Vibo Valentia

Vibo Valentia
Comune
Comune di Vibo Valentia

Panorama of Vibo Valentia

Coat of arms
Vibo Valentia

Location of Vibo Valentia in Italy

Coordinates: 38°40′30″N 16°05′50″E / 38.67500°N 16.09722°E / 38.67500; 16.09722
Country Italy
Region Calabria
Province Vibo Valentia (VV)
Frazioni Bivona, Longobardi, Piscopio, Porto Salvo, San Pietro, Vena Inferiore, Vena Media, Vena Superiore, Triparni, Vibo Marina
Government
  Mayor Nicola D'Agostino
Area
  Total 46.2 km2 (17.8 sq mi)
Elevation 476 m (1,562 ft)
Population (31 March 2010)
  Total 33,819
  Density 730/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Vibonesi
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 89900, 89811
Dialing code 0963
Patron saint St. Leoluca
Saint day 1 March
Website Official website
The castle.
The dome Santa Maria Maggiore.

Vibo Valentia (Italian: [ˈviːbo vaˈlɛntsja]) is a city and comune (municipality) in the Calabria region of southern Italy, near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital of the province of Vibo Valentia, and is an agricultural, commercial and tourist center (the most famous places nearby are Tropea, Ricadi and Pizzo). There are also several large manufacturing industries, including the tuna district of Maierato. Very important for the local economy is Vibo Marina's harbour.

History

Vibo Valentia was originally the Greek colony of Hipponion. It was founded, probably around the late 7th century BC, by inhabitants of Locri, a principal city of the Italian Magna Graecia, south of Vibo Valentia on the Ionian Sea. Diodorus Siculus reports that the city was taken in 388 BC by Dionysius the Elder tyrant of Syracuse, who deported all the population. The population came back in 378 BC, with the help of the Carthaginians. In the following years Hipponion came under the dominion of the Bruttii, who controlled most of Calabria. After the town fell to Rome, the name was Latinized to Hipponium. The town became a Roman colony in 194 BC with the name of Vibo Valentia. After a phase of prosperity during the late Republic and early Empire, the town was almost completely abandoned after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

In 1070 the Normans built a castle at the site of the old Acropolis and in 1235 a new city was established by Frederick II, Holy Roman emperor and king of Sicily, with the name of Monteleone. The city got back the old Roman name of Vibo Valentia only in 1928.

Main sights

Twin towns

References

External links


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