Until the 14th century the town was called Geneocastrum, and before that Paleocastrum. In 1331 Robert of Anjou changed its name to Belcastro, and the local sources say it was not for the pleasantness of the place but to reward count Tommaso d'Aquino, great-nephew of the saint. For it is the saint who is the point: local tradition and several historians give the castle of Belcastro as the birthplace of Thomas Aquinas, in 1226, while the common account has him born at Roccasecca. A parchment kept in the archiepiscopal archive of Santa Severina ascribes the baptism to bishop Bernardo and names as godmother the noblewoman Eleonora Staffa.
The town has old material besides: the former cathedral of San Michele Arcangelo, of the 11th century, is held to be among the oldest churches in Calabria after the one at Gerace; the castle was restored between 2006 and 2012 and the ruins of the Santissima Annunziata between 2004 and 2010. Here in 1799 the inhabitants raised the tree of liberty, and the little square still carries the name; and here, on 6 January 1775, was born Giuseppe Poerio, lawyer and patriot, father of the poet Alessandro. Since 2025 the walls of the old centre have been filling with fairy-tale murals: the village presents itself as the borgo delle favole.
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📅 Every year, on 21 March
On 21 March Belcastro celebrates its patron Saint Thomas Aquinas, to whom the town's church is dedicated; the Castello di Belcastro stands in the municipality.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Belcastro, but an easy day trip away.
