The Province of Reggio Calabria ( it, Provincia di Reggio Calabria) was a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

in the Calabria region of Italy. It was the southernmost province in mainland Italy and is separated from the island of Sicily by the

Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina ( it, Stretto di Messina, Sicilian: Strittu di Missina) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily ( Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria (Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian S ...

. The capital was the city of Reggio. It was effectively replaced by the

Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria ( it, Città metropolitana di Reggio Calabria) is an area of local government at the level of metropolitan city in the Calabria region of the Republic of Italy. It comprises the territory of the city of Reggi ...

in 2017.

Geography

The province of Reggio Calabria was located at the extreme southern tip of mainland Italy. To the west lies the

Tyrrhenian Sea The Tyrrhenian Sea (; it, Mar Tirreno , french: Mer Tyrrhénienne , sc, Mare Tirrenu, co, Mari Tirrenu, scn, Mari Tirrenu, nap, Mare Tirreno) is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian p ...

and to the south and southeast lies the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including ...

. The land borders are short; to the northeast lies the

province of Catanzaro The province of Catanzaro ( it, provincia di Catanzaro; Catanzarese: ) is a province of the Calabria region of Italy. The city Catanzaro is both capital of the province and capital of the region of Calabria. The province contains a total of 80 ...

and to the northwest, the

province of Vibo Valentia The province of Vibo Valentia ( it, provincia di Vibo Valentia; Vibonese: ) is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy, set up by a national law of 6 March 1992 which came into effect on 1 January 1996, and formerly part of the Provin ...

. Across the

, some to the southwest, lies the island of

Sicily Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. I ...

The province can be divided into three types of terrain. Near the west it is mountainous, with the

Aspromonte The Aspromonte is a mountain massif in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Calabria, southern Italy). The literal translation of the name means "rough mountain". But for others the name more likely is related to the Greek word Aspros ( Ά ...

massif being formed of overlapping terraces of gneiss and mica schists. The highest point is and this area is part of the

Aspromonte National Park Aspromonte National Park is situated in the southern section of the Apennines, in Calabria, Italy. The park lies near the sea and includes mountain summits with altitudes close to 2000 meters ( Montalto is 1,955 m). The park's territory, crosse ...

. From the mountains flow many, often seasonal, creeks and rivers, the largest being the

Amendolea The Amendolea (Greek: ''Ποταμός Αμεντολέα'' from Greek "αμυγδαλέα" (=αμυγδαλιά)) is a river in the province of Reggio Calabria in the Calabria region of southern Italy. Its source is near Montalto in Aspromonte ...

and the Calopinace. The lower hills are terraced for the cultivation of citrus fruits, olives and vines, and the higher parts are wooded, with chestnuts, beeches, holm oaks, pines, Sicilian firs and Mediterranean

maquis shrubland 220px, Low maquis in Corsica 220px, High ''macchia'' in Sardinia ( , , ) or ( , ; often in Italian; hr, makija; ; ) is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs. Maquis is cha ...

. The southern part of the province has a coastal plain and to the east of the mountainous area, there is a plateau that extends from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Ionian Sea, the distance from

Rosarno Rosarno is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region of Calabria. It is about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. Rosarno stands on a natural terrace cloaked in oli ...

Punta Stilo Punta Stilo ( Italian for "Cape of Columns") is the name of an arcuate headland in Calabria, Italy. It lies immediately north of Monasterace (the site of ancient Caulonia) and constitutes the western coast of the Gulf of Squillace. Pliny the Elde ...

being about .

History

The present-day southern part of Calabria was the place where the name "Italy" was first used, some 3500 years ago. The Ancient Greeks built a town "Rhegion" at the site of present-day Reggio, a strategic site beside the

. The town's ''Museo Nazionale'' houses two bronze statues, the

Riace bronzes The ''Riace bronzes'' ( Italian: ''Bronzi di Riace'', ), also called the Riace Warriors, are two full-size Greek bronzes of naked bearded warriors, cast about 460–450 BC that were found in the sea in 1972 near Riace, Calabria, in southern I ...

