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| Calabria
Regione, southern Italy, is composed of the provinces of Catanzaro, Cosenza, Crotone, Reggio di Calabria, and Vibo Valentia. Sometimes referred to as the "toe" of the Italian "boot," Calabria is a peninsula of irregular shape, jutting out in a northeast-southwest direction from the main body of Italy and separating the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas.Most of the region is mountainous or hilly, the only extensive lowlands being those of the lower Crati River valley near Sibari, of the Marchesato (territory) near Crotone (Crotona), of Sant'Eufemia, and of Gioia Tauro. The mainstay of Calabria's economy, despite the small lowland area, is farming, which was once characterized by large landed estates (latifundia) and tiny peasant holdings. Under the Italian land reform, the majority of the former latifundia were broken up after 1951 and new, small peasant holdings created, with rural service centers, new houses, and new roads. Formerly, Calabrian agriculture concentrated almost entirely on cereals, olives, and the raising of sheep and goats, with occasional work in the forests of the Sila uplands. The region was long one of the poorest areas in Italy because of its eroded soils and scanty cultivation of them. But the land reforms of the 1950s and subsequent government investment introduced new and more profitable commercial crops, such as citrus fruits (mostly on the west coast), figs, and chestnuts. The government also promoted the development of resorts and recreational areas for tourists in suitable spots along the coasts. Cosenza Latin COSENTIA, city, capital of Cosenza provincia, Calabria regione, southern Italy, on the Crati River at its confluence with the Busento, north-northeast of Reggio di Calabria. The ancient Cosentia, it was the capital of the Bruttii (an Italic tribe) before it was taken by the Romans in 204 BC. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, died there in 410 and is said to have been buried, together with his treasure looted from Rome, in the riverbed of the Busento. Subsequently occupied by the Byzantines, Saracens, Normans, Angevins (house of Anjou), and Spanish, the town was proclaimed a republic in 1799. Under the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, it was the scene of numerous uprisings for Italian independence, culminating in the unsuccessful expedition of the Bandiera brothers in 1844. The town was damaged by earthquakes in 1783, 1854, 1870, and 1905 and by Allied bombs in World War II. Many of the chief monuments of its archiepiscopal see have been restored, including the Romanesque cathedral (1185-1222) and the Norman castle, extended by the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II and the Angevins. Several medieval churches house rich art treasures, and there is a civic museum.
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