Ancient traditions, handed down for three generations who, since 1931, have been involved in the processing and conservation of porcini mushrooms in oil and other products of the soil and the forest.

A painstaking task of great beauty, the cultivation of saffron requires a serene and creative soul, like that of Antonella, who, since 2016, has been tending her bulbs from which she obtains the precious pistils for tasty recipes and golden liqueurs with an intoxicating flavour.

Dedication and intuition define the history of this company, which has always focused on the quality of its raw materials, personally sourced by the owners. A varied production that caters both for the local market and international customers hallmarked by a preference for excellence.

Telling the story of the land through the experience of the Cimmino family, who have always found great inspiration in traditional flavours, a passion for food and originality of taste. Since the 1950s they have specialised in processing and selling mushrooms, dried tomatoes, chilli peppers, cheeses, cured meats, chestnuts and vegetables.

From linen blankets stretched out in the sun to trellises in the workshop, Luigi has transformed the passion he inherited from his father into an important business operation. Preserving and transforming mushrooms, dried tomatoes and chilli peppers according to traditional methods.

Pasta as a characteristic feature of a territory and a point of reference in the food and culinary traditions of the Reventino area. Durum wheat semolina, local eggs and the purest Sila water are the principal ingredients of Cardamone’s production: egg pasta, regional specialities such as capunti, fusilli, cortecce, strascinati and maccheroncini; filled pasta envelopes such as agnolotti, mezzelune and ravioli; and lastly the traditional Italian pasta shapes.

Traditional local bread and biscuits. The Piccolo Forno a Frasche (Small Wood-fired Bakery) by Cerrisi is a landmark in the area for its genuine products and courtesy.

Beauty, hospitality and local flavours. La Rosa nel Bicchiere (The Rose in the Glass) is the perfect base from which to look out over the verdant green Reventino and Sila mountains. Simple elegance and a family atmosphere lie at the heart of this farm holiday venue that expresses the most authentic Calabria. The cuisine offers Calabrian flavours in which tradition opens up to delicate and innovative elaborations in the name of finest taste.

A baronial mansion built in the late 16th century commissioned by Torquato Scaglione, Baron of Pittarella, purchased in 1922 by the Marasco family. The imposing building has a terrace supported by a five-arched portico.

Memory of the Future or Falling House, also known as the Oblique House, is Fabrizio Plessi’s remarkable installation that plays with a revolutionary equilibrium to remind us that anything is possible. Soveria Mannelli offers a chance to see how everyday clichés can be demolished, starting with the acceptance of a backward Mezzogiorno (southern Italy). The facade of a tilted house is the provocative face of this place, living testimony to the expression la sorte è cumu unu si la fa, a local saying that means that we hold destiny in our own hands.

Books are a gateway to knowledge and Soveria Mannelli has always attached importance to words on paper. The real wealth is in books, thought Michele Caligiuri, father of Mario, a lecturer at the University of Calabria who established the library in 2006. Many books but also events and presentations make this place a beating heart of Calabrian culture.

A passion for books and reading inspired Rosario Rubbettino, secretary of the Secondary Lower School, to open a bookshop in the village. That was in 1965 when he was 24 years old. In 1972 he opened a small printing shop with second-hand machinery and went on to become a publisher. At a time when the fissures between the north and south of Italy were becoming deep ravines, in Soveria Mannelli, in an area lacking infrastructure and connections, a top-level industrial structure was brought into reality. Today his sons Florindo and Marco are continuing this marvellous adventure with the same courage: from lead printing to digital technology, the Rubbettino publishing house is a symbol of great entrepreneurial, social and cultural vision, made in Calabria.

Welcome to a story of great beauty, intelligence, elegance and courage. Founded in 1873 and the first textile factory in Calabria, the Leo wool mill is a living, concrete embodiment of the memory of the future. A visit to this museum-enterprise is a journey into a dimension where past and future coexist in the present. Lanificio Leo is a material and immaterial laboratory on contemporaneity where design is the filter used to push the boundaries of geographical, economic and technological factors.

Parco Carta (Paper Park) is the perfect expression of Rubbettino’s vision, with contemporary art installations in the green area adjacent to the company: the name Carta underlines the link between the natural raw material used to make books celebrated through the language of art with a series of artist residency projects.

Palazzo Cimino is an ancient mansion deeply linked to the events that have marked the history of Soveria Mannelli. Built in the late 19th century by Michele Cimino, mayor at that time, it was originally a school. Later, the building was used as the Magistrate’s Court, then as a prison and finally as the Town Hall, and today it still houses the offices of the mayor and the municipal administration.

This is one of the two parish churches of Soveria Mannelli and it is located in the hamlet of San Tommaso. Dating back to the 18th century, it has a beautiful façade with a portal and a quadrangular window looking onto the entrance steps.

Famous for its marvellous altar in carved polychrome marble, until 1807 located in the abbey of Santa Maria del Corazzo, its frescoes depict important historical moments for the community of Soveria Mannelli such as the presence of the Bourbons, the anti-Napoleonic revolution and the phenomenon of brigandage.