My Scilla Calabria Experience

By Matt Sorrentino

Over my two week vacation in Italy, I visited the lovely town of Scilla which is a town and commune in Calabria, located along the Golfo di and the Mediterranean Sea. Although the town was small, it still had its small-town charm because even in the summer, it was not very crowded. The City of Scilla has a population of less than 5,000 people and the part of Scilla that I visited was also a fishing village with a lot of sloping paths. The restaurants were amazing in quality and a few of them extend out far enough to the point where one is literally dining in the waters of the Golfo di Giola. In my view, it seems like a nice town for vacationing or if one lived in Italy and wanted to settle down to live the quiet life, it would be an ideal destination.

Scilla may not have many landmarks, but one of the major landmarks is the Ruffo di Scilla Castle that overlooks the Strait of Messina. What I found interesting was that it was not only a castle, but also serves as a lighthouse of the navy even if one cannot see it. Another thing that amazed me was the culture and heritage of the castle having first been discovered by the Etruscans, then the defensive walls of Magna Graecia, even the Romans expanded upon the castle. It became a military fortress in 1060 and then in 1808 became state-owned property.

The other landmark is the Porto Di Scilla which serves as a port for the ferry to the Island of Sicily which is about a 30 minute trip roughly. What else is interesting about the Porto di Scilla is that they have specific parts of the port reserved for specific watercraft and purposes. The Ruffo di Calabria is reserved for recreational boats, Scoglio di Ulisse or Ulysses’ Rock is reserved for fishing boats while the outer docks receive cargo ships and police boats.

Overall, while being a small town with not a lot of landmarks, Scilla is still an interesting place and I still enjoyed the trip there. I hope to come back to see it again.