Vibo Valentia District

It was recently born by the division of the territory of Catanzaro district and it covers the 7,6% the Calabrian territory. It includes 50 towns with almost 180,00 inhabitants. The territory owns an extraordinary patrimony made of natural beauties, millennary history, culture, traditions, that are both artistic and architectural beauties and popular characteristics, that some people call poor art. Thanks to its position between the Tyrrhenian sea and the Serre Mountains, this district offers a fantastic riot of lights and colors, of surroundings and sights, of scents and tastes. Here you can walk along the golden beaches of Pizzo, Capo Vaticano, Nicotera and Tropea, which is known all over the world as the “Pearl of the Tyrrhenian sea”; you can admire the Serre mountains and Mongiana’s woods, or the naturalistic oasis of the Lake Angitola and the mystical places of San Bruno’s Charterhouse. We cannot forget to point out the so many folk culture appointments, above all in summer, made up of  long series of “sagre” and patronal festivals, where you can enjoy Calabrian people fun and hospitality.
Moreover its territory offers a real mine of gastronomic produce, where cheese holds a very remarkable place: the good forage flocks warrant a very good milk production that, with ancient techniques and thanks to the shepherds’experience and ability in Poro, allow to produce sheep’s milk cheese, “ricotta”, “caciotte” and “mozzarelle” in the traditional way.
Pork is the basic ingredient of a complete gastronomic line: sausages, meat, spicy “soppressata” and “nduja” belong to the Calabrian tradition. By now, Tropea red onion is famous all over the world: its extraordinary sweetness, its delicate scent and its lightness, are due to the morphological peculiarities of the ground. Mushrooms are a typical and natural product of the Serre; of particular gastronomic value are the “porcini”, sought-after both fresh and dried, preserved in oil or pickled. Tunny fish in olive oil is very appreciated. Some wines (Zibibbo, Magliocco, Malvasia, Sangiovese, Greek, Aglianico, Olivearella) and a slightly spicy, fruited oil of green color are produced in an artisan way.
The typical “mostacciuoli” of Soriano are very tasty: they represent archaic figures and are made of flour, warm must and honey. By the coast towns you can taste the traditional fruit ice-creams, expecially the well known “tartufo”, made by the master ice-cream sellers of Pizzo Calabro.