Santa Severina home page
Santa Severina is one of the most picturesque place of Calabria, and surely one of the most important in Crotone's province (from which is far 26 Km about).
It stands on a rocky cliff at 326 meters on the sea level, rising in the middle of the Neto river's valley. Because of its particular placing is called the "stone's ship".
Santa Severina has 2578 inhabitants (with the hamlet Altilia, which is far 15 Km about from Santa Severina). The postal code is 88832. The telephone prefix is 0962.
The History
Santa Severina was probably founded by the Enotri, an italic population that lived in the zone before the Greek colonization. The country's ancient name was Siberene.
We don't have much information and ruines of the Greek - Roman period. Probably the change of the name from Siberene to Severiana happened in the Roman period.
With the come of Bizantines (which gave to the city the actual name), Santa Severina became a very impotant religious centre. In fact, it was Metropolitan episcopal see, directly dipendent from Bisanzio.
In Santa Severina was born the pope Zaccaria (pontiff from 741 to 753). The Bizantine domination lasted until 1073 - 1074 (excepted a brief occupation by the Arabs from 840 to 886).
About in 1075 - 1076, Roberto il Guiscardo guided the Normans to the conquest of the city. Still in the Norman epoch is considerable the importance of Santa Severina as cultural and religious centre.
The town was suddenly governed by Svevi, Angioini and Aragonesi, and then by the feudatories Carafa, Ruffo and Grutter.
In recent history, something very remarkable, which changed the social order of the town, has been the land reform in 1950.
Nowadays, thanks to its noteworthy artistic patrimony, Santa Severina is one of most interesting calabrian turistic poles.
Monuments & useful informations
The Castle
Useful informations
How get there
Fuscaldo mount
by Antonio & Caterina Miriello