Property and real estate in Calabria

The sun-drenched heart of the Mezzogiorno, Italy’s deep south, Calabria is a million miles (if not literally) from the northern urbanity of Florence, Milan and Bologna. This is another country (again not literally, though some would like it that way), and those of us looking at real estate in Calabria have to be adventurous spirits.

That’s not to denigrate this remarkable region. Calabria, occupying the toe of Italy, is an area of extraordinary beauty, rich in a history that dates back to its role at the heart of the Magna Graecia of Classical antiquity, and far further back. Explore its valleys as you search for Italian property for sale and you will discover a culture seemingly untouched by recent centuries. The peninsula, which reaches out to kick Sicily (itself a marvellous place to visit) has coast on three sides of course.

The coastal regions rise up to rugged mountains, home to ancient villages and abandoned villages and farmhouses offering Italian property for sale to those with an enterprising spirit. It also, remarkably has skiing resorts.

Development properties in Calabria

The hinterland of Calabria is almost certainly not for families relocating from London and looking for a place in the sun (though you could find yourself a development property in the Apennines of Calabria for next to nothing). It won’t be a surprise to discover that inland Calabria has been steadily depopulating for generations. More than one million Calabrians emigrated to the US, Brazil and Australia in the past two centuries.

Even those who still live there are often absent. It’s not uncommon to find a Calabrian hill village filled with old women in the traditional black dresses, old men sitting outside the bar and children playing in the street … but no adults of working age. That’s because many are in the north and the cities, earning money to send back home, to build their own homes.

The main city of Calabria is Cosenza, which offers opportunities for buying real estate in Italy and also forms a good base for exploring La Sila, one of the great remaining stretches of European forest … this scorched and sometimes arid southern region was covered with forest before the Romans came and began clearing the land. And the Romans were just one wave of many. Anyone looking at property for sale in Calabria follows thousands of years of invasion and settlement.

Real estate in Calabria — thousands of years of history

The ’original’ inhabitants were the Bruttians, an Italic tribe, who lived in Calabria around 1000BC. Things were probably at their most organised under the ancient Greeks, when agriculture was systemised and the forests still stood. They arrived in the eighth century BC, Pythagoras being born in the town of Crotone. The Visigoths came in the fifth century, following their sacking of Rome (their King Alaric is supposedly buried with his treasure in the river Busento near Cosenza).

The Calabrians suffered waves of Goths, Byzantines, Lombards, Saracens and Normans, becoming part of the Kingdom of Sicily in the early Middle Ages. Refugees from Albania arrived in the fifteenth century. The Pollino National Park, in the north of the region and straddling the border with Basilicata is home to 34 villages, centred on Castrovillari, where a medieval form of Albanian is still the native tongue.

In the sixteenth century, Protestants from Piedmont fled here from the Inquisition in the North: Calabria was probably as far and remote as you could get. Their tongue of Franco-Provencal is still spoken in the town of Guardia Piemontese, outside Cosenza.

Property and real estate in unspoiled Italy

Property for sale in Calabria lies in one of Italy’s most unspoiled reaches. The Pollino Massif mountains of the north merge to the south into the Catena Costiera mountains, which themselves drop down to the Tyrrhenian Sea. On the eastern (inland) side, the mountains fall to the valley of the River Crati. East of Cosenza lie the Sila Mountains and forests. And the Le Serre Mountains stretch down to the toe of Italy.

From the Sila, the River Neto runs to the east coast and the Ionian Sea. The Calabria National Park here is a marvellous wetland habitat, home to wildfowl. North lie the gorges at Raganello, home to nesting eagles and with sulphur springs in use since Roman times.

But if a beautiful region it’s also a very poor one. We’ve talked about depopulation, about the fact the people have left and continue to leave in search of work. If you decide to look at real estate in Calabria, you’re looking in an area of subsistence farming, where the standard of living and incomes are the lowest in Italy, and organised crime a pervasive problem — la’ndrangheta are the local mafia.

This is a region that only really moved out of the feudal age with the overthrow of the Bourbons, at the time of the Unification in the late nineteenth century. It explains to an extent an exaggerated (though often sullen and grudging) respect for authority, and a curious and exaggerated use of titles to confer status.

Property for sale in Calabria — a growing tourist destination

It’s a changing region too of course. Huge sums of Government money have poured into Calabria since the War, an attempt to redress the grinding poverty that so afflicted this region, and which was depicted by writer Carlo Levi in Christ Stopped at Eboli, a book that shocked Italians with its picture of the apathy and stasis of the Mezzogiorno.

Now there is a motorway running down the west of this narrow region, the A3 that links with the A1 up into northern Italy. Land reclamation and irrigation schemes, industrial grants, and modern communications have been put in place. Buy property in Calabria and you are no longer moving into the Dark Ages, though you can live in the wilderness if you choose.

Crucially too, tourism has really taken off here. There are marvellous beaches and resorts along the Tyrrhenian Coast: resorts include San Nicola Arcella, Praia A Mare and Cirella. Without exception, these resorts are fun and lively in the summer, deserted in the winter. They can offer good opportunities for those looking at Italian property for sale. The likes of Scalea and Tropea, while not cheap, are considerably cheaper than the Amalfi Coast to the north. You could buy a Calabrian property here and use it as a new or holiday home for yourself, or rent it out as a holiday let.

If you're thinking of visiting, property hunting or even taking a vacation here, have a look at ahotelinitaly.com for a range of hotels in Calabria.

Real estate in Reggio di Calabria

At the very toe of Italy, and facing Sicily across the Strait of Messina, is Reggio di Calabria, the provincial capital. With a population of 180,000 this is Calabria’s biggest town by same way; it’s also been in decline for generations. It seems though that Reggio may have hit bottom and be on the way back up. There is a beautifully restored seafront and promenade that faces Messina and Sicily across the Strait. Its position should make Reggio a holiday hotspot and this is certainly a town to watch for those with an eye on Italian property.

Beware though. Organised crime is a curse on Reggio di Calabria, and large amounts of the development money that pour into the town pour straight into the pockets of mafia-friendly contractors — the lack of movement on civil contracts is testament to this. As a foreigner you will see little of this, but you will see its effects. Head round to the Ionian Coast and things get wilder and cheaper. Greek and Roman remains abound, and unspoiled beaches lie below precipitous roads clinging to the hillsides.

Real estate in Calabria … getting there

Communications are fairly good for anyone looking to buy property in Calabria. There are the airports at Reggio di Calabria and Lamezia Terme, though the main international entries are at Palermo (Sicily) and Naples. The A3 is the main highway north.

Calabrian cuisine is similar to that of Campania, albeit with more Greek flavours. Swordfish, aubergines, figs, almonds and honey all feature in dishes. Pork, pasta and strong cheeses such as mature ricotta, provolone and pecorino feature, and spices creep in, with chilli and (rare for Italy) ginger. Calabria makes sweet white wines such as Greco di Bianco.