centro storico, costiero, murato, portuale, Crotone, Cotrone (denominazione storica), Croto (denominazione storica, età romana), Kroton (denominazione originaria, età greca)

The old heart of Crotone, once the Greek Kroton and later the Roman Croto, is a place where the city’s layered history is written in its streets. The main thoroughfare, running west to east from Piazza Pitagora to Piazza Duomo and on to Piazza Castello, was the ancient spine linking the political and religious centres with the military stronghold. This axis is crossed midway by a second, north-south route, a reminder of a grid that has flexed with the centuries.

The defensive circuit, a polygon of five bastions and two ravelins, follows the lie of the land; only fragments of the original walls remain. The castle itself, a formidable medieval and Renaissance construction, was reshaped by successive powers. Its two round towers, the Aiutante and Comandante, and the bastions of Santa Caterina and San Giacomo, are linked by a curtain wall. Scattered through the historic centre, too, are the tall case-torri, medieval tower-houses built for defence, which punctuate the skyline with an air of quiet vigilance.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.