Taurianova, the heart of the Piana di Gioia Tauro

Taurianova sits at 210 metres above sea level, on a shelf of red earth at the edge of the Piana di Gioia Tauro, with the Aspromonte behind it and the Tyrrhenian Sea a quarter of an hour away by car. It is a young town: it was created on 12 March 1928 by merging Radicena and Iatrinoli, two neighbouring villages that each had their own square, their own mother church and their own landowning families.

That double origin is still legible as you walk along via Roma: two centres stitched together, with eighteenth-century palaces lined up along the street and two separate religious poles. Visitors find few tourist crowds and a great deal of ordinary small-town life, plus two things Taurianova does better than anywhere else, fireworks and nougat.

The rest is agriculture. Very tall olive groves, citrus orchards, mills that work day and night in autumn: Taurianova is the most important olive-oil centre in the plain. In 2024 it was named Italian Capital of the Book.

Radicena and Iatrinoli: two villages, one town

The heart of the town is Piazza Italia, where people stop to talk in the evening and where most of what happens in Taurianova happens. The square is overlooked by the church of the Santissimo Rosario, the most interesting building in the centre: originally dedicated to Saint Basil, it hosted Emperor Charles V in 1535 and passed in 1537 to the Dominicans, who turned it into their convent. The 1783 earthquake destroyed it and reconstruction was completed in 1803, as the inscription on the tufa portal flanked by Corinthian columns records.

On the other side of town, in Piazza Macrì, stands the church of Maria Santissima delle Grazie, the mother church of old Radicena: the earlier building came down in the 1908 earthquake and the present one was completed in 1929. Iatrinoli keeps its own parish of Santi Pietro e Paolo. Between the two poles runs via Roma, lined with the palaces of the families who controlled the land of the plain for two centuries.

The family palaces and the enclosed monastery

Taurianova has more aristocratic palaces than you would expect of a farming town. Villa Zerbi dates from 1786, designed by Filippo Frangipane for the Calfapietra family on the ruins of a Renaissance residence brought down by an earthquake: a grey granite portal, wrought-iron balconies resting on carved corbels. Next to it, around 1860, Luigi Zerbi added Palazzo Zerbi, with a central marble staircase splitting into two flights; in 1925 the owner, terrified of earthquakes, had the roof lowered to a flat terrace.

In Iatrinoli, on Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, Palazzo Contestabile is the most ambitious piece: commissioned by Pasquale Contestabile and attributed to Carlo Vanvitelli, son of the architect of the Caserta Palace, it covers some 2,700 square metres in three connected wings, with a private chapel, Murano chandeliers and Sicilian majolica floors.

The town also has an enclosed monastery of the Visitation, the order founded by Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal. The community is small and the monastery church opens to the public for Mass: it is one of the few quiet places in the centre.

The Affruntata, the Madonna della Montagna and the fireworks

On Easter Sunday, in the parish of Santi Pietro e Paolo in old Iatrinoli, the Affruntata takes place. Three statues set off on shoulders from different points of the town: the Sorrowful Madonna wrapped in a black mantle, Saint John and the risen Christ. Saint John shuttles between mother and son to bring the news of the resurrection, then the statues approach one another on the church forecourt and at the moment of the encounter the mourning veil is torn away.

The patron is Maria Santissima della Montagna, celebrated on 8 September. Nine days earlier, on 29 August, comes u ’Mbitu, the invitation: a bonfire of dry broom bundles is lit and the evening continues with folk music and fireworks. A tall, lively fire means a good year, and around that bonfire people once sealed contracts and betrothals.

The fireworks are not a side dish. In Taurianova pyrotechnics is a trade and a local sport: displays are discussed for days afterwards, and every announcement of a feast, from 6 July for the Madonna del Carmine to 1 November for San Martino, opens with bangs.

The Infiorata and the year as Italian Capital of the Book

In June the old centre is covered in petals. The Infiorata reached its eighth edition in 2026, from 19 to 21 June, with floral pictures laid out along viale XXIV Maggio and a theme dedicated to Italian craftsmanship; alongside the Calabrian masters work flower artists from other Italian regions and foreign delegations, including Belgians and Spaniards. People walk among the designs in the evening, when the heat drops and the colours hold better.

