Capo Rizzuto island - Isola di Capo Rizzuto

Capo Rizzuto island is a city of Calabria.

To know

Geographical notes

The municipal territory is for the vast part arable; it has over 37 km of coastline, interspersed with cliffs and beaches of very fine golden yellow sand. Aragonese Castle of Le Castella, Tourist Porticciuolo.

Background

Isola Capo Rizzuto was born around 900 AD. with the Greek toponym of "Asylon" under the regency of Leo VI the philosopher, Roman emperor of the East; to colonize those lands sparsely populated at that time, he creates a new diocese and grants to some prisoners, politically persecuted and people who had had problems with the institutions to have a second chance in the land of Calabria, thus Asylon was born, the sacred land where no one could be persecuted, with a meaning much more similar to that of "asylum" than of "island". The real demographic growth of the small diocese of Isola is around 1090 AD. under the investiture as bishop of the holy miracle worker Luca di Melicuccà or San Luca di Isola Capo Rizzuto, during his administration Asylon has an extension that starts from the current urban center of Isola Capo Rizzuto following the coast up to the Tacina river, under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Isola Capo Rizzuto, in addition to the territory of Le Castella, the territories of San Leonardo and Steccato (now fractions of Cutro).

San Luca himself sends Basilian monks to San Leonardo and Steccato, founding them in fact. During his years the venerable icon of the Greek Madonna was found probably by a peasant from Capo Rizzuto, always during his jurisdiction a second wave of population arrived from the east, still sparsely populated island needed manpower to grow and the then patriarch of Constantinople agreed to a new pardon. During the Norman invasion, the diocese of Isola continues to maintain its privileges and the possibility of maintaining the Greek rite in the liturgies but on the condition of paying a duty to the Latin diocese of Santa Severina and following the laws introduced by the new Norman kingdom, Isola like very few Calabrian towns it will maintain the Greek rite until 1818, the date of the same cancellation of the diocese of Isola Capo Rizzuto and the unification of all the churches to the curia of Santa Severina-Crotone.

In the Middle Ages, despite the numerous raids by Muslim pirates and the various famines, the diocese of Isola looks like a rich diocese, with many possessions and it can be seen from the inventories of the time, the churches were rich in icons and documents. Among the most influential bishops of Isola at the end of the 16th century we remember Annibale Caracciolo, one of the forefathers of the noble and influential Caracciolo family.

At the end of the Second World War the town is still a small rural village, which counted about 5,000 souls, almost all agricultural laborers who derive their livelihood from the few days of work they manage to do at the service of the large landowners: Barracco, dell ' Aquila of Aragon, Lucifer, Gallucci.

The return home of a large mass of young veterans of the war, combined with young people without work, places the city in a national context of large mass movements that reclaim land and work and force the national and local authorities to carry out an Agrarian Reform that through the OVS (Sila Valorisation Work) assigns a share of land to thousands of young people; at the head of this movement is Pasquale Poerio.

Thus a new class of peasants or small agricultural entrepreneurs is born. In the first phase, the main cultivation is wheat and other cereals (barley, oats), which provide the raw material for starting forms of domestic animal husbandry that provide meat for family consumption. Together with the vegetables, which on the lands supplied with water extracted from hand-dug wells guarantee the minimum necessary to get out of poverty and misery.

The discovery of the high economic value of irrigated agricultural cultures (fennel, tomatoes, watermelons, etc.) led to the creation of Lake Sant'Anna. The artificial reservoir, fed by the waters coming from the Sila, has made it possible to make almost all of the island's agricultural land irrigated, making this municipality one of the most important in the south in terms of quantity and quality of fruit and vegetable production.

In the autumn of 1979, Giovanni Salvatore Pizzimenti was elected mayor, and the two administrations directed by him were responsible for starting the construction of the small port of Le Castella, the first consolidation and recovery project of the Aragonese castle.

The urbanization of the expropriated land, by the previous mayor Pasquale Poerio to the Lucifero heirs, was carried out by the Mayor Giovanni Salvatore Pizzimenti in 1980.

The contextual assignment of the urbanized building land to a series of building cooperatives triggers a virtuous process that radically changes the way of building and in a few decades creates a more harmonious and modern urban center.

How to orient yourself

The city has the following hamlets: Campolongo, Capo Rizzuto, Cinnamon, Curmo, Le Castella, Marinella, Sant'Andrea, Sant'Anna and Stumio.

How to get

By plane

The nearest airport is that of Crotone-Sant'Anna, another relatively close airport is that of Lamezia Terme while that of Reggio Calabria it is so distant that it becomes inconvenient.

On the train

The city does not have an RFI station, the closest are in the neighboring municipalities of Crotone is Cutro.

How to get around

What see

• Feudal Castle, Via S. Marco (village of Isola). Remains of the sixteenth-century fortified complex, built in the medieval period, enlarged in 1549, by the Neapolitan feudal lord Giovanni Antonio Ricca; remains of rammed corner quadrilateral towers; Relics of the walls of the perimeter curtain with pivellini; "l'Orologio", the gate of the medieval village, surmounted by a rear clock tower, which divides the ancient area from the more modern one. 
• Fortification (In the hamlet of Le Castella). Of sixteenth-century origin, stretching over a small peninsula overlooking the sea. It was built to counter the frequent invasions. 
• Temple of Hera Lacinia (on the promontory of Capo Colonna). 
• Old Tower (on the coast). A cylindrical tower, with massive stone ashlars, erected in the century. XVI to coast guard against the barbarian incursions. The tower was guarded by a corporal and a soldier, who had the task of watching over day and night and signaling the presence of suspicious ships with particular signals: smoke during the day and bonfires at night. Access to the inside of the tower was via a rustic wooden drawbridge. 
• Sanctuary of the Greek Madonna (Capo Rizzuto locality). Dedicated to the Protectress of Isola di Capo Rizzuto, it is newly built: the first stone was laid in 1991. The surface of the Sanctuary is about 800 m.² and is enriched with another 200 of balconies. 
• National Archaeological Museum of Crotone. It houses some fragments of Minoan-Mycenaean pottery, among the oldest found in the Italian peninsula, a sure testimony of contacts between the indigenous Enotrio-Japigi peoples and the Minoan-Mycenaean world. 

Events and parties

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

The main typical product is fennel: defined as “The gold of Capo Rizzuto”, it is a special quality that is characterized by its perfume, almost absent fibrousness and persistent aroma. Other typical products of this city are cheeses, frigulimiti (dough obtained from pig waste and flavored with sage) and gnelatina (pork jelly), as well as sazizzu (sausage), supprissata (soppressata) and nduja. a typical dessert is the Pitta cu oggliu.

Where stay

Safety

How to keep in touch

Post office

• 38.95995817.0922771 Isola Capo Rizzuto post office, Via Pitagora, 19, ☎ 39 0962 792292, fax: 39 0962 794495. Mon-Fri 8: 20-13: 35, Sat 8: 20-12: 35. Equipped with Wi-Fi and ATM, it is possible to book shifts via the Internet. 
• 38.99509217.0757992 Puntoposte Tobacconist n. 8, S.S. 106 Jonica SNC, ☎ 39 0962 190171. 5:30-21:30. 

Around

It is possible to go on excursions in the Capo Rizzuto marine protected area.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Capo Rizzuto island
• Commons contains images or other files on Capo Rizzuto island

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