Civita ( Arbërisht: ''Çifti'') is a hilltown and ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

''in the

province of Cosenza The province of Cosenza () is a province in the Calabria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Cosenza. It contains 150 ''comuni'' (: ''comune''), listed at list of ''comuni'' of the province of Cosenza. The province of Cosenza contains ...

in the

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

region of southern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Facing the

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea (, ; or , ; , ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, ...

, it is part of the

Pollino National Park Pollino National Park (Italian language, Italian: ''Parco Nazionale del Pollino'') is an Italian national park in the southern Italian peninsula, peninsula, in the provinces of province of Cosenza, Cosenza, province of Matera, Matera and province ...

. It is one of

I Borghi più belli d'Italia () is a non-profit private association of small Italian towns of strong historical and artistic interest, that was founded in March 2001 on the initiative of the Tourism Council of the National Association of Italian Municipalities, with the a ...

("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). It was founded in the 15th century by Albanian refugees from the Ottoman invasion. The Civitesi are part of an ethnic minority (

Arbëreshë Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arbënesh/Arbëresh originally meant all Albanians, until the 18th century. Today it is used for different groups of Albanian origin, including: * Arbër (given name), an Albanian masculine given name *Arbëres ...

) officially recognized by the Italian laws.

Main sights

*Ponte del Diavolo (

Devil's Bridge Devil's Bridge is a term applied to dozens of ancient bridges, found primarily in Europe. Most of these bridges are stone or masonry arch bridges and represent a significant technological achievement in ancient architecture. Due to their unusu ...

). *Raganello Canyons. *Church with Byzantine mosaics and a precious icon. *Arbëreshë Ethnic Museum.

Notable people

* Gennaro Placco

References

External links

Photo gallery on igougo.com
Arbëresh settlements Cities and towns in Calabria Borghi più belli d'Italia {{Calabria-geo-stub