Le Castella

Springtime had returned to Calabria. Whilst the north of Italy was under snow, ice and rain, we spent the past few days outside, enjoying the sun and temperatures of 20 degrees. We opened all of the windows to let the warm air flow in, since our apartment was so cold on the inside, but so warm on the outside. We ate lunch outside on the balcony, with no jackets in site. A day was spent working outside at our future home, marvelling at the fact that there were flowers blooming all around us. A lot of the trees still have not lost their leaves, and the countryside is remarkably green...very, very odd for this time of the year.

Taking full advantage of this strange but most welcome weather, we decided to set out for a day trip on the 8th of December which is a public holiday here in Italy. Destination Le Castella in the province of Crotone. The castle is about a 2 hour drive from us here in Malito.

The 16th century Aragonese castle was apparently built on the site of an ancient Greek fort. The history is not very clear, but according to Greek mythology the place was built for the Greek Goddess Calypso and her son so they could be near their great love - Ulysses who was a man of the sea. Whatever the history, I had seen photos of Le Castella and wanted to visit, so we set out for our day trip.

When we arrived the sun was shining, but the castle was closed.

Work is being done to restore the castle, but even if you can't/don't want to go inside, you can see a lot by walking around the bottom.

It is a magnificent place, and at this time of year there were only a few tourists strolling around. We were able to find a secluded rock and eat our lunch with undisturbed views of the castle and the sea.

If you are in Calabria then this place is well worth a visit.