Positioned on the easternmost spur of Calabria, Crotone was founded as a Greek colony in the 8th century BC—the area was already inhabited by Oenotrians and Iapygians—and became a key centre of Magna Graecia. Pythagoras moved here in 572 BC. with some of his students. Together they seized power and created a series of city-states with their own capital at Kroton.
After declining during Roman times, the city experienced a revival in the Byzantine era and was annexed to the Lombard Duchy of Benevento. From the Renaissance onward, it was under Spanish rule, first the Habsburgs and later the Bourbons.
The 9th century cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption and to Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, was completed in the 1600s and later given a neoclassical façade. Another noteworthy church is that dedicated to Santa Chiara d'Assisi, with its Southern Baroque forms.
The castle of Charles V, built in the 9th century to defend Crotone from the Saracens and remodelled by the Emperor of Spain in the 16th century, is another fascinating site.
Fondazione Calabria Film Commission
Cittadella Regione Calabria — Località Germaneto — 88100 Catanzaro
Phone: +39 0961 853836
Email: info@calabriafilmcommission.it
