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Home > Travel Italy > Italy Destinations > Crotone
Crotone
Italy, officially the Italian Republic or Repubblica Italiana, is a Southern European country comprising of the Po River valley, the Italian Peninsula and the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. It is shaped like a boot and for this reason Italians commonly call it lo Stivale, the boot or, due to its prevalent peninsular geographical nature, la Penisola, the Peninsula.
Crotone is a city in Calabria, southern Italy, on the Gulf of Taranto. It was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until 1928, when its name was changed to Crotone. In 1996 it became the capital of the newly established Province of Crotone. As of December 31, 2004, its population was 60,517. It is located at an altitude of 8 meters with an area of 179,8 per square kilometers.
Crotone was one of the most flourishing cities of Magna Graecia. Its inhabitants were famous for their physical strength and for the simple somberness of their lives. From 588 BC onwards, Croton produced many generations of victors in the Olympics and the other Panhellenic Games, the most famous of whom was Milo of Croton. According to Herodotus, the physicians of Croton were considered the foremost among the Greeks. Pythagoras founded his school, the Pythagoreans, at Croton circa 530 BC, Before Christ. Among his pupils were the early medical theorist Alcmaeon of Croton and the philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer Philolaus.
Crotone's location between the ports of Taranto and Messina, as well as its nearness to a source of hydroelectric power, favored industrial development during the period between the two World Wars. By the late 1980s Crotone was in economic crisis, with many residents losing their jobs and leaving to find work elsewhere. In 1996, a flood dealt a further blow to the city's morale. Since that low point, the city has undergone urban renewal and risen in quality-of-life rankings.
Croton hosts a national archaeological museum, a municipal museum, a municipal art gallery, and a provincial museum of contemporary art, as well as the Antiquarium di Torre Nao. Crotone , justifiably so, enjoys a very positive reputation with worldwide travelers, and is one of the most visited place. It is also said the place of best geographical environment and can trace its origins back to prehistoric times.
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