a design by architect Riccardo Morandi
Riccardo Morandi

Riccardo Morandi was an Italian civil engineer best known for his interesting use of reinforced concrete. Amongst his best known works were the General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge, an 8 km crossing of Lake Maracaibo incorporating seven cable-stayed bridge spans with unusual piers, and the Subterranean Automobile Showroom in Turin....
. The beach side neighborhood Catanzaro Lido, located about 5 kilometers south, has a wide promenade and a harbor for small fishing and pleasure boats. The urban area
Urban area

An urban area is an area with an increased Population density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be city, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlet ....
, however, has over 150,000 inhabitants. Italians call it "the city of the three V
V

V is the twenty-second letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English language is spelled vee ....
's" - these latter being Vitaliano (Vitalianus, the patron saint of the town), velluto (velvet
Velvet

File:Ottoman cover.jpgVelvet is a type of tufted textile in which the cut yarns are very evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it a distinct feel....
 - it was a textile center since Norman times) and venti (winds, for the breeze blowing from the Sila mountains and the sea).

History

The origins of the name are debated. Some say it derived from two Byzantine
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
 generals, Kattaro and Zaro, while another theory is that Zaro was the original name of the river (Zarapotamo), so that katà Zaro would mean beyond the river. According to Luigi Settembrini
Luigi Settembrini

Luigi Settembrini was a Neapolitan man of letters and politician...
, the name could also be derived by the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 words kata'- antheros "on the flowery (hills)"

The old town was built over three hills (St. Trifone or St. Rocco Hill; Episcopate's Hill; St. John's Hill) in Byzantine times.

In the 15th century, under the Aragonese domination of southern Italy, Catanzaro was the silk producing capital of the world that created silks and lace for the world's courts and Vatican
Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
. Merchants often came from all over Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 to buy the silk in the port of Reggio Calabria
Reggio Calabria

Reggio di Calabria , commonly known as Reggio Calabria or Reggio, is a city in southern Italy Italy, the Capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria as well as the largest and oldest city in the Calabria region....
 before Pentecost
Pentecost

Pentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christianity liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day after Easter Sunday?or the 50th day, inclusively, whence its name is derived from the Greek....
 day.

During the revolt of Calabrian barons of 1528, the Spanish viceroy Pedro Alarcon de Mendoza with 11,000 loyal troops resisted a long siege, gaining for the city the title of magnifica at fidelissima by emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
 and the right to mint coin.

A devastating earthquake
Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph....
 in 1783 wiped away churches, palaces and a large part of the population, and a second in earthquake in 1832 completed the destruction of most of the ancient historical buildings.

Catanzaro was once a flourishing Byzantine
Byzantine

The word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of Byzantine Empire, or native Greeks during the Middle Ages ....
 center as well as an early Norman outpost. The former Norman castle still remains today.

Main sights

  • Duomo (Cathedral). Built over a Norman
    Norman architecture

    The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries....
     cathedral built in 1121, in the 16th century it received a Renaissance façade which was however destroyed in 1638. The church was almost entirely destroyed by the bombings of 1943, and was later rebuilt.
  • Basilica
    Basilica

    The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a ancient Rome public building , usually located in the Forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC....
     dell'Immacolata    .
  • Church of the Santissimo Rosario (15th or 16th century), with a Renaissance façade and a single nave interior.
  • Church of Sant'Omobono (11th or 12th century).
  • Byzantine small church of Sant'Omobono (11th century).
  • Chiesa dell'Osservanza, or Santa Teresa. In the interior is the 16th century Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre and a statue of "Madonna delle Grazie" by Antonello Gagini
    Antonello Gagini

    Antonello Gagini was an Italy sculptor of the Renaissance, mainly active in Sicily and Calabria.Antonello was a member of a family of sculptors and artisans, originally from Northern Italy, but active throughout Italy, including Genoa, Florence, and Rome....
    .
  • Remains of the Norman Castle.
  • Porta di S. Agostino and Porta di Stratò, two gates which are the last remains of the medieval walls, demolished in 1805.
  • Palazzo de' Nobili (15th century), now Town Hall.


Notable people

Catanzaro is home of the Nobel prize
Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
 winner Renato Dulbecco
Renato Dulbecco

Renato Dulbecco is an Italian virologist who won a 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on reverse transcriptase. In 1973 he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University together with Theodore Puck and Harry Eagle....
 and of the contemporary artist Mimmo Rotella
Mimmo Rotella

Domenico "Mimmo" Rotella, , was an Italy artist and poet best known for his works of Decollage and psychogeographics, made from torn advertising posters....
, inventor of the Decollage
Décollage

D?collage, in art, is the opposite of collage; instead of an image being built up of all or parts of existing images, it is created by cutting, tearing away or otherwise removing, pieces of an original image....
.

Economy

Catanzaro's economy is mostly based on tertiary and services. Industries are mostly medium- and small-size companies working with a local market.

Transportation

Catanzaro is served by the SS106 Jonica state road which connects it to the A3 Highway.

In the city centre is a funicular line with three stations. A metropolitan service (with c. 1,600,000 users per year, with 20 trains working) is provided by Ferrovie della Calabria, with a total of 11 railway stations in the city, plus others in 12 comuni of the hinterland. The rest of the public transportation system is based on 49 bus lines of AMC (Azienda per la Mobilità Catanzaro).

External links