Calabria

Calabria is a region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. It has 1,832,147 residents as of 2025 across a total area of . Catanzaro is the region's capital.

Calabria is the birthplace of the name of Italy, given to it by the Ancient Greeks who settled in this land starting from the 8th century BC. They established the first cities, mainly on the coast, as Greek colonies. During this period Calabria was the heart of Magna Graecia, home of key figures in history such as Pythagoras, Herodotus and Milo.

In Roman times, it was part of the ''Regio III Lucania et Bruttii'', a region of Augustan Italy. After the Gothic War, it became and remained for five centuries a Byzantine dominion, fully recovering its Greek character. Cenobitism flourished, with the rise throughout the peninsula of numerous churches, hermitages and monasteries in which Basilian monks were dedicated to transcription. The Byzantines introduced the art of silk in Calabria and made it the main silk production area in Europe. In the 11th century, the Norman conquest started a slow process of Latinization.

In Calabria there are three historical ethnolinguistics minorities: the Grecanici, speaking Calabrian Greek; and the Occitans of Guardia Piemontese. This extraordinary linguistic diversity makes the region an object of study for linguists from all over the world.

Calabria is famous for its crystal clear sea waters and is dotted with ancient villages, castles and archaeological parks. Three national parks are found in the region: the Pollino National Park (which is the largest in Italy), the Sila National Park and the Aspromonte National Park.

Etymology

Starting in the third century BC, the name ''Calabria'' was originally given to the Adriatic coast of the Salento peninsula in modern Apulia. In the late first century BC this name came to extend to the entirety of the Salento, when the Roman emperor Augustus divided Italy into regions. The whole region of Apulia received the name ''Regio II Apulia et Calabria''. By this time modern Calabria was still known as ''Bruttium'', after the Bruttians who inhabited the region. Later in the seventh century AD, the Byzantine Empire created the Duchy of Calabria from the Salento and the Ionian part of Bruttium. Even though the Calabrian part of the duchy was conquered by the Lombards during the eighth and ninth centuries AD, the Byzantines continued to use the name ''Calabria'' for their remaining territory in Bruttium.

Originally the Greeks used ''Italoi'' to indicate the native population of modern Calabria, which according to some ancient Greek writers was derived from a legendary king of the Oenotri, Italus.

Over time the Greeks started to use ''Italoi'' for the rest of the southern Italian peninsula as well. After the Roman conquest of the region, the name was used for the entire Italian peninsula and eventually the Alpine region too.

Geography

The region is generally known as the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula, and is a long and narrow peninsula which stretches from north to south for , with a maximum width of . Some 42% of Calabria's area, corresponding to 15,080 km², is mountainous, 49% is hilly, while plains occupy only 9% of the region's territory. It is surrounded by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. It is separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina, where the narrowest point between Capo Peloro in Sicily and Punta Pezzo in Calabria is only .

Three mountain ranges are present: Pollino, La Sila, and Aspromonte, each with its own flora and fauna. The Pollino Mountains in the north of the region are rugged and form a natural barrier separating Calabria from the rest of Italy. Parts of the area are heavily wooded, while others are vast, wind-swept plateaus with little vegetation. These mountains are home to a rare Bosnian Pine variety and are included in the Pollino National Park, which is the largest national park in Italy, covering 1,925.65 square kilometres.

La Sila, which has been referred to as the "Great Wood of Italy", is a vast mountainous plateau about above sea level and stretches for nearly along the central part of Calabria. The highest point is Botte Donato, which reaches . The area boasts numerous lakes and dense coniferous forests. La Sila also has some of the tallest trees in Italy which are called the "Giants of the Sila" and can reach up to in height. The Sila National Park is also known to have the purest air in Europe.

The Aspromonte massif forms the southernmost tip of the Italian peninsula bordered by the sea on three sides. This unique mountainous structure reaches its highest point at Montalto, at , and is full of wide, man-made terraces that slope down toward the sea.

Most of the lower terrain in Calabria has been agricultural for centuries, and exhibits indigenous scrubland as well as introduced plants such as the prickly pear cactus. The lowest slopes are rich in vineyards and orchards of citrus fruit, including the Diamante citron. Further up, olives and chestnut trees appear while in the higher regions there are often dense forests of oak, pine, beech and fir trees.

Climate

Calabria's climate is influenced by the sea and mountains. The Mediterranean climate is typical of the coastal areas with considerable differences in temperature and rainfall between the seasons, with an average low of during the winter months and an average high of during the summer months. Mountain areas have a typical mountainous climate with frequent snow during winter. The erratic behavior of the Tyrrhenian Sea can bring heavy rainfall on the western slopes of the region, while hot air from Africa makes the east coast of Calabria dry and warm. The mountains that run along the region also influence the climate and temperature of the region. The east coast is much warmer and has wider temperature ranges than the west coast. The geography of the region causes more rain to fall along the west coast than that of the east coast, which occurs mainly during winter and autumn and less during the summer months.

Below are the two extremes of climate in Calabria, the warm mediterranean subtype on the coastline and the highland climate of Monte Scuro.

