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COSENZA , Calabria's first town of any size if you're travelling from the north, is also the region's most interesting, and makes a useful base to explore the surrounding area, particularly the Sila mountains. Historically it has always played an important role in the commercial and intellectual life of Calabria (Norman Douglas wrote, with characteristic hyperbole, "for acute and original thought this town can hardly be surpassed by any other of its size on earth"), and recently the town has generated a degree of wealth which - while still some way below most of Italy - has in the last twenty years or so literally transformed the landscape. New construction, much of it featureless and ugly, has sprouted everywhere, while its boldly designed university is expanding fast, helping to create a strong regional awareness and self-confidence.
Completely enclosed by mountains - the Sila on the east, the Catena Costiera separating it from the sea to the west - Cosenza is the meeting point of two rivers, the Crati and the Busento. Somewhere beneath the latter, tradition has the burial place of Alaric the Goth , the barbarian who gave the western world a jolt when he prised open the gates of Rome in 410 AD. Struck down for his sins by malaria while journeying south, he was interred here along with his booty, and the course of the river deviated to cover the traces, lending Cosenza a place in history and giving rise to countless, fruitless projects to discover the tomb's whereabouts.
The Town
The two rivers form a neat division between old and new Cosenza, with the main artery of the newer town, Corso Mazzini , running off north from near their junction. This is where most of the shops and banks are, and - by day - it's the liveliest place to be. Most of the things worth seeing, however, are located in the old part, the centro storico , a compact knot of steps and alleys rising up to a sturdy Swabian castle in the southern part of town. Much of the old town has been abandoned in favour of the newer suburbs to the north, but the area has recently pulled itself out of a long period as the haunt of mafiosi , delinquents and prostitutes, and attracted many small businesses in the form of boutiques and bars, making it a pleasant focus for walking and drinking until late. By day there's a tranquillity here that the rest of the town lacks, while by night the main street, Corso Telesio , is the place to be, especially in summer when it is closed to traffic.
From Piazza Valdesi on the far side of the bridge, Corso Telesio curves up into the old quarter's confusion of narrow streets. The road is named after Cosenza's most famous son, Bernardino Telesio , the sixteenth-century humanist philosopher and major influence on the other great Calabrian philosopher, Tommaso Campanella. Halfway up, Cosenza's stately Duomo stands in a square of tall palazzi . Consecrated on the occasion of Frederick II's visit to the city in 1222, its Provençal Gothic style was later modified by Baroque accretions - though sporadic restorations have undone much of the damage to the facade. The interior - a mixture of Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque styles - has a Roman sarcophagus carved with a hunting scene, in a good state of preservation, and, in the north transept, the lovely tomb of Isabella of Aragon, who died in Cosenza in 1271 while returning with her husband Philip III - seen kneeling beside her - from an abortive Crusade in Tunisia. But the duomo's most venerated item lies in the first chapel on the left: a copy of a thirteenth-century Byzantine icon, the Madonna del Pilerio , which was once carried around the country during times of plague. The original is in the Museo delle Belle Arti (Tues-Sun 9am-1pm & 3-7pm; free), housed for the forseeable future in a restoration workshop behind the cloisters of the church and convent of San Francesco d'Assisi on the street of the same name, reached from Via del Seggio, an alley leading up from Corso Telesio. The unsigned Laboratorio di Restauro , which also displays a Byzantine reliquary crucifix made by Greek craftsmen in Palermo and presented by Frederick II at the consecration of the cathedral, is located at the third door to the left behind the church (Mon-Fri 9.30am-1pm & 3.30-6pm; free). The church itself, a much-restored thirteenth-century complex badly damaged in World War II, has paintings by Wilhelm Borremans in the sumptuous St Catherine chapel on the right of the nave.
From St Francis, climb up to Corso Vittorio Emanuele, following it until you reach the little track on the right leading to the formidable Castello (summer Mon-Fri 9am-12.30pm & 4-6pm; winter closed; free), another Frederick II construction reduced to its present condition by a series of earthquakes. The inside is bare but sensitively restored, and hosts occasional exhibitions and concerts in summer, but it makes a good spot at any time for a breath of clean air and to enjoy the superb view over Cosenza and the surrounding mountains. You can also reach the castle from Cosenza's most elegant square, Piazza XV Marzo , at the top of Corso Telesio, where there is a shady public garden, and the Accademia Cosentina houses the Museo Civico (Mon & Thurs 9am-1pm & 3.30-6pm, Tues, Wed & Fri 9am-1pm; free), which sports a rather scanty collection of prehistoric and classical bric-a-brac from the surrounding area and a few paintings.
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