The Patron
Nostra Signora del Carmelo
Nostra Signora del Monte Carmelo is Scalea's listed patron, celebrated on 16 July.
— Castellesi
CASTELLESI COMUNE
Cosenza,
Calabria
A resort below, an emigrant town above.
Scalea climbs a hillside above the northern Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, its old town in stepped lanes — the scale that give it its name — and a modern resort spread along the shore below.
This is the Riviera dei Cedri , the citron coast, and the citron trade here connects the comuni of this shore to a Jewish ritual market across Europe — a genuinely unusual piece of local economic history.
The Trade
Il cedro
The citron defined the Riviera dei Cedri and connected this coast to Jewish ritual markets across Europe. For families who cultivated or traded it, the cedro is a distinctive occupational marker of this northern Calabrian shore.
The Landmark
Centro storico di Scalea
The Centro storico di Scalea is the stepped medieval town above the coast and the place emigrant families actually knew. Parish and address research should focus there rather than on twentieth-century resort districts.
Did you know?
NORTHERN RECORDS MAY BE AT CASTROVILLARI
Check both archive seats
Scalea lies at the northern end of Cosenza province, where records may fall to the Castrovillari Section rather than the provincial capital. The modern seaside expansion is also recent, so ancestral research belongs primarily in the old upper town.
LA PARLATA
How they speak
Italian is standard. Local speech may include diverse Calabrian varieties, without identifying a narrower Scaleoto form.
The old town is the real one
Scalea's old town is built in tiers up the hillside, walled and gated, with the ruins of a Norman castle above and medieval churches within — a defensive arrangement common along a coast that was raided from the sea for centuries.
The country behind rises quickly toward the Pollino , and the comune sits between mountain and shore.
What distinguishes this coast is the cedro . The citron has been cultivated along the Tyrrhenian strip from Tortora to Cetraro for centuries, and for much of that time the trade had a specific and unusual market: the citron is one of the four species used in the Jewish festival of Sukkot, and buyers came from Jewish communities across Europe to select fruit from these groves each year. The Riviera dei Cedri takes its name from that cultivation, and Santa Maria del Cedro nearby carries it in its own.
In the twentieth century tourism arrived, and Scalea grew rapidly along the shore — a resort town wrapped around a medieval one.
Postcards from Scalea
Wear Scalea
Carry your heritage with pride. Timeless designs inspired by the heart of Cosenza.
SHOP THE COLLECTION →
Where this
belongs
belongs
PROVINCIA DI COSENZA
Discover the beauty, culture and traditions of Cosenza and its remarkable comuni.
EXPLORE COSENZA →REGIONE CALABRIA
From the mountains to the sea, Calabria is a region of history, flavor and soul.
EXPLORE CALABRIA →From the passenger index
At least 61 people who gave Scalea 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 →Ready to visit
Climb above the seafront
Getting there
The nearest major airport is Lamezia Terme International Airport.
Scalea in summer is a busy coastal resort, and the seafront gives no sense of the town's age. The old town above does — stepped lanes, gates, churches and the castle ruin, quiet even in August.
For a descendant that upper town is the visit. The citron groves along the coast, and the museum at Santa Maria del Cedro, explain the trade that many families here lived by.
The Pollino rises behind, with Castrovillari about an hour inland — and quite possibly the archive holding your records. Maratea, in Basilicata, is twenty minutes north along the coast.
What to see
The old town — the stepped lanes, the gates and the Norman castle ruin.
The medieval churches — within the walls, and where the records were kept.
The citron groves — along the coast, and the museum at Santa Maria del Cedro.
The Riviera dei Cedri — the coast running south toward Diamante and Cetraro.
The Pollino — the mountains rising directly behind.
Your family's parish — in the upper town.
Family history
Where the records are
Related places
Keep exploring
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.
Your Roots. Their Story. Your Place.
Scalea is more than a place on a map. It is a part of you.
FIND YOUR COMUNE →