Geology

Calabria is commonly considered part of the "Calabrian Arc", an arc-shaped geographic domain extending from the southern part of the Basilicata Region to the northeast of Sicily, and including the Peloritano Mountains (although some authors extend this domain from Naples in the north to Palermo in the southwest). The Calabrian area shows basement (crystalline and metamorphic rocks) of Paleozoic and younger ages, covered by (mostly Upper) Neogene sediments. Studies have revealed that these rocks comprise the upper part of a pile of thrust sheets which dominate the Apennines and the Sicilian Maghrebides.van Dijk, J.P., Bello, M., Brancaleoni, G.P., Cantarella, G., Costa, V., Frixa, A., Golfetto, F., Merlini, S., Riva, M., Toricelli, S., Toscano, C., and Zerilli, A. (2000, a); A new structural model for the northern sector of the Calabrian Arc. Tectonophysics, 324, 267–320.

The Neogene evolution of the Central Mediterranean system is dominated by the migration of the Calabrian Arc to the southeast, overriding the African Plate and its promontories.Argand, E. (1922); La tectonique de l'Asie. Comptes Rendus 3rd Int. Geol. Congr., Liège (Be), 1922, 1, 171–372.Boccaletti, M., and Guazzone, G. (1972, b); Evoluzione paleogeografica e geodinamica del Mediterraneo: i bacini marginali. Mem. Soc. geol. It., 13, 162–169.) The main tectonic elements of the Calabrian Arc are the southern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt, the "Calabria-Peloritani", or simply Calabrian block and the Sicilian Maghrebides fold-and-thrust belt. The foreland area is formed by the Apulia Platform, which is part of the Adriatic Plate, and the Ragusa or Iblean Platform, which is an extension of the African Plate. These platforms are separated by the Ionian Basin. The Tyrrhenian oceanized basin is regarded as the back-arc basin. This subduction system therefore shows the southern plates of African affinity subducting below the northern plates of European affinity.

The geology of Calabria has been studied for more than a century.Ogniben, Leo (1973); Schema geologico della Calabria in base ai dati odierni. Geol. Romana, 12, 243–585.Ippolito, Felice (1959); Bibliografia geologica d'Italia, Vol. 4, Calabria. C.N.R., RomaCortese, E. (1895); Descrizione geologica della Calabria. Mem. Descrit. Carta Geol. It., 9, 310 pp., Roma. The earlier works were mainly dedicated to the evolution of the basement rocks of the area. The Neogene sedimentary successions were merely regarded as "post-orogenic" infill of "neo-tectonic" tensional features. In the course of time, however, a shift can be observed in the temporal significance of these terms, from post-Eocene to post-Early Miocene to post-middle Pleistocene.

The region is seismically active and is generally ascribed to the re-establishment of an equilibrium after the latest (mid-Pleistocene) deformation phase. Some authors believe that the subduction process is still ongoing, which is a matter of debate.

History

Calabria has one of the oldest records of human presence in Italy, which date back to around 700,000 BC when a type of ''Homo erectus'' evolved leaving traces around coastal areas. During the Paleolithic period Stone Age humans created the " Bos Primigenius", a figure of a bull on a cliff which dates back around 12,000 years in the Romito Cave in the town of Papasidero. When the Neolithic period came the first villages were founded around 3,500 BC.

Antiquity

According to the Greeks, the region would have been inhabited before colonization by several communities, including the Ausones-Oenotrians (vine-growers), who were the Italians, Morgetes, Sicels, and Chone. It is said that it was from the mythical ruler Italus that Calabria was called “Italy”. The figure of Italus is placed in the first half of the 15th century BC. Antiochus of Syracuse, considered the first historian of the West, depicts him as “A good and wise king, capable of subduing neighboring peoples making use of persuasion and force from time to time”.

Around 1500 BC a tribe called the Oenotri ("vine-cultivators"), settled in the region. Ancient sources state they were Greeks who were led to the region by their king, Oenotrus. However it is believed they were an ancient Italic people who spoke an Italic language.
During the eighth and seventh centuries BC, Greek settlers founded many colonies (settlements) on the coast of southern Italy. In Calabria they founded Chone ( Pallagorio), Cosentia (Cosenza), Clampetia ( Amantea), Scyllaeum (Scilla), Sybaris (Sibari), Hipponion (Vibo Valentia), Epizephyrian Locris (Locri), Kaulon ( Monasterace), Krimisa ( Cirò Marina), Kroton (Crotone), Laüs (''comune'' of Santa Maria del Cedro), Medma ( Rosarno), Metauros ( Gioia Tauro), Petelia ( Strongoli), Rhégion (Reggio Calabria), Scylletium (Borgia), Temesa ( Campora San Giovanni), Terina ( Nocera Terinese), Pandosia ( Acri) and Thurii, (Thurio, ''comune'' of Corigliano Calabro).

In the year 744 B.C. a group of Chalcidian settlers founded the city of Rhegion (today Reggio Calabria) at the southern end of the Calabrian peninsula. Soon after, again the Chalcidans founded Zancle (current Messina) on the other side of the strait, securing their dominion over that arm of the sea. Later Chalcidian settlers from Rhegion and Zancle would found Metauros (Gioia Tauro), divided the river of the same name (today Petrace) from the Italic city of the Tauri.

In 710 B.C. Ionian colonists founded Sybaris on the fertile plain of the same name at the mouth of the Crati. From this colony would later originate the founding of Paestum (in Lucania), Lao (at the mouth of the river of the same name) and Scidros (between Cetraro and Belvedere Marittimo). Ionian colonies were (in the area between Amantea and San Lucido), Temesa (between Amantea and Nocera Terinese), Terina (in the plain of Sant'Eufemia), Krimisa ( Cirò Marina), Petelia ( Strongoli).

