Reggio di Calabria is called the Gate to Sicily due to its location on the Strait of Messina. The city was founded in the times of Great Greece and today its greatest attractions are related to ancient monuments.
The strategic location of the city was important since ancient times. Fragments of Greek defensive walls from the 5th century BC have survived to our times. The whole area is the part of the Italian shoe closest to Sicily. Thus, from the very beginning, it was of great importance in trade as well as in defense.
The location was also an anathema to Reggio di Calabria. There has never been a century during which it has not been severely damaged by wars, invasions or pirate attacks at least once. For this reason, not many monuments have survived here to this day. What has survived can be admired primarily in museums.
Reggio di Calabria's biggest attraction is the National Archaeological Museum with a large section dedicated to underwater archeology. It documents the turbulent and at the same time triumphant history of the city in the Roman, Greek and Byzantine periods. There is also the Museum of Great Greece, which shows how the colonies of Greek cities scattered around the Mediterranean Sea functioned.
