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Cutro

Province: Crotone · Region: Calabria · Population: 10,065 · Postal code: 88842

Cutro is a city because of a game of chess. In 1575 Giò Leonardo Di Bona of Cutro, whom they called il Puttino because he was short, beat Ruy López at the Spanish court; Philip the Second gave him the verdict and gave his town the title of city, with twenty years' exemption from taxes. The match ended up in a painting by Luigi Mussini, kept at Siena.

Around the village are the calanchi, yellow clay hillocks that look like dunes: Pier Paolo Pasolini filmed some scenes of The Gospel According to Matthew there. On the eighth of March 1832, at a quarter past one in the morning, an earthquake levelled a good part of Cutro. Until the middle of the twentieth century it was the most populous place in the district, then many left: first for Germany, then for Emilia and Lombardy, where some twenty thousand people of Cutro descent live today, most of them at Reggio Emilia.

The Cutro guide

Where to stay

Compare hotels, B&Bs and holiday homes on Booking.com for your dates.

Events & festivals 2

Next up: The Most Holy Crucifix, patron of the septennial «Calata», Monday 3 May

Getting there

Nearest airport: Lamezia Terme, 66 km away

🎉 Festivals and feasts in Cutro 2

Patron saint festival In 200 days

The Most Holy Crucifix, patron of the septennial «Calata»

📅 Every year, on 3 May, preceded by nine days of prayer, the «Nuvena»; every seven years a special feast from 30 April

Cutro celebrates the Most Holy Crucifix, the town's patron, on 3 May, preceded by nine days of prayer, the so-called «Nuvena», with litanies in the Cutro dialect. Every seven years, a special feast is held lasting from 30 April to 3 May: on the evening of 29 April, the «Calata» takes place, during which the Crucifix is moved from the altar and hoisted up, symbolically recalling the martyrdom scene on Golgotha.

Patron saint festival In 250 days

Saint Julian, patron alongside the Most Holy Crucifix

📅 Every year, on 22 June; the Most Holy Crucifix, the other patron, is celebrated on 3 May

Cutro celebrates Saint Julian on 22 June; the other patron, the Most Holy Crucifix, is celebrated on 3 May with the nine-day «Nuvena» of prayer.

What's around

Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.

Near Cutro

The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.

Panoramic view of the town of Crotone, its coastline, and harbor from a hilltop. Crotone Crotone · 6 km San Mauro Marchesato San Mauro Marchesato Crotone · 9 km Scandale Scandale Crotone · 9 km Isola di Capo Rizzuto Isola di Capo Rizzuto Crotone · 13 km Marcedusa Marcedusa Catanzaro · 13 km Santa Severina Santa Severina Crotone · 15 km

Places to see within 25 km

Outside Cutro, but an easy day trip away.

tomba del Tuffatore 📍 Capaccio Paestum · 14 km The only Greek painting of the classical age to survive: a man diving into space. Paestum 📍 Capaccio Paestum · 16 km Three names and a single ending: the Greek city that the water slowly ate. Temples of Paestum 📍 Capaccio Paestum · 19 km Three Doric temples standing since the sixth century BCE, and the Tomb of the Diver. Museo archeologico nazionale di Paestum 📍 Capaccio Paestum · 16 km The temples' museum, with the Tomb of the Diver and the metopes of Hera's sanctuary. Tempio di Nettuno 📍 Capaccio Paestum · 16 km The almost complete Doric temple, whose only wrong part is Neptune's name. Tempio di Atena 📍 Capaccio Paestum · 16 km Paestum's most refined temple, used as a church in the middle ages.