In 743 B.C. Achaean settlers instead founded Kroton (current Crotone), on the point now known as Capo Colonna. Crotonians and Sybarites would later become rivals. But meanwhile, the Crotonians founded the colonies of Caulonia (near today's Monasterace Marina) and Scillezio (Squillace). Around 700 B.C. Crotonian colonists founded Bristacia, current Umbriatico.

Around 680 B.C. colonists who came from the Greek Locris founded Epizephyrian Locris, near present-day Locri. Colonies of the Locrians were Hipponion (Vibo Valentia) and Medma ( Rosarno).

The Bruttians, similar to the neighboring Lucanians, declared themselves independent of their “cousins” from beyond the Pollino around the 4th century B.C., forming themselves into a confederate state. The capital of the federates was Consentia, present-day Cosenza. It was one of the main cities along with Pandosia, a city whose traces have been lost; some historical references locate it among the municipalities of Castrolibero, Marano Principato, and Marano Marchesato, while other recent archaeological discoveries would locate the city near the present city of Acri, Aufugum ( Montalto Uffugo), Argentanum ( San Marco Argentano), Bergae, Besidiae (Bisignano), and Lymphaeum ( Luzzi).

Between 560 and 550 B.C. a decade-long war was fought between Kroton and Epizephyrian Locris, which was resolved by the battle on the Sagra River, which saw the alliance between the people of Reggio and Locri emerge victorious.

In 510 B.C. the Crotonians attacked nearby Sybaris, and faced the Sybarites on the River Trionto, in a clash between 100,000 Crotonians and 300,000 Sybarites. The Dorians won the battle and occupied Sybaris by sacking it for 70 days and diverting the waters of the Crati River onto the ruins of the city.

In 444 B.C. Athenian and Peloponnesian colonists founded, on the site of the destroyed Sybaris, the colony of Turi, at the behest of Pericles in the détente plan related to the Thirty Years' Peace in the Peloponnesian War.

In 338 BC. Locri asked Dionysius of Syracuse for help against the expansion of Reggio (no longer allied with the Locrians) and Croton. The Syracusans intervened in the Calabrian peninsula by defeating the Crotonians on the narrowest point of the river Sagra, current Allaro, and occupying Croton for ten years, an event that put an end to the power of the Crotonians; similar fate befell Reggio, which although having resisted the numerous attacks of Dionysius of Syracuse, in 386 BC after eleven months of siege was taken by the Syracusans, and for some years also weakened in its political power.

Rhegion was the birthplace of one of the famed nine lyric poets, Ibycus and Metauros was the birthplace of another, Stesichorus, who was amongst the first lyric poets of the western world. Kroton spawned many victors during the ancient Olympics and other Panhellenic Games. Amongst the most famous were Milo of Croton, who won six wrestling events in six Olympics in a row, along with seven events in the Pythian Games, nine events in the Nemean Games and ten events in the Isthmian Games and also Astylos of Croton, who won six running events in three Olympics in a row. Through Alcmaeon of Croton (a philosopher and medical theorist) and Pythagoras (a mathematician and philosopher), who moved to Kroton in 530 BC, the city became a renowned center of philosophy, science and medicine. The Greeks of Sybaris created "Intellectual Property." The Sybarites founded at least 20 other colonies, including Poseidonia (Paestum in Latin, on the Tyrrhenian coast of Lucania), Laüs (on the border with Lucania) and Scidrus (on the Lucanian coast in the Gulf of Taranto). Locri was renowned for being the town where Zaleucus created the first Western Greek law, the "Locrian Code" and the birthplace of ancient epigrammist and poet Nossis.

The Greek cities of Calabria came under pressure from the Lucanians who conquered the north of Calabria and pushed further south, taking over part of the interior, probably after they defeated the Thurians near Laus in 390 BC. A few decades later the Bruttii took advantage of the weakening of the Greek cites caused by wars between them and took over Hipponium, Terina and Thurii. The Bruttii helped the Lucanians fight Alexander of Epirus (334–32 BC), who had come to the aid of Tarentum (in Apulia), which was also pressured by the Lucanians. After this, Agathocles of Syracuse ravaged the coast of Calabria with his fleet, took Hipponium and forced the Bruttii into unfavourable peace terms. However, they soon seized Hipponium again. After Agathloces' death in 289 BC the Lucanians and Bruttii pushed into the territory of Thurii and ravaged it. The city sent envoys to Rome to ask for help in 285 BC and 282 BC. On the second occasion, the Romans sent forces to garrison the city. This was part of the episode which sparked the Pyrrhic war.

With the passage of time the name Italy was consolidated in common usage beginning to define the inhabitants of the city-states of the Mezzogiorno first as Italiotes, then Italics with the arrival of the Romans and, only much later would it move up the peninsula to define “Italy” in its entirety with the conquest of Cisalpine Gaul by Julius Caesar.

Romanisation

At the beginning of the 3rd century BC the cities of southern Italy, which had been allies of the Samnites, were still independent but inevitably came into conflict as a result of Rome's continuous expansion as their expansion in central and northern Italy had not been sufficient to provide new arable lands they needed.

