Calabria Biking Tour

This tour was designed in 2007 for one of my favorite guest who happened to have Calabrese heritage. Originally we both thought the terrain would be too hilly & difficult for the novice rider. It's as if Calabria's terrain, mainly made up of the Apennine Mountains, had bunched up like a sock down inside the toe of the "Italian boot". 

We decided to explore and not only did we discover a bike-friendly route, but we encountered an unparalleled kindness, warmth, mutual curiosity, and beauty of the Italian culture every traveler would hope to experience.

In the 8th century BC Calabria became a colony of the Greeks, subsequently occupied by the Bruttii, conquered by the Romans, ruled by Byzantines, Lombard's, Normans (1060), then by the Swabian's, the Anjou and the Aragonese, then Spanish (especially tyrannical), and into the 19th century came the rise of patriot movements and riots until in 1860 when the population rose to support Garibaldi after he landed with his "red shirts" at Melito.
Calabria was then united to the newly established Kingdom of Italy. The decades that followed saw an increase in poverty and emigration, mostly due to the great disparity between the rich industrial regions of Northern Italy and the agricultural poorer South. Now for the good part; they managed to survive it all and are now doing splendidly and we get a chance to explore the impact of these historic events and awe at its geography and kindness of its inhabitants.