Things to Do in Reggio Calabria, Italy

Quick facts: On a hill above the Strait of Messina stands a fortress with a four-pointed star layout, rebuilt in the 15th century by the Aragonese king on the site of an older Byzantine fortification. It survived the devastating earthquake of 1908, which razed most of the surrounding city, and today it serves as a museum and exhibition space.

Highlights: What draws attention are two round towers contrasting with the angular outline of the walls, which still bear marks from cannonballs of an old bombardment. In the 19th century, convicts were imprisoned here in the dark casemates, so beneath visitors' feet lies a layer of history ranging from royal halls to prison cells.

Quick facts: A waterfront over a kilometer long is lined with century-old ficus trees with massive aerial roots, creating a natural green tunnel above the sea. From the path directly opposite the coast of Sicily, you can see the landscape around Messina and, on clear days, the snow-capped peak of Etna.

Highlights: The poet Gabriele D'Annunzio allegedly declared this the most beautiful kilometer in Italy, with a view that still takes your breath away today. The century-old ficus trees have gradually lifted the stone pavement with their roots, so you walk by the sea along a winding path between living sculptures.

Quick facts: The amphitheater stands on the promenade that the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio called the most beautiful kilometer by the sea. In clear weather you can see across the strait all the way to Sicily and smoking Etna, so every performance gets a natural backdrop for free.

Highlights: The lowest rows of steps are just a few meters from the promenade and the waves, so during a concert you can hear music mixed with the murmur of the sea. On calm mornings, a Fata Morgana occasionally appears above the strait, an optical illusion in which the Sicilian shore seems to float in the air like a fairy-tale castle.

Quick facts: On this open space by the coastal promenade there are fountains, palms, and sculptures under the open sky, inviting strolls all day long. Across the Strait of Messina, only about three kilometers wide here, the lights of Sicily and the smoke from Etna shine through into the night.

Highlights: The poet Gabriele d'Annunzio called this waterfront the most beautiful kilometer in Italy, and locals still gather here for their evening walk to this day. After dark, thousands of lights from Sicily light up across the Strait of Messina, and the smoking foothills of Etna appear on the horizon.

Quick facts: Nearly 90 percent of the world's bergamot harvest ripens on a narrow strip of coastline, an area smaller than the entire city. Oil pressed from the peel has been scenting Eau de Cologne since 1709 and a cup of Earl Grey tea.

Highlights: In the back hall stand copper distillation stills from the early 20th century, which you can walk around from all sides. Bergamot practically cannot be grown anywhere else, experiments in California and Sicily produced completely different flavors, so this narrow coastal plantation remains the only source of the oil that has scented cologne since 1709.

Quick facts: The portrait of an unknown young man by Antonello da Messina ranks among the most penetrating faces of European Renaissance painting, and visitors linger over it for a long time. The halls spread out in a former chapel, and the collection numbers over three hundred works from medieval icons to contemporary sculpture.

Highlights: The monumental white building with massive sculptures on the roof was designed by Marcello Piacentini, the architect behind Rome's Via della Conciliazione. Inside, a surprising intimacy prevails; Antonello's portrait of the young man seems to know exactly that you are looking at it.

Quick facts: The hall's Art Nouveau facade was designed by architect Gino Zani for the Zerbi family, who grew wealthy through the tobacco trade. After an extensive renovation in 2002, it was opened as an exhibition house visited by about 30,000 people a year.

Highlights: Beneath the ceiling of the main hall, the original decor with gold leaves emerged from layers of old paint; restorers uncovered it with a spatula centimeter by centimeter. During summer evenings, the courtyard turns into an open-air cinema, and the Art Nouveau facades serve as a giant projection screen.

Quick facts: The Montalto massif rises to 1,955 meters just a few kilometers from the coast, where the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas meet. The last stable wolf population of the south lives here, an estimated 30 individuals, and the rocky slopes hide old shepherd paths along which brigands once moved.

Highlights: At the top of Montalto stands a bronze cross, from which on a clear day you can survey both the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas at once; the ridge is only tens of kilometers from the coast. After the earthquakes of the 1970s, entire stone villages were left empty, and their broken bells and overgrown squares today come alive only during summer festivals.