, recovered from the sea at

Riace Riace ( Calabrian: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about south of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. Riace borders the municipalities of Camin ...

some to the east. By the third century BC, the Greeks were conquered by tribes from the north, including a branch of the Samnites called the

Bruttii The Bruttians (alternative spelling, Brettii) ( la, Bruttii) were an ancient Italic people. They inhabited the southern extremity of Italy, from the frontiers of Lucania to the Sicilian Straits and the promontory of Leucopetra. This roughly corres ...

. They established their sovereignty over present day Calabria and founded new cities, including their own capital "Consentia", now known as

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a popu ...

. After their victory in the

Pyrrhic War The Pyrrhic War (280–275 BC) was largely fought between the Roman Republic and Pyrrhus of Epirus, Pyrrhus, the king of Ancient epirus, Epirus, who had been asked by the people of the Greek city of Taranto, Tarentum in southern Italy to help t ...

(280–275 BC), Rome occupied Calabria, and it remained under their control until the fifth century AD. The whole region of present-day Reggio province has been a wealthy area for centuries, and particularly during

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

age, till 1860s, when the

Italian Unification The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

happened. The town of Reggio and other parts of the province, as well as Messina and neighbouring parts of Sicily, were devastated by the

1908 Messina earthquake The 1908 Messina earthquake (also known as the 1908 Messina and Reggio earthquake) occurred on 28 December in Sicily and Calabria, southern Italy with a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). The epice ...

. This was followed by a series of

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

s that wreaked further damage. In the 1950s there was a mass migration of rural people from Reggio and other provinces in southern Italy to the cities of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city has ...

and particularly

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

in the north. They were driven by poverty, the poor soils of the region and the chronic lack of employment opportunities to move to places with more thriving economies. Between 1969 and 1973, southern Italy suffered from urban unrest due to the lack of employment possibilities and poor living conditions, and urban protest took place. In 1970,

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its ...

was chosen as the location for a new regional government. Reggio was then the scene of a popular uprising - known as the Moti di Reggio - against the government choice of Catanzaro as capital of the newly instituted Region of Calabria. Strikes and demonstrations occurred and went on for more than a year, and were sometimes put down brutally by the police and the army. The railway service from

was disrupted, the airport, post offices and TV station were occupied at different times, and police stations were assaulted. Three people were killed, more than two hundred wounded and over four hundred were charged with public-order offences. The Italian government responded to this by confirming Catanzaro as the regional capital but arranging for the regional assembly to be held at Reggio. A new

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

and

steel works A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

were announced at

Gioia Tauro Gioia Tauro () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Italy), on the Tyrrhenian coast. It has an important port, situated along the route connecting Suez to Gibraltar, one of the busiest maritime corridors in t ...

, to create employment in the area, but before the steel works was completed, the price of steel collapsed and the steel works were abandoned. The port however was built, but another project, a new

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

, did not go ahead because of environmental factors. The port has since become a busy

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example trai ...

handling more than three million

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context o ...

s each year, and new roads have been built to handle the resulting increase in traffic.

Economy

The region is famous for the production of the

Bergamot orange ''Citrus bergamia'', the bergamot orange (pronounced ), is a fragrant citrus fruit the size of an orange, with a yellow or green color similar to a lime, depending on ripeness. Genetic research into the ancestral origins of extant citrus cultiv ...

. Production mostly is limited to the Ionian coastal region of the province of Calabria in Italy, to such an extent that it is a symbol of the entire region.

Clementine A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who ...

s are cultivated in the fertile area of Piana di Gioia Tauro. This area is also used for the cultivation of other citrus fruits and olive trees, and much of the local economy is involved in olive oil extraction and the processing of citrus products.

References

External links

*
Calabria Exchange

Province of Reggio Calabria
(multilanguage)
Tourist Web Official Site of Reggio Calabria

{{DEFAULTSORT:Province Of Reggio Calabria

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label=Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popula ...

Geography

History

Economy

See also

References

External links