Calabria · Crotone
Santa Severina
A tufa-rock stone ship between the Sila and the Ionian, holding the only Byzantine baptistery still standing in Calabria.
Known for
BYZANTINE BAPTISTERY
Tenth-century octagonal baptistery with mosaic floor and twelfth-century frescoes, the only one of its kind still standing in Calabria.
NORMAN CASTLE
One of the best-preserved castles in Calabria, taken from the Byzantines in 1076 and rebuilt in the fifteenth century.
VAL DI NETO
Vineyards on the slopes below the town produce Cirò DOC, the historic red wine of Calabria, made primarily from Gaglioppo.
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: Anastasia martire, 29 October
Why come
Santa Severina sits on a tufa hill above the Neto valley, halfway between the Sila mountains and the Ionian Sea. Inhabited from the Bronze Age, the settlement was a Greek and then Roman town called Siberene; it became one of the most important Byzantine centers in southern Italy and held out until 1076, when the Normans took it. The Norman Castle, restored in the fifteenth century, stands at the high end of the ridge and now houses a museum of Byzantine and Norman artifacts.
The Cathedral of Santa Anastasìa dates from the thirteenth century. Next to it stands the tenth-century Byzantine Baptistery, octagonal, with frescoes from the tenth to twelfth centuries, the only one of its kind in Calabria. The Val di Neto vineyards around the town produce Cirò DOC; the commune holds the Città del Vino badge. Santa Severina has been a Borgo più bello since 2006.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Santa Severina’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
Castello di Santa Severina
Norman fortress on the high end of the tufa ridge, restored in the fifteenth century, now a museum of Byzantine and Norman finds.
Cattedrale di Santa Anastasìa
Thirteenth-century cathedral on the main piazza, named for the saint whose relics the town claims as patroness.
Battistero bizantino
Octagonal tenth-century baptistery next to the cathedral, with frescoes spanning the tenth to twelfth centuries, the only Byzantine baptistery still standing in Calabria.
Centro storico
The tufa-rock platform on which the borgo sits, often described as a stone ship sailing over the Neto valley.
Val di Neto
Vineyards on the slopes below the town, producing Cirò DOC red and white wines on Gaglioppo and Greco Bianco grapes.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 1,906
- In-betweeni
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Lamezia / Reggio, 1 h 43 min drive
- Regional capital Catanzaro, 1 h 14 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 326 m
- Population: 1,906
- Surface area: 52.31 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
More towns near Santa Severina
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.
San Giovanni in Fiore
Province: Cosenza
The capital of the Sila Grande at 1,049 meters, grown from the abbey Gioacchino da Fiore founded in 1188, Italy's most populated commune above a thousand.
Isola di Capo Rizzuto
Province: Crotone
A promontory on the Ionian coast wrapped by Italy's largest marine reserve, with the Aragonese castle of Le Castella standing on a rock offshore.
Cirò
Province: Crotone
A hill village at 351 meters above the Ionian, the historic heart of Cirò DOC, Calabria's first denominazione and a candidate for the region's first DOCG.
Spezzano della Sila
Province: Cosenza
A Sila plateau borgo at 800 meters, the gateway to the national park and the Giants of the Sila above Lake Cecita.
🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
More Borghi più belli d'Italia towns in Calabria
Aiello Calabro
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Aieta
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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.
Altomonte
Province: Cosenza
The highest Gothic-Angevin church in Calabria, a Simone Martini panel commissioned in 1326, and a hill of 455 meters in the Esaro valley.
Badolato
Province: Catanzaro
A medieval borgo of thirteen churches at 240 meters above the Ionian, which took in 350 Kurdish refugees in 1997 and started its own slow rebirth.
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.