Calabria

Calabria, region, southern Italy, comprising the so-called toe of the Italian Peninsula. It consists of the provinces of Catanzaro, Cosenza, and Reggio di Calabria. The city of Catanzaro is the capital. The southernmost tip is separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina. The Apennines mountain range extends the full length of Calabria, providing a generally rugged terrain except for lowland marshes and a fertile coastal strip. Wheat, citrus fruits, figs, potatoes, and olives are grown, and livestock raising, lumbering, and fishing are important economic activities. The chief minerals mined are rock salt and sulfur. Until the 20th century, when social and economic reforms were introduced, Calabria was a generally backward area. Several hydroelectric plants and chemical and zinc works are in the region.

In ancient times Calabria was called Bruttium. The modern name of Calabria, which in antiquity was applied to present-day Apulia, was not given to the region until the Middle Ages. Greeks settled the coast at an early date and several of their settlements, including Sybaris, Crotona, and Locri, were numbered among the leading cities of Magna Graecia during the 6th and 5th centuries bc. Conquered by the Romans in the 3rd century bc, the region never regained its former prosperity. The inhabitants were in large part driven inland by the spread of malaria and, during the early Middle Ages, by pirate raids. Conquered by the Normans in the 11th century, Calabria thereafter shared the history of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Area, 15,080 sq km (5,822 sq mi); population 2,009,268 (2005 estimate).