— Castellesi
Corigliano-Rossano sits on the Ionian coast of the Sila's eastern flank, in the plain of Sibari — the third largest city in Calabria by population.
It has existed under that name only since 2018 , when the two separate comuni of Corigliano Calabro and Rossano were merged. For the whole of the emigration period and long after, they were entirely distinct towns — and Rossano was one of the most important places in Byzantine Italy.
Italian is standard. Local speech may include diverse Calabrian varieties, without assigning one single form to the merged comune.
Rossano was one of the principal centres of Byzantine Calabria — a fortified hill town that held out when much of the south fell, and a centre of Greek monasticism and learning. It preserves the Codex Purpureus Rossanensis , a sixth-century Greek gospel manuscript written in silver and gold on purple-dyed parchment, one of the oldest illustrated gospel books in existence and a UNESCO Memory of the World inscription. The Byzantine church of San Marco stands above the ravine with its five domes.
Rossano was the birthplace of Saint Nilus the Younger , the tenth-century Greek monk who founded Grottaferrata near Rome, and it remained an archiepiscopal seat .
Corigliano grew around a Norman castle on the hill above the plain, and prospered on olives and citrus — its olive oil was exported through the port at Schiavonea, and the great warehouses on the coast recall that trade.
Both towns look out over the plain of Sibari , where Greek Sybaris — proverbially the most luxurious city of Magna Graecia — stood until its destruction in 510 BC, and its successor Thurii after it.
Under the Bourbons, Rossano was the seat of one of the districts of Calabria Citeriore , alongside Cosenza, Castrovillari and Paola. The two comuni were merged in 2018 .
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Discover the beauty, culture and traditions of Cosenza and its remarkable comuni.
EXPLORE COSENZA →From the mountains to the sea, Calabria is a region of history, flavor and soul.
EXPLORE CALABRIA →From the passenger index
At least 1,286 people who gave Corigliano-Rossano as their home are recorded by name among Italian arrivals in the United States — each with the ship they sailed on and the day they landed.
A floor, not a total. The index covers arrivals through 1912, holds nothing between May 1907 and December 1911, and many passengers were written down with no home town at all. Where a name is there, it is there with its record.
Have Orso look for your family →The nearest major airport is Lamezia Terme International Airport.
Despite the shared name, this is still two places, and a visit should treat it that way.
Rossano is the one to see first: the Byzantine hill town, the Codex in the diocesan museum, San Marco with its domes above the ravine, and the liquorice works below.
Corigliano has the Norman-Angevin castle, one of the best preserved in Calabria, and the old town beneath it, with the great oil warehouses down at Schiavonea.
The plain of Sibari between and below them holds the excavations of Sybaris and Thurii. The Sila rises directly behind, and the Arbëreshë villages of the Pollino are within an hour north.
Il Codex Purpureus Rossanensis — the sixth-century Greek gospel book, in the diocesan museum at Rossano.
San Marco, Rossano — the five-domed Byzantine church above the ravine.
The castle of Corigliano — Norman-Angevin, and among the best preserved in the region.
The liquorice works and museum — Rossano's historic industry.
Sibari — the excavations and museum on the plain below.
Your family's parish — in Corigliano or in Rossano, and note they are separate.
The Sila — the mountains rising directly behind the coast.
Archives and registers
Before 2018 these were two comuni with two sets of registers.
The journey does not end at the boundary of one comune. The province, the region and the neighbouring towns often hold the rest of the picture.
Corigliano-Rossano is more than a place on a map. It is a part of you.
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