Pyrrhic War

Between 280 and 275 BC the Tarentine War was fought between Rome and Taranto. The latter sought help from Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who in 280, together with his allies, the Bruttians and Lucanians, defeated the Romans at the Battle of Heraclea, thanks to the use of elephants. But Pyrrhus was later defeated by the Romans at Maluentum (current Benevento) in 275 and retreated to Sicily, where Syracuse needed help against the Carthaginians. Transiting through Calabria, Pyrrhus' army is said to have sacked the shrine of Persephone in Locri, running - it is said - into the wrath of the gods. This, combined with the fact that Rome had formed alliances with some of the last poleis of Magna Graecia, including Reggio, caused Pyrrhus to return home.

After Pyrrhus was eventually defeated, to avoid Roman revenge the Bruttii submitted willingly and gave up half of the Sila, a mountainous plateau valuable for its pitch and timber. Rome subjugated southern Italy by means of treaties with the cities.

Punic Wars

Between 264 and 251 BC the First Punic War was fought in Sicily, between Rome and Carthage, which would end with the creation of the Roman province of Sicily. Following the Carthaginian provocation with the siege of Saguntum, Spain, the Second Punic War broke out in 217 BC. The Carthaginian general Hannibal, after taking Saguntum and Marseille, crossed the Alps and defeated the Romans at the Trebbia River, the Ticino River, Lake Trasimeno, and in 216 BC at Cannae in Apulia.

After the victory at Cannae, Hannibal achieved his first important political-strategic results. He then made a brief raid on the Roman Ager before retiring to Capua for his leisure. Hannibal sent his brother Mago with part of his forces into Bruttium to accommodate the surrender of those cities that abandoned the Romans and to force out those that refused to do so. The people of Petelia, who remained loyal to the Romans, were attacked not only by the Carthaginians, who occupied their region, but also by the Bruttians who had instead allied themselves with Hannibal. After withstanding a long siege, which lasted 11 months, because the Romans were unable to help them, with their consent, they surrendered. The city was conquered and Hannibal led the army to Cosenza, which, after a less harsh defense, fell to the Carthaginians. At the same time an army of Bruttians, besieged and occupied another Greek city, Croton, except for the fortress alone, inhabited by less than 2,000 people. The Locrians also passed to the Bruttians and the Carthaginians. Only the Regginians preserved their loyalty to Rome and their independence to the last.

Hannibal also had a history of the Punic Wars written on the Carthaginian side, and ordered it to be kept in the temple of Juno Lacinia in Crotone so that the Romans could not falsify the history of the war. Plutarch, writing his work, also drew from that source. But in the summer of 204 B.C. they Romans arrived in Calabria and enslaved the Bruttians to punish them for their rebellion. Vast estates were requisitioned and assigned to members of the Roman aristocracy.

During the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) the Bruttii allied with Hannibal, who sent Hanno, one of his commanders, to Calabria. Hanno marched toward Capua (in Campania) with Bruttian soldiers to take them to Hannibal's headquarters there twice, but he was defeated on both occasions. When his campaign in Italy came to a dead end, Hannibal took refuge in Calabria, whose steep mountains provided protection against the Roman legions. He set up his headquarters in Kroton and stayed there for four years until he was recalled to Carthage. The Romans fought a battle with him near Kroton, but its details are unknown. Many Calabrian cities surrendered to the Romans and Calabria was put under a military commander.

Roman era

Nearly a decade after the war, the Romans set up colonies in Calabria: at Tempsa and Kroton (Croto in Latin) in 194 BC, Copiae in the territory of Thurii (Thurium in Latin) in 193 BC, and Vibo Valentia in the territory of Hipponion in 192 BC.

Starting in the third century BC, the name ''Calabria'' was given to the Adriatic coast of the Salento peninsula in modern Apulia. In the late first century BC this name came to extend to the entirety of the Salento, when the Roman emperor Augustus divided Italy into regions and modern Calabria was known as Regio III Lucania et Bruttii.

From 186 B.C., repression of the Bacchanalia, and of the Greek cult of Bacchus, is triggered throughout Magna Graecia as part of a plan to Romanize southern Italy.

Between 136 and 132 BC, the First Servile War was fought in Sicily. The Syrian slave Eunus gathered some 200,000 serfs, proclaiming himself king, and for a full four years held out against the Roman legions from the strongholds of Enna and Taormina. Eventually Rome crushed the repression and had 20 000 slaves crucified throughout the island. The servile war was an expression of the discontent of the slave class, who were disenfranchised and on whom the entire Roman economy rested.

Still in 132 B.C. the consul Popilius Lenate ordered the construction of the Via Capua-Rhegium, also known as Via Popilia, which, tracing the route now occupied by the A2 Highway and State Road 18 Tirrena, reached Reggio. In this period the main towns in Calabria were Cosenza, Crotone, Temesa, Turi, Vibo Valentia Taurianum, and Reggio.

Between 91 and 89 BCE the Social War was fought, at the end of which the Roman Senate granted the Italics Roman citizenship.

Between 73 and 71 B.C. the Third Servile War was fought, during which the Thracian gladiator Spartacus gathered around him tens of thousands of desperate slaves, including many Bruttians, and set out from Capua northward, defeating many Roman legions. But the intervention of Marcus Licinius Crassus will crush in a battle on the Sele River in Campania any claim of Spartacus and his men. 6,000 slaves will be crucified along the Appian Way.

