The Upper Ionian Cosentino
Discovering Sibaritide means embarking on a journey through time, returning to the Magna Grecia of the Sibariti—a people who made beauty and pleasure a way of life. Beyond Monte Pollino, which conceals it to the north, the fragrance of citrus and wild fennel intoxicates the air. The unexpected panorama takes your breath away: the seafront of the Achei, the jagged rocche perched above Ulisse’s sea, the ancient arbëreshe villages, and the thermal resorts.
At the table, rascjcatilli—crafted by hand using the fingers—and nuglia con fasuli take center stage, best enjoyed with Cerchiara bread. Mandorlate and giurgiulee, savored with the lemon liqueur of Rocca Imperiale, provide the perfect finishing touch to a journey through a culinary tradition that has reinvented itself and become the crown jewel of modern hospitality in this magical place—a window onto myth between the Piana di Sibari and Metaponto. Legend has it that the secca of Amendolara, the pearl of Alto Jonio, corresponds to the island of Ogigia, the enchanted place where the brave Odisseo rested for eight years.
We move further south, into the lower Jonio, where—from the shady slopes of the mountains to the verdant plains, amid lush fields and sea sprays—stretch the lands rich in history and beauty of the Sila Greca and the Basso Jonio Cosentino. The journey begins in this final magical strip of Sibaritide, along the renowned beaches of the Costa Jonica.
The great Norman Douglas already introduced the world to its beauties at the beginning of the 20th century. Piano Agretto, the Iron Age necropolis, the Parco Archeologico Pruija of Terravecchia, and the brettio settlement of Cariati are just some of the mythic excursions offered by the territory of the Sila Greca. Among its historical and monumental treasures, Rossano stands out, regarded as the most Byzantine city in Italy after Ravenna.
Just as in the past the Greeks, Byzantines, Romans, Brettii, Swabians, and Normans left their mark, today’s travelers can rediscover the excellence of Calabrian culinary heritage—from sardicella, the caviar of the South, to caciocavallo still produced as in the ancient vaccarizzi of the Sila.
