The city of a hundred churches and the largest cathedral in Calabria
On a spur of rock about 500 metres high, a few kilometres from the Ionian coast and Locri, Gerace is one of the most beautiful medieval towns in southern Italy, one of the "Borghi più belli d'Italia". It was founded in the early Middle Ages by the inhabitants of the ancient Greek city of Locri, who took refuge on this natural fortress to escape the Saracen raids, and it became an important Byzantine and then Norman town, with a bishop's see and so many churches and chapels, of Greek and Latin rite, that it was called the "city of a hundred churches". The upper town, with its stone houses, its lanes and its squares, is still dominated by the ruins of the Norman castle, on the edge of the cliff.
The pride of Gerace is its Cathedral, the largest church in Calabria, consecrated in 1045 under the Normans and rebuilt in 1222 in the presence of Emperor Frederick II. The interior, majestic and austere, with three naves, is divided by twenty columns of marble and granite of different colours and shapes, taken from the ruins of ancient Locri and its temples, a beautiful example of reuse of ancient materials. Under the church, a large crypt preserves other ancient columns. The cathedral treasure museum displays precious objects of goldsmith's art. Near the cathedral, the church of San Francesco, Gothic, has a marble altar inlaid with polychrome marble, and the small Byzantine church of San Giovannello preserves the Greek rite. From the Piazza delle Tre Chiese and the Bastione, the view sweeps over the hills to the Ionian Sea.
Tip: visit the cathedral and its crypt, then walk up to the castle ruins at sunset for the view of the coast.
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