Calabria · Cosenza
Altomonte
The highest Gothic-Angevin church in Calabria, a Simone Martini panel commissioned in 1326, and a hill of 455 meters in the Esaro valley.
Known for
GOTHIC-ANGEVIN
Santa Maria della Consolazione, built 1336 by Filippo Sangineto with French craftsmen, the high point of Gothic-Angevin architecture in Calabria.
SIMONE MARTINI
Saint Ladislaus panel commissioned in Siena in 1326, kept in the Civic Museum alongside two panels of the Giotto school.
OLIO AND PANE
Città dell'Olio and Città del Pane, with extra virgin olive oil and traditional Calabrian bread from wood ovens in the centro storico.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: Francesco da Paola, 2 April
Why come
Altomonte sits in the Valle dell'Esaro, forty-five kilometers north of Cosenza, between the Pollino slopes and the Ionian plain. The village is built around the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Consolazione, the highest example of Gothic-Angevin sacred architecture in Calabria, built in 1336 by Filippo Sangineto, first count of Altomonte, on the foundations of an earlier Norman church. Sangineto brought French craftsmen for the stonework and, in 1326 in Siena, commissioned a small panel of Saint Ladislaus from Simone Martini, still kept in the adjoining Civic Museum together with two Giotto-school panels.
The Dominicans took over the church in 1443 and founded the convent that now houses library and museum. Altomonte is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia, a Cittaslow, and a Città dell'Olio and del Pane, nicknamed Calabria's wedding village for the way the centro storico climbs around the church square.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Altomonte’s letter yet.
One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.
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What to see
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Consolazione
Built 1336 by Filippo Sangineto on a Norman foundation of 1070, the highest expression of Gothic-Angevin sacred architecture in Calabria, with French stonework.
Museo Civico di Altomonte
Housed in the former Dominican convent, with Simone Martini's panel of Saint Ladislaus commissioned by Filippo Sangineto in 1326 in Siena.
Castello Normanno-Aragonese
Hilltop castle of Norman origin remodelled under the Aragonese, dominating the centro storico and the Esaro valley below.
Centro storico medievale
Medieval old town of stone stairways and alleys winding around the Consolazione square, nicknamed Calabria's wedding village for its setting.
Chiesa di San Francesco di Paola
Sixteenth-century convent church on the edge of the centro storico, with cloister and frescoed refectory.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 4,019
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Lamezia / Reggio, 1 h 37 min drive
- Regional capital Catanzaro, 1 h 52 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 455 m
- Population: 4,019
- Surface area: 65.72 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Close by
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🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
More Borghi più belli d'Italia towns in Calabria
Aiello Calabro
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A hilltop borgo at 502 meters in the Tyrrhenian hinterland of Cosenza, ruled for two centuries by the Cybo-Malaspina from Massa Carrara.
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An eagle's-nest village in the western Pollino, with one of the few sixteenth-century Renaissance palazzi standing in Calabria.
Badolato
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Bova
Province: Reggio di Calabria
The capital of the Bovesìa — a 416-resident Aspromonte hilltop borgo at 820m that is the cultural centre of the Grecanic minority, where the Calabrian-Greek dialect (a direct descendant of Byzantine-era Greek) is still spoken by elders, with the triple Borghi più belli + Bandiera Arancione + Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte signal.
Caccuri
Province: Crotone
A 646-meter Presila borgo dominated by a sixth-century Byzantine castle with a cylindrical tower built in 1882, birthplace of Renaissance statesman Cicco Simonetta.