Magna Graecia is commiserated by Marcus Tullius Cicero in a 44 B.C. letter written from Calabria, during the journey to Greece that the orator undertook in the confusing situation determined after Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March.

Imperial era

In rearranging Italy's political geography, Octavian Augustus merged Calabria and Basilicata into Regio III Lucania et Bruttii, with the capital and seat of the corrector in Reggio, the region's largest city.

Also Augustus exiled his daughter Julia, guilty of excessive sentimental vivacity, to Reggio.

In 61 Paul the Apostle passed through Reggio one day on his way to Rome. Christianity spread in Calabria to the port centers and along the Via Popilia, vital areas of the Roman region.

Emperor Trajan will have the Via Traiana opened during his rule, which is roughly traced by the old State Road 18 Tirrena halfway up the coast.

In 305 the Calabrian patrician of Bruttian origin Bulla rebelled against the Roman Empire with 600 horsemen and 5,000 infantrymen. He was defeated by the imperial militia, but Rome could never fully control the forests of Sila.

On October 1, 313 Constantine I promulgated the Edict of Milan in favor of Christianity, which began to spread more and more so that in 391 Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed it the state religion. In 363 Basil the Great landed in Calabria. He was then in Caesarea. It was his disciples who from the ninth century founded various monasteries and cenobia, laying the foundations of the Calabrian-Greek monastic tradition.

In 365 an earthquake accompanied by a tidal wave shook the southern Mediterranean, affecting the coastal towns of Calabria.

The Roman Empire split into two branches. The Western branch, ruled by Honorius with its capital in Ravenna, suffered in 410 the invasion of Alaric's Visigoths, who sacked Rome and then marched south. Legend has it that Alaric died in Cosenza, being buried at the confluence of the Crati and Busento under the two rivers.

Middle Ages

With the fall of the western part of the Roman Empire in 476, Italy was taken over by the Germanic chieftain Odoacer and later became part of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in 489. The Ostrogothic kings ruled officially as Magistri Militum of the Byzantine Emperors and all government and administrative positions were held by the Romans, while all primary laws were legislated by the Byzantine Emperor. Therefore, during the sixth century, under the Ostrogoths' rule, Romans could still be at the center of government and cultural life, such as the Roman Cassiodorus who, like Boethius and Symmachus, emerged as one of the most prominent men of his time. He was an administrator, politician, scholar and historian who was born in Scylletium (near Catanzaro). He spent most of his career trying to bridge the divides of East and West, Greek and Latin cultures, Romans and Goths, and official Christianity and Arian Christianity, which was the form of Christianity of the Ostrogoths and which had earlier been banned. He set up his Vivarium (monastery) in Scylletium. He oversaw the collation of three editions of the Bible in Latin. Seeing the practicality of uniting all the books of the Bible in one volume, he was the first who produced Latin Bibles in single volumes. The most well-known of them was the Codex Grandior which was the ancestor of all modern western Bibles.

Cassiodorus was at the heart of the administration of the Ostrogothic kingdom. Theodoric made him quaestor sacri palatii (quaestor of the sacred palace, the senior legal authority) in 507, governor of Lucania and Bruttium, consul in 514 and magister officiorum (master of offices, one of the most senior administrative officials) in 523. He was praetorian prefect (chief minister) under the successors of Theodoric: under Athalaric (Theodoric's grandson, reigned 526–34) in 533 and, between 535 and 537, under Theodahad (Theodoric's nephew, reigned 534–36) and Witiges (Theodoric's grandson-in-law, reigned, 536–40). The major works of Cassiodorus, besides the mentioned bibles, were the Historia Gothorum, a history of the Goths, the Variae and account of his administrative career and the Institutiones divinarum et saecularium litterarum, an introduction to the study of the sacred scriptures and the liberal arts which was very influential in the Middle Ages.

Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Emperor Justinian I, retook Italy from the Ostrogoths between 535 and 556. They soon lost much of Italy to the Lombards between 568 and 590, but retained the south for around 500 years until 1059–1071, where they thrived and where the Greek language was the official and vernacular language. In Calabria and towns such as Stilo and Rossano and San Demetrio Corone achieved great religious status. From the 7th Century many monasteries were built in the Amendolea and Stilaro Valleys and Stilo was the destination of hermits and Basilian monks. Many Byzantine churches are still seen in the region. The 10th-century church in Rossano, together with the "twin" church of Sant'Adriano in San Demetrio Corone (foundation 955, rebuilt by the Normans on the, still, visible foundations of the previous Byzantine church), are considered between the best preserved Byzantine churches in Italy. They were both built by St. Nilus the Younger as a retreat for the monks who lived in the tufa grottos underneath. The present name of Calabria comes from the duchy of Calabria.

Around the year 800, Saracens began invading the shores of Calabria, attempting to wrest control of the area from the Byzantines. This group of Arabs had already been successful in Sicily and knew that Calabria was another key spot. The people of Calabria retreated into the mountains for safety. Although the Arabs never really got a stronghold on the whole of Calabria, they did control some villages while enhancing trade relations with the eastern world. In 918, Saracens captured Reggio (which was renamed ''Rivà''), holding many of its inhabitants to ransom or keeping them prisoners as slaves. It is during this time of Arab invasions that many staples of today's Calabrian cuisine came into fashion: Citrus fruits and eggplants for example. Exotic spices such as cloves and nutmeg were also introduced.

