The Riviera of Angels

Among the hills of the first Ionian hinterland

The itinerary of the so-called Riviera degli Angeli has as its main guideline the State Road 106 Jonica in the stretch between Soverato (CZ) and Monasterace (RC) along which it crosses the seaside hamlets of the centers of the first hinterland and the numerous fiumare (torrents ) that descend from the eastern slope of the Calabrian Serre. The proposed tour is divided into hilly routes along quiet provincial roads that rise a few hundred meters in a rural setting of great beauty: olive groves, vineyards, cultivated fields and patches of Mediterranean scrub on the last offshoots of the relief.

From hill to hill against the backdrop of the Ionian Sea.

A first route is the one that along a wide hilly arc puts Davoli (m 401), San Sostene (m 470) and Sant'Andrea Apostolo dello Ionio (m 312) in sequence, with a moment of scenic relief in the crossing of the Alaco Fiumara against the backdrop of one of the highest elevations of the Serre, Mount Trematerra (m 1244). This is followed by the short ascent to Isca sullo Ionio (m 188). Finally, the winding but picturesque crossing from Badolato (m 240) to Santa Caterina dello Ionio (m 188) and Guardavalle (m 225) now on the border between the provinces of Catanzaro and Reggio Calabria.