SHARRYLAND
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Road of the two seas - Jacurso
This is the fourth leg of the Ionian Sea to Tyrrhenian Sea crossing via the picturesque Isthmus of Catanzaro
Where is
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This municipality is located along the road of the two seas.
Jacurso, at the foot of Mount Contessa.
Small hillside municipality, overlooking the so-called Isthmus of Catanzaro, the narrowest point of the peninsula, between the Sila Piccola and the Serre, only 35 kilometers dividing the Tyrrhenian Sea from the Ionian Sea. Behind it is Mount Contessa (m 881), which from the summit offers views of the Gulf of Santa Eufemia and the Gulf of Squillace, respectively. The village overlooks a rolling backdrop of terraced olive groves up to the pastures that creep through the woods.
The fertile lands crossed by the Pilla
The first official mention of the community dates back to the 15th century as a hamlet in the orbit of Maida, but it is widely believed that it was families of farmers and shepherds who clustered several centuries earlier in this favorable location along the road connecting the two seas. Near the village flows the Pilla River, which once fed several mills and olive presses as evidence of the land's bounty.
Medieval atmospheres around the Mother Church
The historic core of the town, called Cittadella (Citatedhra), retains the dense texture of medieval agglomerations. Here is the church named after the patron saint St. Sebastian the Martyr, celebrated on January 20. The most prominent sacred building, however, is located on a rise on the edge of the town, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Salvation, rebuilt after the catastrophic 1783 earthquake, but still guarding the works of art from the earlier church, including a late 16th-century wooden statue known as the Greek Madonna. The shrine is at the center of celebrations that culminate on the last Sunday in July in a popular fireworks display.
A balcony overlooking the isthmus of Catanzaro
The focal point of this and other events is La Cona, a scenic square that opens along National Street. It is here, by the way, that you will find the two most famous signs of the delicacy that has brought fame to the town: "Jacurso, village of ice cream," is also written on road signs at the entrance to the center.