Maida is an Italian town and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' in the

province of Catanzaro The province of 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 80 '' comuni'' (: ''comune''). Catanza ...

, in the

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, 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 S ...

region of southern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The British routed the French in the

Battle of Maida The Battle of Maida, fought on 4 July 1806 was a battle between the British expeditionary force and a French force outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,236 British troops to victory over a ...

in 1806, as part of the

War of the Third Coalition The War of the Third Coalition () was a European conflict lasting from 1805 to 1806 and was the first conflict of the Napoleonic Wars. During the war, First French Empire, France and French client republic, its client states under Napoleon I an ...

. Maida is south of

Lamezia Terme Lamezia Terme (), commonly called Lamezia, is an Italian city and ''comune'' of 70,452 inhabitants (2013), in the province of Catanzaro in the Calabria region. History The municipality of Lamezia Terme was formally created on 4 January 1968. It ...

and west of the provincial capital Catanzaro.

History

On 4 July 1806 the British under General John Stuart defeated the French under

Jean Reynier Divisional general, Divisional-General Jean Louis Ébénézer Reynier (14 January 1771 – 27 February 1814) was a French Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He rose in rank to become a general officer during ...

outside the town at the

. A London pub on the Edgware Road was named ''The Hero of Maida'', which in turn gave its name to the adjoining London districts, Maida Hill and, later,

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, north of Paddington, southwest of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn, on Edgware Road. It is part of the City of Westminster and is northwest of Charing C ...

. King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Sicily awarded Stuart the title of Count of Maida. The Norman castle of Maida was built in the 11th century under the direction of Duke

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard ( , ; – 17 July 1085), also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Normans, Norman adventurer remembered for his Norman conquest of southern Italy, conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century. Robert was born ...

Famous citizens

* Mgr Giovanni Cervadoro, the Carbonaro and teacher, was born in Maida in 1783 and died in 1836, and wrote School Stabilimenti for his students in 1829. * Baldassarre Squitti, the teacher and politician, was born in Maida in 1855. * American writer

Gay Talese Gaetano "Gay" Talese (; born February 7, 1932) is an American writer. As a journalist for ''The New York Times'' and ''Esquire (magazine), Esquire'' magazine during the 1960s, he helped to define contemporary literary journalism and is considere ...

wrote about his ancestors from Maida in his 1992 book '' Unto the Sons''.
Giuseppe Donato
sculptor and protégé o

was born in Maida in 1881 and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1965.

Economy

The main economic activity in the area is agriculture, especially the cultivation of

olive trees The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of subtropical evergreen tree in the family Oleaceae. Originating in Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean Basin, with wild subspecies in Africa ...

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

, and

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...

. In recent years, tourism has become a significant source of income.

Sister cities

Maida is a

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inte ...

with: *

Ambler, Pennsylvania Ambler is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia. History Lenape The historical territ ...

, United States

References

External links

Photos of Maida
at Saint Francis Society of Ambler, Pennsylvania, United States *
Cities and towns in Calabria {{Calabria-geo-stub