Under the Byzantine dominion, between the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, Calabria was one of the first regions of Italy to introduce silk production to Europe.
According to André Guillou, mulberry trees for the production of raw silk were introduced to southern Italy by the Byzantines at the end of the ninth century.
Around 1050 the theme of Calabria had 24,000, mulberry trees cultivated for their foliage, and their number tended to expand.

At the beginning of the tenth century (), the city of Catanzaro was occupied by the Muslim Saracens, who founded an emirate and took the Arab name of قطنصار – Qaṭanṣār. An Arab presence is evidenced by findings at an eighth-century necropolis which had items with Arabic inscriptions. Around the year 1050, Catanzaro rebelled against Saracen dominance and returned to a brief period of Byzantine control.

In the 1060s the Normans, under the leadership of Robert Guiscard's brother, Roger I of Sicily, established a presence in this borderland, and organized a government modeled on the Eastern Roman Empire and was run by the local magnates of Calabria. Of note is that the Normans established their presence here, in southern Italy (namely Calabria), 6 years prior to their conquest of England, (see The Battle of Hastings). The purpose of this strategic presence in Calabria was to lay the foundations for the Crusades 30 years later, and for the creation of two Kingdoms: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the Kingdom of Sicily. Ships would sail from Calabria to the Holy Land. This made Calabria one of the richest regions in Europe as princes from the noble families of England, France and other regions, constructed secondary residences and palaces here, on their way to the Holy Land. Guiscard's son Bohemond, who was born in San Marco Argentano, would be one of the leaders in the first crusade. Of particular note is the Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrim route that goes from Canterbury to Rome and southern Italy, reaching Calabria, Basilicata and Apulia, where the crusaders lived, prayed and trained, respectively.

In 1098, Roger I of Sicily was named the equivalent of an apostolic legate by Pope Urban II. His son Roger II of Sicily later became the first King of Sicily and formed what would become the Kingdom of Sicily, which lasted nearly 700 years. Under the Normans southern Italy was united as one region and started a feudal system of land ownership in which the Normans were made lords of the land while peasants performed all the work on the land.

In 1147, Roger II of Sicily attacked Corinth and Thebes, two important centers of Byzantine silk production, capturing the weavers and their equipment and establishing his own silkworks in Calabria,Muthesius, Anna, "Silk in the Medieval World". In Jenkins (2003), p. 331. thereby causing the Norman silk industry to flourish.

In 1194, Frederick II, took control of the region, after inheriting the Kingdom from his mother Constance, Queen of Sicily. He created a kingdom that blended cultures, philosophy and customs and would build several castles, while fortifying existing ones which the Normans previously constructed. After the death of Frederick II in 1250, Calabria was controlled by the Capetian House of Anjou, under the rule of Charles d’Anjou after being granted the crown of the Sicilian Kingdom by Pope Clement IV. In 1282, under Charles d’Anjou, Calabria became a domain of the newly created Kingdom of Naples, and no longer of the Kingdom of Sicily, after he lost Sicily due to the rebellion of the Sicilian Vespers. During the 14th century, would emerge Barlaam of Seminara who would be Petrarch's Greek teacher and his disciple Leonzio Pilato, who would translate Homer's works for Giovanni Boccaccio.

While the cultivation of mulberry was moving first steps in northern Italy, silk made in Calabria reached the peak of 50% of the whole Italian/European production. As the cultivation of mulberry was difficult in Northern and Continental Europe, merchants and operators used to purchase in Calabria raw materials to finish the products and resell them for a better price. The Genoese silk artisans used fine Calabrian silk for the production of velvets.
In particular, the silk of Catanzaro supplied almost all of Europe and was sold in a large market fair to Spanish, Venetian, Genoese, Florentine and Dutch merchants.
Catanzaro became the lace capital of Europe with a large silkworm breeding facility that produced all the laces and linens used in the Vatican. The city was known for its fabrication of silks, velvets, damasks and brocades.

Waldensian emigration in Calabria

The settlement in the land of Calabria of Waldensian peoples from the valleys bordering the Western Alps - predominantly the Germanasca, Chisone and Pellice valleys - might have taken place in the Swabian period, in the 13th century, although it spread mainly from the first half of the 14th century.

Historian Pierre Gilles, author in 1644 of A History of the Reformed Churches, recounts how in 1315 some landowners in Calabria offered the Waldensians land to cultivate, in exchange for an annual fee, with the power to establish communities there free of feudal obligations. This would have favored the founding, or repopulation, of numerous urban centers, such as San Sisto and La Guardia (now called Guardia Piemontese because of its Waldensian origins), inhabited mainly by Waldensians, thus giving rise to a linguistic island in central Calabria, where the most common dialect is Occitan, a dialect typical of the Aosta Valley and northern Piedmont. Here the Waldensian community would live until the second half of the 16th century, when, during the European wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants, the Waldensians adhered to the Lutheran faith, suffering persecution by the Spanish viceroyal authorities.

Early modern period

In the 15th century, Catanzaro was exporting both its silk cloth and its technical skills to neighbouring Sicily. By the middle of the century, silk spinning was taking place in Catanzaro, on a large scale. In the 15th century, Catanzaro's silk industry supplied almost all of Europe and was sold at large fairs to Spanish, Venetian, Genoan, Florentine, and Dutch merchants. Catanzaro became Europe's silk capital with a large silkworm farm that produced all the lace used in the Vatican. The city was famous for its manufacture of silks, velvets, damasks and brocades. In 1519, Emperor Charles V formally recognized the growth of Catanzaro's silk industry, allowing the city to establish a consulate of silk crafts, charged with regulating and controlling the various stages of a production that flourished throughout the 16th century.

