Punta di Pellaro (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: , "white rock";

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: Leucopetra) is the extreme southwestern point of mainland

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 ...

, in the region of

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 ...

, looking towards the east coast of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, at . Anciently a promontory of

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, it was in consequence of its location generally regarded as the termination of the chain of the

Apennines The Apennines or Apennine Mountains ( ; or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; or – a singular with plural meaning; )Latin ''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which would be segmented ''Apenn-inus'', often used with nouns s ...

. Pliny tells it was some 20 km from Rhegium (modern

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). The whiteness of the rocks composing this headland gave origin to the ancient name. It is evidently the same promontory which is called by

Thucydides Thucydides ( ; ; BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts Peloponnesian War, the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been d ...

, and was the last point in Italy where

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...

and Eurymedon touched with the

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armament before they crossed over to Sicily. It was here also that

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

touched on his voyage from Sicily, when, after the death of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

, 44 BCE, he was preparing to repair into

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, and where he was visited by some friends from Rhegium, who brought news from Rome that induced him to alter his plans. In the former passage he terms it ''promontorium agri Rhegini'': the ''Leucopetra Tarentinorum'' mentioned by him,ad Att. xvi. 6 if it be not a false reading, must refer to quite a different place, probably the headland of Leuca, more commonly called the Iapygian promontory.

References

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Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

, for coordinates {{Authority control Landforms of Calabria

Pellaro The territory of the municipality of Reggio Calabria and the division and numbering of the districts with Pellaro as 15 Pellaro is the southernmost quarter of the commune of Reggio Calabria, southern Italy. It has approximately 35.789 inhabitants ...