Castello Murat and the Tartufo of Pizzo
Where Napoleon's brother-in-law was shot, and the famous ice cream
On a cliff overlooking the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia, Pizzo is a lively seaside town in the province of Vibo Valentia, with a beautiful central square, Piazza della Repubblica, a terrace over the sea full of cafés and ice cream parlours. At its edge stands the Castello Murat, a fortress built by the Aragonese in the fifteenth century, which owes its name to a dramatic episode of history: in October 1815, Joachim Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law and former King of Naples, who had lost his throne after the fall of the Emperor, landed in Pizzo with a few men, hoping to provoke an uprising and reconquer the kingdom. But the population did not follow him: he was captured, imprisoned in the castle, tried by a military court and shot in the courtyard on 13 October 1815. According to tradition, he faced death with great courage, asking the soldiers to spare his face. Today the castle hosts a museum that reconstructs his last days with wax figures.
Pizzo is also known throughout Italy for a delicious speciality: the Tartufo di Pizzo, a protected IGP ice cream, created, according to tradition, in the 1950s by a local ice cream maker. It is a ball of hazelnut and chocolate ice cream with a heart of liquid chocolate, shaped by hand in a sheet of paper and dusted with cocoa and sugar, which recalls the shape of a truffle. Today there are many variations, with pistachio, lemon, coffee or other flavours. The best place to taste it is in one of the historic cafés of the main square.
Tip: taste the tartufo in Piazza della Repubblica, with a view of the sea; visit the nearby Chiesetta di Piedigrotta, carved in the rock.
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