Soriano Calabro ( Calabrian: ) is a ''

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 ...

'' (municipality) in the

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

in the Italian region

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 ...

, located about southwest of

Catanzaro Catanzaro (; or ; ), 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 province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabr ...

and about southeast of Vibo Valentia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,975 and an area of .All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute Istat. Soriano Calabro was founded by a group of monks composed mostly of Syrians and also Egyptians who migrated to the Italian peninsula in the 10th century. The monks were permitted to settle in three different places, in

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

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. ...

and

. Those who settled in Calabria founded the town of Soriano Calabro, originally naming it Soriano, which was taken from the name of the country

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

(سوريا sūryā in Arabic) and hence meant 'Syrian', which at that time in Italian was written as 'Sòriano'. In 1510, Dominican brothers founded a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

at Soriano Calabro. From 1530, and for at least about 130 years, their most precious possession was the miraculous portrait of '' Saint Dominic in Soriano''. Soriano Calabro borders the following municipalities:

Gerocarne Gerocarne (Central-Southern Calabrian, Calabrian: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italy, Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about southeast of Vibo Valentia. As of 31 Decembe ...

, Pizzoni, Sorianello,

Stefanaconi Stefanaconi () () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vibo Valentia in the Italy, Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about east of Vibo Valentia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,477 an ...

References

Cities and towns in Calabria Populated places established in the 10th century Municipalities of the Province of Vibo Valentia {{Calabria-geo-stub