Western Europe

Symbol of the city’s millenary history, the Doric column erected on the Capocolonna promontory (at about 13 km from the centre of Crotone) carries an echo of the splendour of the Magna Grecia period. It is the only remaining column of the temple dedicated to the goddess Hera. Dating back to the 6th century B.C., it was one of the most important religious locations in Magna Gr�cia, upon which today stands Capocolonna Archaeological Park. The Park is made of roughly 30,000 square meters of terrain allocated for excavations which brought to light the foundations of different buildings and domestic locations, along with 20 hectares of Mediterranean woods in which are present pleasant natural trails that lead from the museum to the column. http://www.portofcrotone.com/index.php?id=72

This temple was constructed on a mostly artificial spur. It dates to c. 450 BC, measuring 38.15 x 16.90 m: it is in Doric style, peripteros with 6 x 13 columns, preceded by a pronaos and opisthodomos. The basement has four steps. Current remains (including anastylosis from the 18th century onwards) the front columnade with parts of the architrave and of the frieze (only fragments of the other three sides are present), with few elements of the cella. The building was damaged in the fire of 406 BC and restored in Roman times, with the substitution of the roof tiles with marble ones and the addition of a steep rise in the are where today can be seen the remains of the altar. Nearby are arcosolia and other sepultures from Byzantine times, belonging to the late 6th century AD renovation of the Temple of Concordia into a Christian church. http://www.guidaturisticaagrigento.it/hera_en.php

The castle acropolis Commonly called the Castle of Charles V by the imperial coat of arms that was located there, it was created as a rudimental fortress on the ancient Greek Acropolis, to defend the country from foreign invasion. http://www.federicoitineraridellostupore.it/index.php/en/calabria/crotone/the-castle-of-carlo-v

The National Archaeological Museum of Crotone, open to the public since 1968, is amongst the most important of Calabria. The building, designed by architect Franco Minissi, is located at one of the bastions of the sixteenth century city wall, near the Castle of Charles V, in the historical heart of the town. http://crotone.itineraritaly.it/en/p455/national_archaeological_museum

The Old Town Centre of Crotone is easily identified because it is situated on a hill, close to the sea, enclosed until the end of 800, from the sixteenth century city wall with a very ancient history. According to archaeologists, the acropolis of the ancient Kroton stood here. It is said to house, among other buildings, the Temple of the Muses, home of the Pythagorean school, known throughout the Mediterranean. It is a very layered urban fabric, which for the continuous destruction, reconstruction, alterations, increases in volume that are superimposed over the course of three centuries, which have no name of the type Byzantine, Medieval,Renaissance, Baroque. The city was subjected to several foreign domination over the centuries whose influence is reflected in the heterogeneous style of its old town center. The types are mostly composite, with many terraced houses, narrow winding streets, wherein the worship buildings and noble palaces are concentrated in little squares. Political power and religious power are added together in these contexts of social life, where shops of merchants and artisans overlook the, but on which lies primarily the importance of the church, the convent of the palace. While Castle Square preserves the centuries the peculiarity of Square of arms, Dome Square, the political center of the city is the seat of Royal House, the Bishop's Palace, and of course the Cathedral church. At Suriano Square Suriano (now Umberto I Square), destined for popular assemblies, dominate the convent of St. Francis of Assisi, now the Seminary, with the annexed church and mansions of Suriano (now Albani Palace),and the Marquis Berlingeri. http://www.comune.crotone.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/4732