Catanzaro

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Comune in Calabria, Italy

Catanzaro Catanzaru (Sicilian)
Comune
Comune di Catanzaro
Panorama of Catanzaro, Top left: Panorama view of Crotone Street and Ionian Sea at Catanzaro Lido, Top right: Statue of Bernardino Grimaldi in Margheria Park (Villa Margheria), Bottom upper left: Cavatore Fountain in Matteotti Square (Piazza Matteotti), Bottom lower left: Filippos Avenue (Viale de Filippis), Bottom right: Night view of Morandi Viaduct Bridge
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Catanzaro
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	88100
Dialing code	0961
Patron saint	St. Vitalian of Capua and St. Agatius (co-patron)
Saint day	July 16
Website	Official website

Catanzaro (

.

The archbishop's seat was the capital of the province of Calabria Ultra for over 200 years. It houses the

"Magna Græcia" University

, the second-largest university in Calabria.

Catanzaro is an urban centre, with much activity, including some coastal towns, such as Sellia Marina and Soverato, and the municipalities of Silas, with a total of 156,196 inhabitants. Catanzaro is being consolidated to form a greater metropolitan area, by the Region of Calabria, and in connection with the town of Lamezia Terme, comprising 10 municipalities. This will lead to the creation of an integrated area involving over 200,000 inhabitants.

During the summer months, the Ionian coast from Catanzaro to Soverato is an important tourist attraction, especially for the youth, and is in the presence of several important structures located in the coastal districts of the city and the towns of Copanello and Soverato.

Catanzaro is also known as the city of the three V's, referring to the three distinct features of the city, namely Saint Vitalian, the patron saint;

.

"VVV" was the symbol by which Catanzaro's silk industry was known, identified for both its domestic and foreign markets, and iconic for the finest fabrication of silks, velvets, damasks, and brocades from the city.

Geography

Catanzaro overlooks the

. The town dates back to the valley of Fiumarella (formerly known as River Zaro). The Bishopric, St. Tryphon (or San Rocco) and St. John (or castle) marks the city's historical centre and is connected to the North Sila. Due to its particular geography, the municipality gets wet from the sea and is still subjected to a snowy winter. Catanzaro's rivers include the mainstream of the Fiumarella (in local dialect Hjiumareddha), which joins with the river Musofalo, and the torrent Corach (formerly called Crotalo).

Climate

The climate of Catanzaro is typically Mediterranean, temperate, and characterized by a windy spring and autumn.

According to the 30-year average of 1961–90 reference, the average temperature of the coldest month, January, came to 8.9 °C (48 °F). The hottest month, August, is 24.5 °C (76 °F).

The climate, as mentioned, is marked by the presence of wind, even high intensity, especially during spring and autumn. The annual average intensity is about 4 knots (4.6 mph) with peaks at 6 knots (6.9 mph). The months of April and May are characterized by strong winds and the "scirocco libeccio".

The annual rainfall is around 1,000 millimetres (39 in), distributed in 87 days on average, with a long summer and a maximum peak in the autumn and winter.

History

Certain assumptions trace the origin of Catanzaro to an ancient Greek colony, already in place, which became the land of Scolacium, believed to have been built on the ruins of the ancient city of Trischines. Other sources identify Catanzaro's development to have grown from various settlements scattered in the area of Catanzaro, Marina, Tiriolo (formerly Teure), Santa Maria di Catanzaro, and on the hill Trivonà (Trischines, along the valley of Corach which formed the old "Land of Feaco"). The mouth of the river, according to legend, created the ancient Ulysses Skilletion.

In the district of Germaneto along the valley of Corach, a Greek necropolis of the fifth century BC and an ancient Roman settlement were found. Archaeological discoveries show that the municipality was active since the Iron Age, flourishing with the populations of Vitulo, so-called because they worship the statue of the calf (Latin: vitulus), which the Greeks renamed Italoi ("worshipers of the calf"), and governed by the Italian king of the same name, brother of Dardanus and ancestor of the Trojans. Italy itself gets its name from this figure.

