Street art in Calabria, a tour of the most beautiful murals

Walls to leaf through, like pages in a big picture book. In Calabria, villages are filled with colour: streets, houses, squares change skin and the language of art becomes the tool to give new life to places.

The first was Diamante, where graffiti appeared on the walls as early as the early 1980s and for this reason it is known as the "town of murals", but today more and more towns are being coloured, from one side of Calabria to the other. Here are three not-to-be-missed stops.

After a stroll along the Seafront, a stroll through the alleyways of this town overlooking the Riviera dei Cedri, also famous for its Chilli Pepper Festival, is a must.

The "street art" operation was born in 1981 thanks to the Ligurian painter Nani Razetti, who gathered about eighty Italian and foreign artists in the Tyrrhenian town. Since then, Diamante has changed its skin and today is part of the "Painted Villages of Italy" network. You can lose yourself in alleys and narrow streets to admire the more than two hundred paintings on the walls that make Diamante an open-air museum.

Italian and foreign artists have passed through here over the years and created their works on the façades of the houses in the historic centre. On the external walls of the Mother Church, for example, one can admire the history of Calabria, starting with the oldest graffito: the bos primigenius engraved in the Romito Cave in Papasidero.

The street artist Jorit, pseudonym of Ciro Cerullo (that of the famous Maradona in Naples) is the author of the portrait of Jean Michel Basquiat, one of the fathers of writing, created to mark the 36th anniversary of his death. Diamante's murals evoke facts, crafts, faces, they are thoughts to dwell on. Evocative and poetic, among others, is the large mural created by Padua artist Tony Gallo.

Colourful walls, pinwheels, enormous rubber flowers, swings: in Borgo Croce - a small hamlet of Fiumara, in the province of Reggio Calabria - you will feel as if you are living in a fairytale atmosphere. This microscopic village of 45 inhabitants (which become many more in summer) has become a popular destination for tourists, for its glimpses to be discovered and photographed.

Time, strolling through the alleys, seems to stand still, among the red poppies or giant daisies that have given new life to the old wooden gates and the proverbs engraved on the walls. A place to return to as a child, almost hypnotised by the colourful drawings, set between the blue of the sky and the green of the surrounding mountains. You won't find any shops or restaurants here, but if you are lucky some of the locals will offer you food and a good glass of wine.

Gretel watering the plants, Hansel on the swing, the bench with Queen Elizabeth's face, the colourful hopscotch game on the cobblestones and intended not only for children but also for adults. A walk to Petilia Policastro, in the province of Crotone, will be enough to fill you with good humour.

This town has colourful views, almost an open-air museum. This is thanks to artist Giuseppe Caruso and his wife Manuela Arminio, who after having lived far from their land for a long time, have returned with a project to realise: to give these places a new identity. Strolling through the alleyways, one remains enchanted, each painting a story that invites one to stop and reflect. Before leaving, you must take a photo in front of the large white wings that have become iconic, and to go back in time, all you have to do is take a pebble and play the bell that artist Caruso has drawn on the paving stones.