Calabria - San Nicola Arcella

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San Nicola Arcella offers a lookout point dropping sheer to the sea, at an altitude of 110 metres, on the foothills of "Mount Sirino". From here you can enjoy an enchanting view of the coast: broad beaches set among ancient towers, little bays and rocks degrading towards the sea and, of course, the clear-blue Tyrrhenian Sea.

San Nicola Arcella enjoys a superb natural rocky arc called "Arcomagno", that can be reached either trekking down the mountain to the beach or using a pedalò from sea. The arc represents the entrance to a small beach surrounded by rocks where a natural water spring grows. Only few minutes away sits the "Isle of Dino" in Praia a Mare. The island has 4km of coastline and steep slopes that end in wonderful, natural and most enchanting grottos such as the "Grotto of the Lion" and the "Azure Grotto".
 

San Nicola Arcella perches on a rock and relies on the protection of San Nicola da Tolentino, which has been worshipped since the last century in the 17th century church.
The survivors of Lavinium, a little Roman village near Scalea, sheltered here. During the period of Muslim raids, refugees came here also from Scalea and they began to build a safer village. In the 18th century, prince Petro Lanza Branciforte had the castle built in the suburb of Dino, as a symbol of its feudal rule, strengthened by his marriage to Eleonora Spinelli di Scalea.