COSENZA city guide

Cosenza is a city in Calabria, southern Italy, located at the confluence of two rivers: the Busento and the Crathis. The municipality (Comune di Cosenza) has a population of about 72,000. The urban area counts almost 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the province of Cosenza.

Thanks to its cultural past, the city is also known as the Athens of Calabria. The Cosentian Academy, for example, was one of the very first academies to be founded in Italy (1511). To this day, Cosenza remains an important cultural centre with its numerous museums, libraries, traditional and experimental theatres, and the near-by University of Calabria.

"To call the town picturesque is to use an inadequate word," wrote George Gissing in 1901. "At every step, from the opening of the main street at the hill foot up to the stern medieval castle crowning its height, one marvels and admires."

• Rome City Guide - (Roma):
  The capital, both of Italy and of the ancient Roman Empire; center of the Roman Catholic Church (the Vatican).
• Bologna City Guide
  A major trade fair city.
• Florence City Guide - (Firenze):
  History, art, architecture. Uffizi gallery, David of Michelangelo Buonarroti.
• Genoa City Guide - (Genova)
  A vibrant and historical port city, birth place of Columbus.
• Milan City Guide - (Milano)
  Shares with Paris the title of fashion capital of the world and is the main financial and business center in the country.
• Naples City Guide - (Napoli)
  With its famous gulf and Vesuvius volcano, including Herculaneum and Pompeii.
• Pisa City Guide
  Home of the famous Leaning Tower.
• Venice City Guide - (Venezia)
  History, art. Saint Mark's Square. The city is built on a lagoon, filled with canals, with no roads for cars. Very poetic and romantic.
• Verona City Guide
  A restored Roman coliseum is the stage for modern opera productions. Verona is the city where Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is based.