In 2024 Taurianova was Italian Capital of the Book, chosen by a jury independent of the Ministry of Culture. The title left something concrete behind: in May 2024 the Antonio Renda municipal library reopened, welcoming more than three thousand visitors over the year, issuing nearly three hundred and fifty new cards and adding over four thousand volumes. For a town that until shortly before had no working library, it is the most visible change of recent years.

Olive oil, citrus and the nougat of Taurianova

The olive groves of the plain look nothing like Tuscan ones: here the trees reach fifteen or twenty metres, and the dominant cultivars are Ottobratica and Sinopolese, native to this strip of land between Rosarno and the Aspromonte. Taurianova is the plain’s main olive-oil centre, and over the past decade a share of producers has shifted from volume to quality, with early harvesting and fast pressing. Around the olive groves lie the citrus orchards: clementines and oranges that fill northbound lorries all winter.

The speciality that carried the town’s name beyond the region, though, is nougat. In Taurianova it is made by pastry families who pass the craft down, the Murdolo, Scionti and Taverna: orange-blossom honey, almonds, versions with pistachio, candied fruit or chocolate, hard or soft. You can buy it all year, but it is in December that the workshops run at full capacity.

Getting to Taurianova

By car you leave the A2 del Mediterraneo motorway at Gioia Tauro, coming from either north or south; at the roundabout take the SS 111 state road and after about ten kilometres you enter the town. Coming from Naples you can also use the Rosarno exit, at a similar distance.

By train the reference station is Gioia Tauro, on the Tyrrhenian line, about 13 kilometres away: long-distance trains between Rome and Reggio Calabria stop there too. Rosarno, some fifteen kilometres off, is the second option.

There are two airports. Reggio Calabria is about 70 kilometres away, a little over an hour by motorway; Lamezia Terme, with far more domestic and international connections, is around 87 kilometres. From either it is worth renting a car: Taurianova sits at the centre of an area you explore on provincial roads, between the plain, the coast and the Aspromonte villages, and the nearest sea is barely a quarter of an hour away.

What to see nearby

Taurianova sits at the exact centre of the plain, and half an hour in any direction changes the landscape. Towards the sea lies Gioia Tauro, with its container port visible from far off and a very long beach of dark sand. Inland, a few kilometres away, Cittanova keeps its eighteenth-century grid plan and a fine municipal botanical garden.

Climbing takes you into the Aspromonte National Park, among beech woods, waterfalls and paths that start from the mid-mountain villages; Oppido Mamertina, a bishop’s see, is twenty minutes away. In the opposite direction, towards the Costa Viola, Palmi opens onto the gulf with Monte Sant’Elia and its ethnographic museum, while Seminara remains the town of ceramics and papier-mâché giants.

Where to stay: holiday homes with Taurianova as a base

Taurianova works well as a quiet base: you sleep away from the coastal traffic, you are a quarter of an hour from the beaches of the plain and half an hour from the Aspromonte trails, and in the evening you still find a square where you can sit down without queueing. Families and anyone staying more than two or three nights gain the most: a holiday home means your own space, a real kitchen and free timetables, without the rhythm of a hotel.

In the area we offer one-bedroom flats and apartments designed for couples and families, with a private entrance and parking, both inland in the plain and on the Costa Viola a few kilometres from the sea. Check availability for your dates and send us a direct enquiry: we answer ourselves, with no intermediaries, and can suggest the option that best fits the kind of trip you have in mind.

Frequently asked questions about Taurianova

How far is Taurianova from the sea?
About 15 kilometres: the beaches of Gioia Tauro and the plain are a quarter of an hour away by car along the SS 111.

When does the Affruntata take place in Taurianova?
On Easter Sunday morning, in the parish of Santi Pietro e Paolo, in the old centre of Iatrinoli.

When is the feast of the Madonna della Montagna?
On 8 September, the patron saint’s day. Nine days earlier, on 29 August, the u ’Mbitu bonfire is lit, with folk music and fireworks.

When is the Infiorata of Taurianova held?
In June, in the old centre along viale XXIV Maggio: the eighth edition ran from 19 to 21 June 2026.

Which motorway exit serves Taurianova?
Gioia Tauro on the A2 del Mediterraneo, then the SS 111 for about ten kilometres. Coming from the north, the Rosarno exit works too.

What should I buy in Taurianova?
Handmade nougat, produced in town by family pastry shops, and the extra virgin olive oil of the plain, from the Ottobratica and Sinopolese cultivars.

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