Itinerary along the Costa dei Gelsomini in Calabria

Starting from the Greek area, the first stop along the Costa dei Gelsomini is Palizzi Marina, which offers nature lovers the enchanting landscape of its gullies.

The White Gullies of Palizzi are one of the unmissable places along the Riviera dei Gelsomini. They represent a unique and protected ecosystem (Site of Community Interest - SIC), as well as a naturalistic context of delicate beauty. The scenery is truly lunar, characterised by layers of marly limestone and light-coloured clays that, at times, take on blue hues, surrounded by typical Mediterranean vegetation.

Palizzi Marina is the seaside hamlet of Palizzi Superiore, which is well worth a visit. You get there by driving along panoramic hairpin bends, from which you can enjoy a breathtaking view of the entire Costa dei Gelsomini. Upon arrival, the village welcomes us under a gigantic rock, where the remains of the ancient Palizzi Castle stand.

Before leaving this evocative locality, we recommend a taste of the prized Palizzi TGI wine, which earned the town recognition as a "Wine City".

The Costa dei Gelsomini boasts one of the most beautiful and unspoilt stretches of nature along the Brancaleone Marina beach, not surprisingly chosen every year by Caretta Caretta turtles for nesting.

This is home to a Sea Turtle Recovery Centre, one of the most important in the Mediterranean, whose visit is a must for young and old alike, and which is connected to the Brancaleone Sea Museum, another place to discover the secrets of the area's marine fauna and flora.

Among the Costa dei Gelsomini's most beautiful beaches, Brancaleone's is also home to the 16th-century Galati Tower, in a panoramic position amidst vineyards and olive groves. 

Brancaleone is one of the most important "literary places" in Calabria, famous for having hosted the writer Cesare Pavese, Strega Prize in 1950 for his novel "La bella estate", who served his sentence of confinement here. Not to be missed is a visit to Cesare Pavese's House-Museum, which still houses the original furnishings and various literary memorabilia belonging to the great writer. 

For archaeology lovers, we recommend a visit to the Archaeological Urban Park of Brancaleone Vetus (ancient Sperlinga), which stands out behind the present-day town, on a sandstone hill, as a real "ghost town".

An unmissable third stop on the Riviera dei Gelsomini is Casignana, whose historic centre on the hillside is matched by a very charming marina.

The gem of this area is the Villa Romana di Casignana, one of the most important Roman archaeological sites in the region. Discovered in the 1960s, the Villa di Casignana dates back to between the 1st and 4th centuries. It features a large thermal complex, accessible through a portico, and richly decorated with mosaics: in the frigidarium, also known as the "Hall of the Nereids", which is octagonal in shape, four female figures ride a lion, a bull, a horse and a tiger. The complex also includes a rectangular paved hall and a monumental nymphaeum with cisterns.

When to visit the hilltop town? On 16 August, for the Feast of San Rocco, and in the same month for the Maccheroni Festival and the Bread Festival.

The small capital of Locride, the town of Locri is one of the landmarks of the Costa dei Gelsomini.

One of the most famous city-states of Magna Graecia, it preserves its glorious past within the boundaries of the National Archaeological Park of Locri Epizefiri, gateway to the dimension in which Zaleucus, the first legislator of the western world, and Nossis, the poetess of love, lived. Founded at the end of the 8th century B.C. by the Greeks, Locri preserves shrines and monumental temples, from which come artefacts and statuary partly preserved in the National Archaeological Museum in Reggio Calabria, partly in the small local Archaeological Museum in Marasà.

The present-day town of Locri is arranged in the marina, along the Costa dei Gelsomini, and offers a visit to the Church of Santa Caterina and the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Mastro. Also worth seeing are the Renaissance-style "Spinola" Palace and the Monument to Nossis, on the seafront, by sculptor Tony Custureri.

You can't spend the summer on the Costa dei Gelsomini without stopping in Roccella Ionica, home of the now unmissable Roccella Summer Fest, the mega bill of summer concerts on the beach, inaugurated a few seasons ago by the Jova Beach Party.

Among the Blue Flag beaches of the Riviera dei Gelsomini, Roccella offers sea lovers sand with small pebbles and clean sea, lidos equipped with every comfort and a small harbour.

The unmistakable symbol of the town is the imposing Carafa Castle, towering on the top of the hill and one of the best preserved in the region. A breathtaking panoramic viewpoint over the Costa dei Gelsomini, as well as a venue for events and exhibitions, the castle is part of a larger defensive complex (the fortified citadel of Rupella, later to become Roccella) that also includes the Mother Church, the Baroque-style Church of San Nicola di Bari and the Pizzofalcone Tower.

The historical centre, at the foot of the castle, is a maze of alleyways and noble palaces, some of which are home to important cultural institutions, such as the Roccella com'era Association and the "Scholé" School of Philosophy.

The centre of events and cultural life in Roccella Ionica? The former Convent of the Minims, a splendid 16th-century navy building adjacent to the Church of San Vittore.

The last stop along the Costa dei Gelsomini, Monasterace Marina is the site of the ancient Magna Graecia city of Kaulon.

Today, its remains can be seen at the National Archaeological Park of Ancient Kaulon and the adjoining National Archaeological Museum. The park extends parallel to the coastline, in an area divided between the urban area, the site of the ancient settlement with wonderful baths decorated with mosaics (the Mosaic of the Dragon and the Dolphins is famous), and the sacred area, where the remains of a monumental Doric Temple stand. The city was destroyed in the Hellenistic Age (389 BC) at the hands of the tyrant of Syracuse Dionysius I.  

In addition to its unspoilt, free beach, among the most beautiful beaches on the Costa dei Gelsomini, Monasterace offers a visit to the hilltop village, home to a beautiful medieval castle and Baroque churches, such as the Mother Church and San Nicola di Bari.