There are flowery piazzas lined with umbrellas, crumbling three-story palazzi, and shops hung with braids of hot peppers and red Tropea onions. May the trip not peak on the first morning! Tropea rises dramatically out of the rocks 200 feet above a beach lapped by clear-to-the-bottom waters. Maybe it’s all a mirage and I’m only imagining arriving at such a place. Palms reflected in the long pool curving along the beach look like mirages. Our sleek minimalist room and wraparound balcony don’t even try to compete with the view. The supercontemporary hotel sits right on lawns bordering the beach. Streaks of rose gold exactly match my Aperol spritz, and sunset tessellates a path all the way to shore. The volcanic island juts up from the water like a big brown fist. We reach Capovaticano Resort, just outside Tropea, as the sun drops down beside Stromboli, about 30 miles offshore.

Photograph by Robert Haidinger, laif, Redux Lanes in Tropea’s old town light up for alfresco dining. The last upheavals of the Apennines striate the region, dropping straight into the sea and creating a sensation of geography in motion. The landscape seems to underscore Calabria’s tumultuous history. Of the many invaders, the major influence is Greek archaeological sites dotting the map show the extent of that colonization in what was known as Magna Graecia. Below lies the Tyrrhenian Sea.Ĭalabria’s location, on the (misshapen) toe of Italy’s boot poking far into the sea, determined that the land would be from the beginning of history an object of desire.

Purple asters, face-size Queen Anne’s lace, pink morning glories, blurs of yellow, bursts of blooming cacti, and tumbles of vulgar magenta bougainvillea.

Long, flour-white beaches bordering a sea shifting across the blue spectrum. So far, what’s otherworldly is the beauty. “Stupendous,” I say about 20 times en route from Reggio Calabria Airport up to the coastal town of Tropea.īut my husband, Ed, only glances at the views as he maneuvers the rented Fiat 500X along squirrelly roads pocked with holes.

Tuscany magna graecia