According to another legend, Catanzaro was named after two

Skilletion or Skillakion, corresponding to the Roman Scolacium (near Catanzaro's Marina), first on Zarapotamo (today Santa Maria di Catanzaro) and then later on Trivonà, a military fortress.

Catanzaro was always choice land due to its safe, high location, and the territory was under several groups' control, including the Saracens, Normans, Catalans and Venetians. The Saracens were the first to push the town's development to its highest regions by the second half of the ninth century. Byzantine general Nikephoros Phokas was responsible for the naming of the "Rock of Niceforo". Catanzaro's development into a fortress town was established by General Flagizio, who began the construction of a citadel, which later assumed the name of Katantzárion. According to some assumptions, the name is inspired from the development of workshops for creating silk, what the Greeks call Katartárioi (Καταρτάριοι, "spinners of silk").

At the beginning of the tenth century (circa 903),

and took the Arab name of قطنصار Qaṭanṣār. An Arab presence is evidenced by findings at an eighth-century necropolis which had items with Arabic inscriptions.

Around the year 1050, Catanzaro rebelled against Saracen dominance and returned to a brief period of Byzantine control. In 1069, Catanzaro was the last city in Calabria, after many months of resistance, to fall under siege by the Normans of Robert Guiscard, who built the Norman castle, still in existence today. During this era, arts and crafts pioneered, and particularly the processing of silk, which was traded with other regions in Italy, other countries and Eastern Europe.

Between the 9th and the 11th century, Catanzaro was the first centre to introduce silk production to Italy. The silk of Catanzaro supplied almost all of Europe and was sold in a large market fair to Spanish, Venetian, Genoese and Dutch merchants. Catanzaro became the lace capital of Europe with a large silkworm breeding facility that produced all the laces and linens used in the Vatican. The city was world-famous for its fine fabrication of silks, velvets, damasks and brocades.^[8][9]

While the cultivation of mulberry was moving first steps in Northern Italy, silk made in Calabria reached a peak of 50% of the whole Italian/European production. As the cultivation of mulberry was difficult in Northern and Continental Europe, merchants and operators used to purchase in Calabria raw materials in order to finish the products and resell them for a better price. The Genoese silk artisans used fine Calabrian silk for the production of velvets.^[10]

In the 13th century,

took control of the city. In 1460 there was a war with the partisans of Centelles. When peace returned, the city was granted new privileges which greatly promoted the development of its silk industry, for which its damasks were known throughout Europe. From this time forward, Catanzaro firmly established itself as an import center for its textile productions.

In the

In 1466, King Louis XI decided to develop a national silk industry in Lyon and called a large number of Italian workers, mainly from Calabria. The fame of the master silk weavers of Catanzaro spread throughout France and they were invited to Lyon in order to teach the techniques of weaving. In 1470, one of these weavers, known as Jean le Calabrais,^[12] invented the first prototype of a Jacquard-type loom.^[13] He introduced a new kind of machine which was able to work the yarns faster and more precisely. Over the years, improvements to the loom were ongoing.^[14]

In 1519 Emperor Charles V formally recognized the growth of the industry of Catanzaro by allowing the city to establish a consulate of the silk craft, charged with regulating and check in the various stages of a production that flourished throughout the sixteenth century. At the moment of the creation of its guild, the city declared that it had over 500 looms. By 1660, when the town had about 16,000 inhabitants, its silk industry kept 1,000 looms, and at least 5,000 people, busy. The silk textiles of Catanzaro were not only sold at the kingdom's markets, they were also exported to Venice, France, Spain and England.^[15]

In 1528 Charles V gave authorization for Catanzaro to bear the imperial eagle attached to a coat of arms depicting the hilltops of the town.

On 23 December 1961, at the Fiumarella viaduct near Catanzaro, there was a serious rail accident, when a train derailed and fell about 40 metres (131 ft) into the river below. Seventy-one passengers lost their lives on impact, and 28 others were injured to varying degrees.

In 1970 Catanzaro was designated to be the capital of Calabria.

