Tropea Day Trip

Last Friday was a public holiday in Italy so we decided to take the day off and do some sightseeing. A day trip across to Tropea was in order. It’s about a 2 and a half our trip from Crotone. The weather was kind to us, a top of around 17 degrees and sunny skies.

Crotone to Tropea

I wanted to test “Kermit”, our little Fiat so we headed to pick up the others who live in Isola Capo Rizzuto which is about 20 minutes away but on the way. Picked up Welly first and then the Zingali’s. The five of us all piled in and then off we went. We didn’t get very far before we realised that “Kermits” suspension was complaining about the number of people in the car. Every bump we went over (of which there are no end on Italian roads) the wheels scraped the mudguards so we made the decision to turn around and switch to Marco’s car.

On the way we passed through Pizzo, also called Pizzo Calabro. It is a seaport and comune in the province of Vibo Valentia, situated on a steep cliff overlooking the Gulf of Santa Eufemia. Fishing is one of the main activities, including that of tuna and coral. Took a little video of driving through the streets of Pizzo.

We though that we would go passed Tropea to take a look at Capo Vaticano because Welly said that there was a nice lookout so we went there first. 

View from Capo Vaticano lookout

It was true, the lookout was beautiful, you can see the still active volcano’s of Stromboli and Vulcano and sandy beaches along the coastline and you can even see Sicily from this vantage point. We next headed back to Tropea to have a look. The town is standing right on the edge of a cliff, the main image at the top of this post is the view from the sea looking back at the town. There is a little island called Santa Maria dell’Isola, well it’s not really an island because there is a small strip of land that joins it to the mainland.

Santa Maria dell’Isola

Santa Maria dell’Isola, is a 4th century monastery that’s accessible only by climbing up a winding flight of steps carved directly into the cliffside. It was built so long ago that even the topography of the land around it has changed. When it was first erected, it was on its own little island. But over the centuries, silt built up and filled in the water between that island and the mainland. Here is the view from the other side looking out to sea from the cliff top.

There is a a cave you can walk through to get to a little beach and the beaches either side are really nice too, it’s winter time here so they are virtually deserted this time of year but in the summer months they are packed with bronzed Italians.

Tropea town perched on a cliff

If you go down to the carpark you can see in the Santa Maria Island photo above and then when you turn around this is the view. The buildings are constructed right up to the cliff face. 

After we had finished down there we took a stroll around the old town. Like a lot of old Italian towns there is a labyrinth of narrow winding streets which you couldn’t get a car down.

We took quite a few photo’s so you can have a look at them here.