Cittanova is a ''

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 ...

'' (municipality) in the

Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria () is an area of local government at the level of metropolitan city in the Calabria region of Italy. It comprises the territory of the city of Reggio Calabria and 97 other ''comuni'' (: ''comune'') in the hin ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

region

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 ...

, located about southwest of

Catanzaro Catanzaro (; or ; ), also known as the "City of the two Seas" (), is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabr ...

and about northeast of

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...

. Located on the slopes of

Aspromonte The Aspromonte is a mountain massif in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Calabria, southern Italy). In Italian aspro means "rough" whereas in Greek it means "white" (wikt:άσπρος, Άσπρος), therefore the name literally translat ...

and facing the

Gioia Tauro Gioia Tauro () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (Italy), on the Tyrrhenian coast. It has an important port, situated along the route connecting Suez to Gibraltar, one of the busiest maritime corridors in ...

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

, it is characterized by the presence of numerous churches and a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

which extends for 2.65

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s (6.55 ac).

Geography

The town is located at the foot of the

, on alluvial

quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

soils, consisting of incoherent sands and gravels that cover the large terraces sloping down towards the Gulf of Gioia. Cittanova dominates the

from the highest terrace, the one bordering the massif of the Serre Calabresi, almost in contact between the two lithological formations: alluvial and crystalline. This geological conformation favors the propagation of

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s, as the incoherence of the alluvial cover is increased during earthquakes by the contiguous and underlying crystalline formation. The territory of Cittanova is crossed by the homonymous fault which is part of the Serre-Aspromonte fault system, 30 kilometers long and still active. The altitude referring to the

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

building is 400 meters

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

, in the municipal area the minimum altitude reaches 77 m above mean sea level while the maximum reaches 996 meters. The surface is 61.98 km² (about 65% in flat land planted with olive trees and 35% in mountainous wooded land and natural pastures). The main water courses are the torrents ''Serra'' and ''Vacale''. Main peaks: ''Melìa'' plateau (m. 1,000), ''Zomaro'' (m. 920) and ''Mount Cuculo'' (m. 725). Zomaro is located on the Melìa plateau, inside the

Aspromonte National Park Aspromonte National Park is situated in the southern section of the Apennines, in Calabria, Italy. The park lies near the sea and includes mountain summits with altitudes close to 2000 meters (Montalto (Aspromonte), Montalto is 1,955 m). The p ...

. The flora that characterizes it is mainly composed of

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

es, holm oaks, firs and

brooms A broom (also known as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool, consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a v ...

. Also present is

Woodwardia radicans ''Woodwardia radicans'', the chain fern, European chain fern or rooting chainfern, is a species of fern in the family (biology), family Blechnaceae, mainly found in Macaronesia and southwestern Europe, but is also found in southern Italy and Cret ...

, an ancient giant

fern The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

which survived the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

. The fauna has numerous

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

s as well as

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrel ...

badgers Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by their ...

fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

es,

owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vis ...

and black kites. The plateau is also rich in spring waters. Cittanova borders the following municipalities: Antonimina,

Canolo Canolo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 901 and ...

Ciminà Ciminà () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 652 and an a ...

Gerace Gerace (; , also known as ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, southern Italy. Gerace is located some inland from Locri, yet the latter town and the sea can be seen from Gerace's perch atop a vertica ...

Melicucco Melicucco () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italy, Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 5,0 ...

Molochio Molochio () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,700 and ...

Polistena Polistena (, or ''Polysthénē'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. Polistena borders the foll ...

, Rizziconi,

Rosarno Rosarno is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region of Calabria. It is about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. Rosarno stands on a natural terrace cloaked in olive ...

San Giorgio Morgeto San Giorgio Morgeto ( Calabrian: or simply ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, ...

and

Taurianova Taurianova is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the southern Italy, Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a populat ...

Climate

The climate is

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. The plain of Gioia, open to the sea but sheltered from the winds, increases the humidity, making the land particularly fertile.

History

Cittanova (Italian for "New City") was born in 1618, in the wake of the disastrous earthquake of 1616, as the ''Nuovo Casale di Curtuladi'' ("New Hamlet of Curtuladi"), then ''Casalnuovo'' upgraded to city status as ''Cittanova''. The city was all but demolished in the great earthquake of 1783 that damaged

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

.On-line history of Cittanova
/ref>

Demographics

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Twin towns

Ivangorod Ivangorod ( rus, Иванго́род, p=ɪvɐnˈɡorət; ; ) is a town in Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the east bank of the Narva river which flows along the Estonia–Russia international border, west of Sain ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Caltanissetta Caltanissetta (Sicilian language, Sicilian: ''Cartanissètta)'' is an Italian comune with a population of 58,012 inhabitants, serving as the capital of the Province of Caltanissetta, free municipal consortium of Caltanissetta in Sicily. The earl ...

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 ...

Vimodrone Vimodrone ( ; historically ''Modrone'' or '' Vico Modrone'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italy, Italian region of Lombardy. It is located about northeast of Milan. Vimodrone borders the following munici ...

References

External links

Official website

Cittanova.Com

CittanovaOnLine.It
{{Authority control Populated places established in 1618 Cities and towns in Calabria 1618 establishments in Italy