Theatro delle Citta d'Italia

1629

de Beer Itb 1629 B

[Padua]: Francesco Bertelli

Calabria, the ‘toe’ of the Italian Peninsula and Reggio Calabria, the most populous city in the region, are just visible in this 1629 engraving of Messina. Because the sea dominates this region, a major part of Calabrian cuisine is fish, especially swordfish and sardines (sardelle rosamarina). Ever since Roman times, there has been talk of connecting Calabria with Sicily, a distance of some 3.1 km across the Straits of Messina. Silvio Berlusconi’s government initiated the building of a suspension bridge, but the idea was scuttled in 2013 by the new Italian government, who deemed it not a priority. Opponents of the project have had two major concerns: safety (the fear of earthquakes and winds), and supporting the economy of the ‘Ndrangheta, the local Mafia syndicate.