Caulonia used to be called Castelvetere, and in 1863 it changed its name to honour Kaulon, the Achaean colony believed to have stood between the Amusa and Allaro torrents, inside its own territory. A few decades later the archaeologist Paolo Orsi excavated the temple of ancient Kaulon at Punta Stilo, that is at Monasterace, a different town: the place had named itself after ruins it did not have. The name stayed all the same. The territory, third largest in the province after Reggio and San Luca, climbs from the sea to the 1241 metres of the Serre, and three torrents, Allaro, Amusa and Precariti, run through it and draw its boundaries.
On 6 March 1945 the Red Republic of Caulonia was born here. The mayor Pasquale Cavallaro, a primary school teacher and a communist party member since 1943, found himself leading a peasant revolt that broke out over the arrest of his son; within days the labourers proclaimed a republic, a people's army and a people's court. It did not last: by 9 March it had been put down, and after the killing of the labourer Ilario Bava and of the parish priest Gennaro Amato the rebels were left alone. Cavallaro resigned on 15 April. The trial was held at Locri; eighty people were beaten in prison and two died of the torture they suffered.
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on the second weekend of October and of May; also known for the Kaulonia Tarantella Festival
Caulonia celebrates Saint Hilarion the Abbot on the second weekend of October and that of May. Holy Week keeps rites typical of Southern Italy, including the Holy Saturday procession known as «Caracolo»; in summer, the Kaulonia Tarantella Festival is held, called Tarantella Power until 2007.
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 Caulonia, but an easy day trip away.