Historical names

Catanzaro had different names, which correspond to different periods of history through the city:

• Καταντζάριον, Katantzárion, a Greek settlement
• Chatacium, during Roman times
• قَطَنْصَار, Qaṭanṣār, Saracen period (903–1050 approximately)
• "Rock of Niceforo", Byzantine period
• Cathacem, Norman period
• Cathanzario, under the Kingdom of Naples
• Catanzaro, under united Italy.

Main sights

• Catanzaro Bridge, a well-known, one-arch bridge (Viaduct Morandi-Bisantis)- one of the tallest in Europe.
• Duomo (Cathedral). Built over a Norman cathedral built in 1121, in the 16th century it received a Renaissance façade which was however destroyed in 1638. The church was almost entirely destroyed by the bombings of 1943, and was later rebuilt.
• Basilica dell'Immacolata.
• Church of the Santissimo Rosario (15th or 16th century), with a Renaissance façade and a single nave interior. The church of the Santissimo Rosario houses
  Goffredo Borgia and Donna Sancia D'Aragona, who became Princess of Squillace.^[16]
• Church of Sant'Omobono (11th or 12th century).
• Byzantine small church of Sant'Omobono (11th century).
• Chiesa dell'Osservanza, or Santa Teresa. In the interior is the 16th century Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre and a statue of "
  Madonna delle Grazie" by Antonello Gagini
  .
• Remains of the Norman Castle.
• Porta di S. Agostino and Porta di Stratò, two gates of which are the last remains of the medieval walls, demolished in 1805.
• Palazzo de' Nobili (15th century), now Town Hall.
• Piazza Grimaldi, a town square named in honour of the House of Grimaldi, who had branches that traded heavily within Catanzaro.

Economy

Catanzaro's current economy is mostly based on tertiary and services. Industries are mostly medium and small-size companies working within a local market.

Transportation

Catanzaro is served by the SS106 Jonica ("Ionian") state road which connects it to the

motorway.

In the city centre is a line with three stations. A metropolitan service (with c. 1,600,000 users per year, with 20 trains working) is provided by Ferrovie della Calabria, with a total of 11 railway stations in the city, plus others in 12 comuni of the hinterland. The rest of the public transportation system is based on 49 bus lines of AMC (Azienda per la Mobilità Catanzaro). The city has two main railway stations: Catanzaro and Catanzaro Lido.

Sports

.

Notable people

• Nobel prize
  winner.
• Mimmo Rotella: contemporary artist and inventor of the Décollage.
• Filippo De Nobili: writer, poet, librarian, historian anti-fascist and anti-monarchist.

See also

• Fatti di Reggio
• Copanello

Notes

References

1. ^ "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
2. ^ "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
3. ^ "Catanzaro". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
4. ^ "Catanzaro". Oxford Dictionaries US English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.^{[dead link]}
5. ^ "Catanzaro". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
6. ^ Dizionario di toponomastica: Storia e significato dei nomi geografici italiani (in Italian). Garzanti. 1996. p. 182.
7. ^ "Catanzaro Italy: Catanzaro guide, city of Catanzaro, Calabria Italy". Initalytoday.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
8. ^ "The Ancient and Noble Art of Silk". 14 May 2015. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
9. ^ "Catanzaro | Italy". Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
10. ^ Malanima, Paolo (2004). "Le sete della Calabria". In Fusco, Ida Maria (ed.). La seta. E oltre... (in Italian). Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane. pp. 55–68.
11. ISBN 978-900-422-4063
    .
12. ^ Rossi, Cesare; Russo, Flavio (2016). Ancient Engineers' Inventions: Precursors of the Present.
13. ISBN 8875741271. Archived
    from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
14. ^ http://media.handweaving.net/DigitalArchive/books/wp_Chapter_01.pdf Archived 14 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine ^{[bare URL PDF]}
15. ^ Sakellariou, Eleni (2011). Southern Italy in the Late Middle Ages: Demographic, Institutional Change in the Kingdom of Naples, c.1440-c.1530. Brill.
16. ^ "A spasso per le vie di Catanzaro: capitale europea della seta" (in Italian). 13 March 2017. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Catanzaro.

• Official website (in Italian)
• Accademia di Belle Arti - Catanzaro
• Calabria's History, Culture, Language and Genealogy