What is Gerace known for?

Calabria's largest cathedral, Norman 1100, with twenty-six mismatched Roman columns in the crypt taken from the temples of Locri Epizefiri. Founded in the tenth century by Locri refugees, the centro storico held more than a hundred churches and remains a Borgo più bello d'Italia. 470-meter spur of conglomerate made from sea fossils sixty million years old, with the centro storico balanced on its narrow upper plateau.

Gerace is a comune in the province of Reggio di Calabria, Calabria region of Italy, about 89 kilometers from Reggio Calabria.

Calabria · Reggio di Calabria

Gerace

A 470-meter conglomerate rock above Locri, founded by Locri Epizefiri refugees, with Calabria's largest cathedral on Roman columns from Magna Graecia temples.

89 km / 55 mi

Nearest hub (Reggio Calabria)

2,353

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Gerace sits on a 470-meter rock of sea-fossil conglomerate ten kilometers inland from Locri, on the Ionian flank of the Aspromonte. The town was founded in the tenth century by survivors of Locri Epizefiri who fled the coastal Saracen raids; the name comes from the Greek hierax, sparrowhawk, said to have led them to the site. The Cattedrale di Gerace, consecrated around 1100 in the Norman period, covers 1,690 square meters and is the largest cathedral in Calabria. Its crypt holds twenty-six Roman columns of different stones and capitals, salvaged from the ruined Magna Graecia temples at Locri Epizefiri. The Norman castle, the Chiesa di San Francesco commissioned by Charles II of Anjou in 1294, and a centro storico of more than a hundred churches give the town its other nickname, the holy city. Gerace is a Borgo più bello d'Italia and carries the Touring Club's Bandiera Arancione.

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Gallery

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Known for

Cattedrale di Gerace
Largest cathedral in Calabria, consecrated around 1100, with twenty-six Roman columns in the crypt salvaged from the Magna Graecia temples of Locri Epizefiri.
Chiesa di San Francesco d'Assisi
Late thirteenth-century church commissioned by Charles II of Anjou in 1294, with a Gothic portal and a marble high altar of the early seventeenth century.
Castello Normanno-Svevo
Norman-Swabian castle on the upper rock, restructured around the eleventh century on a likely seventh-century foundation, partly in ruin since 1783.
Borgo medievale di Gerace
Centro storico of narrow alleys and unexpected squares on a 470-meter conglomerate spur, with more than a hundred churches recorded historically.
Belvedere sulla Locride
Cliff viewpoint over the Ionian plain and Locri, on a rock formed sixty million years ago from sea-fossil conglomerate.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the months the rock is walkable and the light flatters the conglomerate facades. July and August are hot on the Locride plain; the rock catches sea breeze in the late afternoon, but the cathedral interior is the only consistently cool place between two and six. November through March is quiet: many of the small churches keep limited hours and the castle stays mostly closed. The Festa della Madonna del Carmelo falls in mid-July and the Borgo Incantato festival, with street theatre across the centro storico, runs in early August.