Calabria - A Growing Economy

Like Sicily, Calabria was part of the rich and powerful Magna Graecia, until the Romans conquered it. Throughout the millennium that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, Calabria too was occupied by invading forces. During these periods the population, plagued by malaria epidemics as well as violent raids by the Saracens and the Turks along the coast, withdrew to the mountains. This phenomenon created an internal and external isolation, with the population of each valley often unable to visit the next because of impassable roads during the winter. When Italy was unified in 1861, Calabria had only one road that crossed it from the north coast to Reggio in the south, and there was no railway.