From the sea to the mountains in under an hour

Morning on the beach at Scilla, lunch among the beech trees of Gambarie, sunset back by the sea. Costa Viola and Aspromonte are an hour's drive apart, often less: choose where you start and see how long it really takes.

Tap a point to discover it. Choose where you start and where you arrive: the real road is drawn on the map, with kilometres, minutes and elevation gain.

The road that climbs

Sea

• Scilla and Chianalea — The swordfish village, with houses right on the waterMarina Grande, the Castello Ruffo on its crag and Chianalea, where the boats come right into the houses. It is the most natural starting point: from here the road to Gambarie climbs in forty minutes.
• Favazzina — The quiet beach below the TracciolinoA hamlet of Scilla squeezed between the railway and the sea, with a beach of pale pebbles that stays quiet even in August. Above the village runs the Tracciolino path.
• Bagnara Calabra — Swordfish, torrone and the long beachThe town of the bagnarote, its famous women pedlars, and of torrone, with the beach running beneath the cliff. From Bagnara the road to Sant'Eufemia and Gambarie is the most direct on the whole coast.
• Palmi, Tonnara and Marinella — The Scoglio dell'Ulivo and the beaches of PalmiThe Tonnara, with the Scoglio dell'Ulivo just off the beach clubs, and further south the Marinella, wild and reachable on foot. Behind them rises Monte Sant'Elia, the first balcony towards the mountains.
• Villa San Giovanni — The Strait, the ferries and Messina across the waterThe gateway to Sicily: ferries every few minutes and a seafront with Messina in plain sight. From here the climb to Gambarie goes through Gallico and the statale del Monte.
• Reggio seafront — The most beautiful kilometre in Italy and the BronzesThe palm-lined Lungomare Falcomatà, the Bronzi di Riace in the Museum and, on the right days, the Fata Morgana over the Strait. Gambarie is three quarters of an hour away along the statale del Monte.
• Tropea — The pearl of the Tyrrhenian, further northThe sanctuary on its rock, the old town perched over the void and the white sand. It lies outside the Costa Viola, but from here the Aspromonte is still a day trip.
• Capo Vaticano — Coves and lighthouse on the Costa degli DeiThe headland with the coves of Grotticelle and the lighthouse looking out towards the Aeolian Islands. An add-on for those with an extra day, not a stop on the road to the mountains.

Hills

• Seminara — Ceramics and the first hills above PalmiThe village of the babbaluti, the ceramic masks, and of the Madonna dei Poveri. It is the first terrace above the coast: from the sea you get here in a quarter of an hour.
• Monte Sant'Elia — The balcony over the Costa Viola at 574 metresFrom the viewpoint you can see the Strait, Etna and, when the air is clear, Stromboli. Ten minutes by car from Palmi, it is the quickest way to understand what going from the sea to the mountains really means.
• Sant'Eufemia d'Aspromonte — The Tyrrhenian gateway to the ParkThe village where the road from Bagnara stops looking at the sea and starts to climb. From here the Piani di Carmelia and Gambarie are half an hour away, with the first beech woods.
• Oppido Mamertina — The cathedral and the old town on the cliff edgeThe cathedral, the museum and the ruins of the old Oppido destroyed by the earthquake of 1783. It is the most convenient base for going up to the Piani di Zervò, less than five kilometres away.
• Santa Cristina d'Aspromonte — The village below the Piani di ZervòA mid-slope village among olive groves and chestnut trees, with Zervò ten minutes further up. From the square you look out over the whole Piana down to the sea.
• Delianuova — The hiking village on the Tyrrhenian sideAt 580 metres, among olive groves and woods, it is where the roads to the Piani di Carmelia and to Montalto begin. In the village you find olive oil, bread and mountain restaurants.
• Pentedattilo — The ghost village on the five-fingered rockAbandoned and then reborn with craft workshops and festivals, it clings to a crag shaped like a hand. It is in the Greek-speaking area, on the Ionian side: a different kind of day out.

Mountains

• Gambarie d'Aspromonte — 1,300 metres, the southernmost snow in ItalyThe Aspromonte's mountain resort: pines and beeches, the chairlift, ski runs in winter and trails in summer. From the Puntone di Scirocco you can see Etna and the Strait. From Scilla it takes forty minutes.
• Montalto — The summit: 1,955 metres and the Christ overlooking two seasThe highest point of the Aspromonte, with the 1901 statue of the Redeemer and a view that takes in the Tyrrhenian, the Ionian and Etna. From Gambarie you drive up to the car park, then the last two kilometres are on foot.
• Piani di Zervò — Meadows and beech woods at 1,100 metres above the PianaAn open plateau ringed by beech woods, with hiking loops towards Piano Rocchella and Aria di Vento. The right place for a picnic lunch half an hour from the sea at Palmi.
• Piani di Carmelia — The plateau above Delianuova, on the way to MontaltoMeadows, beech trees and picnic areas at 1,250 metres, with the trail that leads from the Tyrrhenian side up to Montalto. In summer it is where people staying on the coast come to escape the heat.
• Trepitò and Moleti — The plateau of the waterfalls, above MolochioThe Moleti village and the Trepitò loop at a thousand metres, with the Mundu and Galasia waterfalls just below. A lesser-known corner of the Aspromonte, little more than an hour from the Tonnara at Palmi.
• Bova — The capital of the Greek-speaking area, on the IonianAt 820 metres, with its Norman castle and the Greek-Calabrian language still alive on the shop signs. This is the Aspromonte that faces the Ionian: far from the Costa Viola, but reachable in a day.

In a day

Three ready-made days, with times and driving minutes between one stop and the next. Tap one to see it on the map.

How long it really takes

Driving minutes from the coast to the mountain destinations. Rows are the starting points by the sea, columns the destinations up high.

Indicative driving times, without traffic or stops: on mountain roads the bends count more than the kilometres. Data comes from OpenStreetMap and is adjusted for uphill stretches.

Frequently asked questions