Cosenza and its Province

Province of Cosenza

The province of Cosenza is in Calabria, a region in the South of Italy. It’s provincial capital is the city of Cosenza.

The province has a total population of 732.000 inhabitants as of 2015 over an area of 6,709.75 square kilometres (2,590.65 sq mi), giving it a population density of 110 inhabitants per square kilometre; it is the largest province in Calabria. It contains 155 “comuni� (towns).

The emblem of Cosenza: the city has situated on 7 hills, like Rome.

OUR SCHOOL is the Istituto Comprensivo “Don Milani- De Matera”: the word “Comprensivo” name refers to the fact it’s made of 3 sections: preprimary (3yrs), primary (5yrs) and middle school (3yrs). It has many blocks; for the middle school there are three locations. Our class is in “Aldo Moro street” in a big block, it is white with many coloured parts, it looks happy!

We study: Italian, History, Geography, Maths, Science, English, French, Music, Art, Technology, Physical Education. Religion is optional.

Our middle school is focusing on Music, so students can choose to take musical instruments lessons in the afternoon at school once a week. We can learn to play violin, clarinet, piano, harp, trumpet, bassoon, cello.

If you choose this teaching, it becomes compulsory for you for all the time of middle school (3 yrs) as the others school subjects and you are evaluated also in this. The best of students-musicians have extra lessons of musique d'ensemble to play in our Orchestra.

Cosenza The municipal population is of around 70,000. The urban area, however, counts over 268,000 inhabitants.

The Brettii (IV BC) were one of the local ancient people settled in the North area of Calabria. The Oenotrians were another ancient population who settled in the Cosenza surroundings. A legendary king of them was Italus, so that they were called Italics and their land Italia; later, when the Romans united the various regions into a whole, this name identified the entire Italian Peninsula. So our land gave the name to our nation! In the ancient times, Brettii, Oenotrians and other peoples living in this area fought each other to have the control of the territory. But after they understood that the best thing to do was to unite and get along with each other, so they stopped fighting and they found Cosenza: its name, in fact, comes from Latin “Consentia”, it means agreement, consensus. The evidences of the presence in the Cosenza area of these ancient peoples are kept into the Museum of Brettii and Oenotrians of Cosenza.

Therefore, the name of our city reminds us of the importance of the harmony and the peace. Another etimology of this name refers to the place where Cosenza is, at the union of the two rivers Crati and Busento, so “Consentia” means confluence.

During the Roman Empire, Cosenza was an important stop on the Popilia Road, linking Rome to Sicily. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, died here in AD 412. History tells us he was buried with his horse and his treasure into the bed of the Busento River, therefore it is an interesting place for scientists and historians who come here to study and to try to find that treasure.

Norman Castle, XII century, Cosenza

After Roman domination so many people came and occupied Calabria! Byzantines, Saracens, Normans, Longobards, Goths, Arabs‌ So our culture became richer and our attitude outgoing and open to the new: we are people and a land of contrasts!

MAB The Cosenza’s “Duomo” is a fascinating example of Romanesque architecture. This Cathedral is now “Patrimony witness of peace and culture” protected by UNESCO. It was unvelied by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in 1222. In that occasion, the emperor gave the city of Cosenza the “stauroteca”, a golden cross with precious stones. It keeps a relic, a piece of the Jesus’ cross.

The Open Air Museum MAB (Museo Aperto Bilotti) is a project linked to the works of art donated by Carlo Bilotti to the municipality of Cosenza in the 90s. It is situated in Corso Mazzini, in the heart of the modern part of the city. It is one of the most beautiful and interesting open air museum in Europe: walking, you can admire works made by modern, still alive artists and copies of famous works by artists like Modigliani, Dalì, Manzù … It becomes every year richer because the city regularly acquires new statues,.

Rendano Theatre

It is an international symbol of our city.

Built by the municipality on project by the architect Zumpano in the second half of the nineteenth century, the theatre was inaugurated in 1909 with the Aida by Verdi and was dedicated to the pianist and compositor from Cosenza Alfonso Rendano. The splendid building is in the neoclassic style of the nineteenth century. Hit by a bomb in 1943, the theatre has suffered nearly thirteen years of reconstruction work, after which it was newly inaugurated and in 1976 became known as the Theatre of Tradition for the intense activity.

The historical curtain is one of the surviving parts of the original structure. It was painted by the Neapolitan Paolo Vetri in 1901 and illustrates the arrival in Cosenza of the Duke of Calabria Luigi III d’Angiò and his wife Margherita di Savoia in 1433.

Sea ​and mountains Our province has a special feature that makes it different from others. Our city is around 30 minutes by car far from the sea and 30 from the mountains of the Sila.

So we have lots of different beautiful landscapes: lakes, hills, high mountains, sea, coasts and beaches...

Our territory is a land of contrasts not only for its history and the human aspects, but also in its natural features.

Sila is about 30 Kms from Cosenza. There you can trek, fish trouts, ski, go horse-riding‌ Enjoy it all the year round!

Calabria

The wolf is the symbol of Cosenza football team because Sila was its habitat in the past.

The Bosnian Pine In our province there are 2 important National parks, the Sila one and the Pollino one.

The Pollino National Park , shared by the provinces of Potenza, Matera and Cosenza, is the largest wildlife park in Italy. In 2015 it became part of UNESCO world heritage.

It is very rich in fauna and flora and there are some endangered animals like the Apennine wolf, the eagle owl, the deer and the golden eagle‌ It is still possible to see the river otter, an animal species that can only live in places immune from any kind of pollution.

The Pollino is one of the few remaining natural habitats in Italy where there is still the Bosnian pine, the “pino loricato� is the symbol of the Pollino Natural Park. In Europe this tree is still surviving only here and on the Balkans. In fact in ancient times the wind took the seeds of this tree from the Balkan area to Calabria and this, among other things, suggests an ancient geographical continuity between the Italian peninsula and the Balkans.

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Swimming, diving, snorkelling are pleasant activities you can enjoy in our seas and especially in the water of our Marine Parks, like that of Belmonte Calabro, 60 kms far from Cosenza: the Regional Park of Isca Rocks. Around it, at a depth of about 56 metres there’s the black coral, (anthipatella subpinnata) a tropical species very rare in the Mediterranean Sea; its name refers to the colour of its skeleton which is black.