In 1442, the Aragonese took control under Alfonso V of Aragon who became ruler under the Crown of Aragon. In 1501 Calabria came under the control of Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose wife Queen Isabella of Castille is famed for sponsoring the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Calabria suffered greatly under Aragonese rule with heavy taxes, feuding landlords, starvation and sickness. After a brief period in the early 1700s under the Austrian Habsburgs, Calabria came into the control of the Spanish Bourbons in 1735. It was during the 16th century that Calabria would contribute to modern world history with the creation of the Gregorian calendar by the Calabrian doctor and astronomer Luigi Lilio.

In 1466, King Louis XI decided to develop a national silk industry in Lyon and called a large number of Italian workers, mainly from Calabria. The fame of the master weavers of Catanzaro spread throughout France and they were invited to Lyon to teach the techniques of weaving. In 1470, one of these weavers, known in France as Jean Le Calabrais, invented the first prototype of a Jacquard-type loom. He introduced a new kind of machine which was able to work the yarns faster and more precisely. Over the years, improvements to the loom were ongoing.

Charles V of Spain formally recognized the growth of the silk industry of Catanzaro in 1519 by allowing the city to establish a consulate of the silk craft, charged with regulating and check in the various stages of a production that flourished throughout the sixteenth century. At the moment of the creation of its guild, the city declared that it had over 500 looms. By 1660, when the town had about 16,000 inhabitants, its silk industry kept 1,000 looms, and at least 5,000 people, busy. The silk textiles of Catanzaro were not only sold at the kingdom's markets, they were also exported to Venice, France, Spain and England.

This period also saw the migration of entire communities of Albanians to many towns in northern Calabria, called by the king of Naples himself in recognition of the services that the Albanian leader Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg had rendered to the crown against the Angevins. After 1478 the sovereign allowed these refugees fleeing from the Turkish advance in Albania after Skanderbeg's demise to occupy abandoned villages for the purpose of repopulating them, also granting them numerous royal privileges and franchises: hence the Arbëreshë community was born.

In the 16th century, Calabria was characterized by a strong demographic and economic development, mainly due to the increasing demand of silk products and the simultaneous growth of prices, and became one of the most important Mediterranean markets for silk.

After the relative pacification, Calabria followed the historical and political events of the Kingdom of Naples, also becoming the scene of struggles between the great powers of the time, France and Spain, for territorial control of the Italian peninsula. For example, on June 28, 1495, the Battle of Seminara, north of Reggio Calabria, took place, where French troops that had occupied the Kingdom of Naples beat the Hispano-Napolitan army under the command of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and Ferdinand II of Naples, who, however, managed to take revenge and drive out the French the following year. A few years later, in 1502, Córdoba himself conquered Reggio, subjecting it to the rule of the Ferdinand II.

From then on, Calabria was placed under Spanish rule for two centuries and was administratively divided into two parts: and , initially governed by a single governor, then, from 1582, by two separate officials. The administrative capital of Calabria Citeriore was Cosenza, which during the 16th century went through an impressive artistic and humanistic flowering, so much so that it was called the “Athens of Calabria”. In fact, the city, in addition to being, until 1557, one of the most important cities of the realm in the head of law, became, after Naples, the second city to have a school of cartography, while in 1511 the Accademia Cosentina was born, founded by Aulo Giano Parrasio, followed by the philosopher Bernardino Telesio, defined by Francis Bacon as the first of the "new men". Instead, Calabria Ulteriore had two different administrative headquarters: the first was Reggio Calabria, which held the role of capital for 12 years, from 1582 to 1594, losing it due to Turkish raids that sacked it several times; for this reason, from 1594 the seat of the administrative offices of the governorate was transferred to Catanzaro, which maintained this role for more than 220 years. In 1563 philosopher and natural scientist Bernardino Telesio wrote "On the Nature of Things according to their Own Principles" and pioneered early modern empiricism. He would also influence the works of Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Giordano Bruno, Tommaso Campanella and Thomas Hobbes. In 1602 philosopher and poet Tommaso Campanella wrote his most famous work, " The City of the Sun" and would later defend Galileo Galilei during his first trial with his work "A Defense of Galileo", which was written in 1616 and published in 1622. In 1613 philosopher and economist Antonio Serra wrote "A Short Treatise on the Wealth and Poverty of Nations" and was a pioneer in the Mercantilist tradition.

Calabria was important to the Spanish monarchs since the reign of Emperor Charles V of Habsburg, who also held the title of King of Naples, as when the sovereign granted numerous royal privileges to the city of Catanzaro, which had valiantly resisted on August 28, 1528, the siege by a French army supported by some Calabrian and Apulian nobles of Francophile tendencies. In gratitude, Charles V granted the city the right to use the imperial eagle as its symbol, exempted it from royal tributes and gave it the power to mint coins worth one carlin. In addition, the emperor personally visited the region in 1535 on his return from the victorious capture of Tunis, where, at the command of a fleet of as many as 500 ships, he had defeated the Ottoman army and freed 20,000 Christian slaves. After the African conquest, Charles V landed in Sicily and then in Calabria, where, having passed Aspromonte, he visited Nicastro, Martirano, Carpanzano, Rogliano, Tessano and Cosenza. From here the monarch passed through Bisignano, Castrovillari and Laino, and then continued on to Naples. During Spanish rule in Calabria, many towns tried to defend themselves from Saracen raids, for example Gioja (current Gioia Tauro), which was fortified with city walls reinforced by watchtowers to defend against incursions. Several Calabrian cities such as Palmi (where the Saracen Tower still stands today) and Reggio Calabria were fortified with towers.

