Question 1

Crotone on Your Own

Accepted Answer

The old town grew up around the castle of Charles V, and Via Risorgimento leads from it toward the national archaeological museum, the cathedral and Piazza Pitagora. The one ride worth adding is to Capo Colonna, where the column of Hera stands on the headland south of the city. The old town: Walk up to the castle of Charles V, then down Via Risorgimento to the national archaeological museum, the cathedral and Piazza Pitagora. The cathedral: It keeps a baptismal font on a base carved with animals and the image of the Madonna of Capo Colonna, and its bronze doors were unveiled in 1986. A short ride to Capo Colonna: The archaeological park on the headland has Hera's last standing column and an archaeological museum. Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own. Carry photo ID: Italian police can stop you at any time for an identity check, so carry photo ID with you.

Question 2

Getting Around Crotone

Accepted Answer

Capo Colonna is on a headland south of the city and Le Castella is about 20 km down the coast, so arrange your transport for either before you go. Crotone station is on the Ionian railway, with trains along the Calabrian Ionian coast and some longer-distance services. The Terminal Romano bus station, about 700 meters from the railway station, handles city, regional and long-distance buses. Crotone's airport, Sant'Anna, lies south of the city in the municipality of Isola di Capo Rizzuto. Le Castella is about 20 km from Crotone along the coast.

Question 3

Nduja, Cirò Wine, and the Calabrian Table

Accepted Answer

Calabrian cooking grew out of a poor, rural kitchen, and preserved foods are at its center: chili-spiced sausages and salted anchovies. The Cirò wine zone, which runs from the foothills of the Sila to the Ionian coast, makes mostly red wine. 'Nduja is a soft, spicy pork sausage from the area of Spilinga, made fiery with sun-dried Calabrian chili and mainly served with bread or cheese. Salted anchovies, rinsed and kept in oil with chili, and Calabrian soppressata are traditional preserved foods. The Cirò zone is centered on the towns of Cirò and Cirò Marina, and its wine is made largely from the Gaglioppo grape. Cirò Classico became Calabria's first DOCG wine, the highest Italian quality category, in November 2023. Milo of Croton, the ancient wrestler, is said to have drunk 10 liters of the local wine every day.

Question 4

Tipping in Italy

Accepted Answer

Tips are not customary in Italy and are given only for a special service. Restaurants add a cover charge, the coperto, so waiters do not expect a tip, though they will not refuse one. Prices are in euros. If you want to leave something in a restaurant, a euro or two is enough. Leaving the change is common in taxis.

Question 5

The Archaeological Museum and the Surviving Column of Hera

Accepted Answer

Crotone's identity rests on its Greek past, and two museums, one in the old town and one on the headland, hold what has survived of ancient Kroton. The sanctuary of the Madonna of Capo Colonna stands next to the temple ruins, and pilgrims visit it every year for her feast. The national archaeological museum opened in 1968 and shows finds from the Neolithic onward, including Bronze Age axes and a Minoan-Mycenaean pottery fragment from Capo Piccolo. The Temple of Hera Lacinia once had 48 Doric columns more than 8 meters tall; the one left standing gave Capo Colonna, the cape of the column, its name. The temple was the meeting place and treasury of the Italiote League, an alliance of Greek cities that Kroton led. The castle of Charles V houses part of the city museum and the municipal library. The old town's lanes are called vineddri or vichi in the local dialect, and noble palaces such as Palazzo Morelli and Palazzo Barracco face its squares.

Question 6

A Brief History

Accepted Answer

Kroton was one of the strongest Greek cities of southern Italy, known for its athletes, its doctors and Pythagoras. Rome took the city in 277 BC, the Saracens sacked it around 870, and it was called Cotrone until 1928; in the 1920s and 1930s it grew again as an industrial port. Foundation, around 710 BC: Achaean Greeks from the northern Peloponnese, led by Myscellus, founded Kroton by the Esaro river. Athletes and doctors: From 588 BC Kroton produced generations of Olympic winners, among them the wrestler Milo, and its physicians, such as Democedes, were counted the foremost among the Greeks. Pythagoras, around 530 BC: Pythagoras founded his school here, and his followers gained great influence in the council of one thousand that ruled the city. Victory over Sybaris, 510 BC: An army led by Milo destroyed the rival city of Sybaris, and Kroton became the head of a league of cities. Salamis, 480 BC: Kroton sent one ship, under the athlete Phayllos, to fight for the Greeks at Salamis, the only one from the Italian coast. Decline and Rome: Dionysius of Syracuse captured the city in 379 BC; what remained submitted to Rome in 277 BC, Hannibal wintered here in the Second Punic War, and a Roman colony was founded in 194 BC. Middle Ages: A fortress was first built on the acropolis against Saracen raids, and the Saracens sacked the city around 870. The castle of Charles V, 1541: Under the Spanish viceroy Pedro de Toledo the fortifications and the castle were strengthened, and the town was known as Cotrone until 1928. Industry, 1920s and 1930s: The port and hydroelectric power from the Sila mountains drew industrial plants such as Montecatini and Pertusola, and the population doubled in the 1930s. To learn more ashore: The national archaeological museum on Via Risorgimento, in the walled old town, covers Kroton from prehistory to the Greek city, and the museum at Capo Colonna adds finds from the sanctuary of Hera; check opening hours before you go.

Question 7

Crotone with Kids

Accepted Answer

Crotone works well with children who like castles and old stories: a fortress in the old town, a temple column on a headland and a castle that stands in the sea. Pythagoras, who taught in Kroton, gives his name to Piazza Pitagora, at the edge of the old town. Younger children: The town beach runs along the seafront promenade, for a break between sights. School age: The castle of Charles V has two towers, the Torre Aiutante and the Torre Comandante, and sits on the ancient acropolis. In Pignera park, the Pythagoras Museum and Gardens are built around the mathematician who taught here. Teenagers: At Capo Colonna, the last column of a temple that once had 48 shows how big the sanctuary was, and the site's museum displays half of a stone anchor block inscribed with the name of Phayllos, the athlete who sailed to Salamis. Le Castella: About 20 km down the coast, a fortress rebuilt under the Aragonese is surrounded by the sea, beside a village within Italy's largest marine protected area.

Question 8

Ionian Coast and the Capo Rizzuto Marine Reserve

Accepted Answer

Crotone has a town beach along its seafront promenade, and bathing establishments have operated there since at least the 1920s. South of the city, the coast around Capo Rizzuto is protected as a marine reserve. The Capo Rizzuto Marine Protected Area is the largest in Italy and protects the sea life around Le Castella. Le Castella's shoreline mixes beaches and cliffs.

Crotone

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