Patron saint festival In 21 days
Saint Leonard, patron of the land of the Ionian Sea's co-cathedral
📅 Every year, on 6 November
Cariati celebrates Saint Leonard on 6 November.
Cariati has something no other town in Calabria has: its wall still whole. A kilometre of walls looking onto the Ionian, with eight towers, still closing the whole old town. The name may come from that: when the Saracens of Barbarossa began to strike the shore, the inhabitants moved up onto the height carrying their goods on carts, and from carri, carts, would have come Carriati and then Cariati. Other explanations derive it from Greek, or from a place sacred to Diana.
In 1978, while working in an olive grove in the Prujja district, an intact Bruttian tomb of the fourth century before Christ was found. Inside lay a warrior with his bronze armour, belt, helmet and sword, and some pottery; the walls of the chamber, made of sandstone blocks, were frescoed with scenes from his life. The whole set is now in the museum of Sybaris.
🎉 Festivals and feasts in Cariati 1
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Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Cariati
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Cariati, but an easy day trip away.
Città Alta and the Venetian Walls 📍 Bergamo · 18 km A 6,200-meter wall built by Venice in the 16th century, this UNESCO World Heritage site encloses Bergamo Alta. Accademia Carrara 📍 Bergamo · 17 km The count founded the gallery and the school together, so pupils could copy from life. Teatro Gaetano Donizetti 📍 Bergamo · 17 km The theatre born where wooden huts once stood, now Donizetti's home. basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore 📍 Bergamo · 18 km The church without a façade in Bergamo's upper town: Campione's lions and the intarsias designed by Lotto. chiesa dei Santi Bartolomeo e Stefano 📍 Bergamo · 17 km The lower Bergamo church with the Martinengo altarpiece, Lotto's largest. chiesa di Santo Spirito 📍 Bergamo · 17 km Bergamo church called «of the Tasso», with Lorenzo Lotto's 1521 altarpiece and the via Pignolo chapels.