Despite the heavy taxation and the growth of baronial power, the population never ceased to show loyalty to the sovereign, seen as a defender of the poor people against the abuses of the powerful. The behavior of the people of Catanzaro in 1647-1648, when, exasperated by the excessive tax burden, they stormed the offices of the tax collectors (known as ''arrendatori''), subsequently setting fire to their houses, must be framed in this light. The governor then intervened, who had the leaders of the revolt hanged, causing the rest of the rebels to flee.

Modern era

During the 17th century, silk production in Calabria begin to suffer by the strong competition of new-raising competitors in Italian Peninsula and Europe (France), but also the increasing import from Ottoman Empire and Persia.

Foundation of the historical Italo-Albanian College and Library in 1732 by Pope Clement XII transferred from San Benedetto Ullano to San Demetrio Corone in 1794.

In 1783, a series of earthquakes across Calabria caused around 50,000 deaths and much damage to property, so that many of the buildings in the region were rebuilt after this date.

Following the War of the Spanish Succession, the Kingdom of Naples passed in 1707 to Austria, whose Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg also became King of Naples: the Habsburgs, while ruling for a short period, sought to modernize the political structures of the kingdom. In 1733, after the outbreak of the War of Polish Succession, the Spanish Bourbons, allies of France against Austria, decided to attack Naples and secure that kingdom for Charles III of Bourbon, infante of Spain and son of Philip V of Spain. Charles, who entered Naples in 1734, succeeded in defeating the Austrian troops at the Battle of Bitonto, securing control of the kingdom, despite some pockets of resistance, one of which was Reggio Calabria, which fell on June 20, 1734.

For ten years, however, the young Bourbon monarchy had to cope with the intrigues of the Austrian party present in Naples, which was particularly strong in Calabria, where the Duke of Verzino, who had already armed an infantry regiment against the Infante in 1734, promised the Austrians that he could arm 12,000 rebels for their cause of reconquest during the War of Austrian Succession. But after the Battle of Velletri in 1744, in which King Charles repelled an Austrian invasion of the realm, the Austrian party disappeared, also decimated by the trials and inquisitions of the Bourbon authorities.

The ascension of Charles III of Spain to the Neapolitan throne aroused considerable enthusiasm throughout the continental Mezzogiorno, as the population hoped that now the resources of the Kingdom of Naples would be used for the development of state and social structures. Sicily, too, was united politically with southern Italy, albeit in personal dominion to the Bourbon ruler; this was an advantage for Calabria, which ceased to be a peripheral region of the realm and became once again at the center of the state structure. This was seen in the journey King Charles made to the region in 1735, as he was on his way to Palermo to be crowned King of Sicily: having arrived on January 24 in Calabria Citeriore, welcomed by the dean of the province, the royal procession proceeded on, touching on Sibari, Corigliano, Rossano, Cirò and Strongoli, festively welcomed by the local feudal lords and the archbishop of Rossano, Francesco Maria Muscettola. Then Charles met, on the borders of the province of Calabria Ulterior, the Dean of Catanzaro, to stop later in Crotone, festively welcomed by the local patriciate, and in Cutro, where he was hosted by Giovan Battista Filomarino, prince of the Rocca. Continuing on his journey, the Neapolitan sovereign stayed four days in Catanzaro, receiving the homage of the noble families of De Riso and Schipani; he then went to Monteleone and finally arrived in Palmi, as a guest of Prince Giovan Francesco Grimaldi. From here, Charles embarked in late February for Messina, accompanied by a flotilla of boats arranged by the prince of Scylla, Guglielmo Ruffo.

From the earliest years the reforming action of King Charles, aided by the able Tuscan minister Bernardo Tanucci, was aimed at strengthening central power at the expense of baronial and clerical power, as well as alleviating the social and economic conditions of the humblest strata of the population, but it had modest and alternate results, due to the strong pressures and resistance of the local ruling classes, whose privileges and various particularistic interests were harmed. One particularly reformed field was economic and fiscal: in 1739 the Supreme Magistrate of Commerce was created, consisting of magistrates, technicians, merchants and bankers, with absolute jurisdiction over domestic and foreign trade; in 1741 a Concordat was made with the Holy See, thanks to which from that moment on ecclesiastical properties in the Kingdom of Naples were taxed, while in the same period the so-called ' was commissioned, so called because it was evaluated in ounces (nominal currency equal to 6 ducats or 60 carlins), which was supposed to reorder the tax burden by lowering taxes on the poorest. However, the wide exemptions enjoyed by nobles and clergymen represented the concrete resistance of the privileged classes to this attempt at tax reform.

In 1759, however, King Charles, as a result of diplomatic agreements and complicated family events, had to abdicate the throne of Naples to encircle the crown of Spain after the death of his half-brother Ferdinand VI of Spain