Off A3, 180 km North of Reggio. Provincial capital and gateway to the Sila Highlands. Opposite a wilderness of apartment blocks and dusty piazzas in the flat new town, the dingy old town climbs on ever-narrowing lanes to a ruined castle. Views from its ramparts, round the bowl of hills in which Cosenza lies, reward you for undergoing the torture of a thousand steps. Two rivers, Busento and Crati, meet in the new town. The Goths temporarily diverted the former to make a secret burial place in its bed for their leader Alaric and the spoils of Rome (AD 410). The grave still defies discovery. 

Detour – Paola

On Route 18, 30 km West of Cosenza. The only sizeable seaside town on some 110 km of Calabrian coastline, Paola is a sleepy place with a sandy beach, not too clean, divided from the community (as is nearly always the case in Calabria) by the mainline railway. The blue and yellow pantiles of San Francesco’s sanctuary smile down from the head of a short steep valley choked with bamboos. This Calabrian San Francis performed many miracles. Short of the boat fare to Sicily, he spread his gown at Paola and floated over for free.

At Paola the 1,500-m Apennine chain stops short on the edge of the sea and one of Italy’s steepest railways takes a formidable route inland to Cosenza.