Amantea

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Amantea
coat of arms
Amantea (Italy)
Amantea
Country Italy
region Calabria
province Cosenza  (CS)
Coordinates 39 ° 8 '  N , 16 ° 5'  E Coordinates: 39 ° 8 '10 "  N , 16 ° 4' 37"  E
height 50  m slm
surface 28 km²
Residents 14,075 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density 503 inhabitants / km²
Post Code 87032
prefix 0982
ISTAT number 078010
Popular name Amanteani
Patron saint Sant'Antonio da Padova
Website Amantea

Amantea is a municipality in the province of Cosenza in the Italian region of Calabria with 14,075 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019). It is located 43 km southwest of Cosenza and 308 km south of Naples .

Amantea, sea view

geography

The urban area of ​​Amantea extends over a small coastal plain, south of the Catocastro River for 13 km along the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea , framed by a promontory of the Sila Mountains . The old town is already on a protruding hill. Below is the modern city with the beach, which is very popular with tourists.

The districts of Amantea are Acquicella, Camoli, Campora San Giovanni and Coreca .

The neighboring municipalities are Belmonte Calabro , Cleto , Nocera Terinese ( CZ ), San Pietro in Amantea and Serra d'Aiello .

history

In the area of ​​Amantea there was already a Greek colony in archaic times, as the discovery of a sanctuary from the 6th century BC. BC proves. At the same time there was a Grossier settlement in the nearby mountains . This place, called Clampetia , was founded in 204 BC. Conquered by the Romans and incorporated into their empire as a colony of Ager Clampetinus . The name Amantea first appeared in the 7th century AD.

Old town
Amantea seen from the port

In 839 the Arabs conquered Amantea and made it the seat of an emirate . But it was regained in 885 by Nikephoros Phokas for the Byzantine Empire , with the help of the inhabitants. In the 10th century Amantea became the seat of a diocese. 1094 the bishopric was Roger I of Amantea to Tropea laid. In February 2018, the abolished diocese was reactivated as the titular diocese of Amantea .

In 1495 Amantea successfully fought against the fact that Charles VIII of France gave the place as a fief to Francesco d'Alengre. Karl had to withdraw from Italy shortly afterwards (see: Italian Wars ).

In 1630, Orazio Battista Ravaschieri, Prince of Belmonte, bought the city for 60,000 ducats. However, the inhabitants bought their city back for the same amount and were thus again direct subjects of the King of Naples from 1633 .

1806–1807, the city's residents, led by the Bourbon commander Rodolfo Mirabelli , were able to withstand a siege by the French under Joseph Bonaparte for six months until it was destroyed by cannon fire.

In the course of the 19th century, settlement began on the coastal plain below the old town. The expansion of the tourist infrastructure began in the 1950s.

Population development

year 1861 1881 1901 1921 1936 1951 1971 1991 2001
Residents 4.130 4,649 5,851 7,835 8,738 10,792 10,623 11,913 13,268

Source: ISTAT

politics

Francesco Sperti (list of citizens) was elected mayor in August 2008.

Attractions

  • The city is dominated by the ruins of the castle.
  • The church of San Bernardino da Siena (1436), originally a church of the Franciscan monastery, is an outstanding example of late Gothic in Calabria.

Others

In 1990 the Jolly Rosso was stranded on the coast near Antamea. The cargo was never identified, but is believed to be illegally buried near the community. After cancer cases increased in the region in the following years, technicians found the supposed shipload nearby and found increased radioactivity and a warming of the ground by six degrees.

Sons and daughters

literature

  • Ekkehart Rotter: Calabria & Basilicata. Main places of Magna Graecia, Byzantine and Norman-Staufer architecture, the cave city of Matera (= DuMont art travel guide ). DuMont-Reiseverlag, Cologne 2002, ISBN 3-7701-5541-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.
  2. ↑ Entry on Diocese of Amantea on catholic-hierarchy.org
  3. ↑ Entry on Amantea (titular lake) on catholic-hierarchy.org
  4. ↑ http://www.taz.de/1/zukunft/wirtschaft/artikel/1/schiffe-versenken-mit-der-mafia/

Web links

Commons : Amantea  - collection of images, videos and audio files