Travel Guide Gerace

Ranked among the most beautiful villages in Italy, Gerace has the appearance of a town that has remained in its medieval state and whose buildings' stones seem to be intact. This is one of the strangenesses of this city: located in an area ravaged by earthquakes, Gerace has suffered little and does not seem to have cared about anything but the preservation of its architectural wonders. The city's period of splendour coincides with the Norman conquest of 1059, when the largest church in Calabria, the cathedral, was built. The rest of the city is a series of stone streets, in an unreal setting where one might expect to see passers-by in medieval costume.The ancient city was surrounded by solid walls, traces of which still remain. You enter the upper city through the Porta del Sole. The spaces were used for different functions: the piazza del Tocco, the civic heart, was the Curia Civilis, the former seat of the local Parliament composed of representatives of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, while the piazza Tribuna, the religious heart, was the Curia Episcopalis (the Episcopal citadel). Among the noble palaces of the old town, with courtyards and interior gardens, the Palazzo dell'Abate Elia (via Zaleuco), with its 14th-century mullioned windows, is particularly noteworthy. Finally, don't miss the piazza delle Tre Chiese, bordered, as its name suggests, by three beautiful churches.