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VIBO VALENTIA
Vibo Valentia
(Italian:
[ˈviːbo vaˈlɛntsja] is a city and
comune
(municipality) in the
Calabria region
of southern
Italy, near the
Tyrrhenian Sea.
It is the capital of the
province of Vibo Valentia,
and is an agricultural, commercial and tourist center (the most famous
places nearby are
Tropea,
Ricadi and
Pizzo). There are
also several large manufacturing industries, including the tuna district
of Maierato. Very important for the local economy is the
Vibo Marina's
harbour.
History
Vibo Valentia was
originally the
Greek colony of Hipponion. It was founded, probably around the late 7th century
BC, by inhabitants of
Locri, a
principal city of the Italian
Magna Graecia,
south of Vibo Valentia on the
Ionian Sea.
Diodorus Siculus
reports that the city was taken in 388 BC by
Dionysius the Elder
tyrant of
Syracuse, who
deported all the population. The population came back in 378 BC, with
the help of the
Carthaginians. In
the following years Hipponion came under the dominion of the
Bruttii, who
controlled most of
Calabria. After
the town fell to
Rome, the name
was Latinized to Hipponium. The town became a Roman colony in 194
BC with the name of Vibo Valentia. After a phase of prosperity during
the late Republic and early Empire, the town was almost completely
abandoned after the fall of the
Western Roman Empire.
In 1070 the
Normans built a
castle at the site of the old Acropolis and in 1235 a new city was
established by
Frederick II,
Holy Roman emperor and king of Sicily, with the name of Monteleone.
The city got back the old Roman name of Vibo Valentia only in 1928.
Main sights
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Norman-Hoehenstaufen
Castle, located most likely on the site of Hipponion acropolis, and
built around 1000. For its construction materials from the Greek
temples nearby were used. It was damaged by an
earthquake in 1783.
Today the castle is home to a state museum.
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Walls of Hipponion,
including c. 350 meters of remains and foundings of eight towers
(whose height has been estimated in 10 meters).
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Church of Santa
Maria Maggiore e San Leoluca (Cathedral), built in the 9th century
over the remains of a Byzantine basilica. It has an 18th-century
marble high altar with a 16th-century sculpture of "Madonna della Neve",
and a Renaissance triptych.
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Church of Santa
Ruba (c. 1000), built by Pope
Callixtus II.
It has a large cupola in Oriental style.
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Church of the
Rosario (c. 1337), located over a Roman temple. Originally in Gothic
style, it was remade after the 1783 earthquake.
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Contact us
mailto:mcaputo4163
Banner photo by, Maurizio
Giraldi |
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THE COIN FROM CALABRIA: DISCOVERING THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF MY CALABRIAN PEOPLE,
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