Cutro ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

province of Crotone The province of Crotone ( it, provincia di Crotone) is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It was formed in 1992 out of a section of the province of Catanzaro. The provincial capital is the city of Crotone. It borders the province ...

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It's called "City of chess". It is the place of birth of

Vincenzo Iaquinta Vincenzo Iaquinta (; born 21 November 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Prior to joining Juventus in 2007, he initially played for several smaller Italian clubs, and subsequently moved to Udinese in ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

-winning

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club Juventus.

History

Cutro was a

Greek colony Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC. This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that i ...

of Magna Graecia, with the name of ''Kyterion''. It obtained the title of city in 1575 by the Spanish King

Philip II Philip II may refer to: * Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC) * Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor * Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374) * Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404) * Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497) * Philip ...

, after the local

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

champion

Giò Leonardo Di Bona Giovanni Leonardo di Bona or Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri (both given names can be seen also in the reversed order Leonardo Giovanni), known as Il Puttino ( it, Small Child) (1542–1597), was an early Italian chess master. Giovanni Leonardo was ...

had won a contest at the Spanish court, become ''first international winner of chess''. Cutro was destroyed by an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

on March 8, 1832. It remained the most populous centre of the region until the mid-20th century, when a strong emigration flow towards

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

(especially in Reggio Emilia) reduced the number of inhabitants considerably.

Notable people

Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona Giovanni Leonardo di Bona or Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri (both given names can be seen also in the reversed order Leonardo Giovanni), known as Il Puttino ( it, Small Child) (1542–1597), was an early Italian chess master. Giovanni Leonardo was ...

(1st international chess tournament champion) *

(footballer) *

Rino Gaetano Salvatore Antonio "Rino" Gaetano (29 October 1950 – 2 June 1981) was an Italian musician and singer-songwriter. He is famous for his satirical songs and oblique yet incisive political commentary. He is remembered for his raspy voice, for the he ...

(Songwriter, born in Crotone, from a Cutro family)

References

External links

Italian Wikipedia article Cities and towns in Calabria {{Calabria-geo-stub