This tour will lead you to the discovery of one of the most well-known industrial productions in Calabria: Amarelli’s historical licorice factory in Rossano established in 1731. Amarelli’s products, are the symbols of Italian licorice in the world: in Rossano, in fact, grows in abundance a peculiar licorice root which according to many scientific texts is the best in the world. The Amarelli factory, is located around the 15th century mansion of the noble family that first planted this roots. The mansion itself is today home to the Giorgio Amarelli Liquorice Museum, in which a guided tour will make you discover the birth and development of this activity together with the history, values and changings in the production processes. At the end of this tour there will be a free tasting of the factory products then we will go to the center of Rossano. Rossano is a charming little town with ancient Greek origins, known to be an important political-administrative center of the Empire of Byzantium, that is why the town is still called “the byzantine”. Moreover, the many artistic and architectonic relics of its byzantine past let the town gain the name of “Ravenna of the South”. The old town center is made of many mansions, most of which are still in private properties, and by precious byzantine monuments such as the cathedral Maria Santissima Acheropita, which dates back to the XI century, the Panaghìa and San Marco oratories, with some traces of wall frescos and many other churches. The Diocesan Museum is very important because of its famous Codex Purpureus Rossanensis, a VI century byzantine miniated manuscript of the Gospel, designated as part of UNESCO’s world heritage in October 2015. According to many scholars the Codex is the most precious pictorial Gospel in the world. Before going to Corigliano we will stop in a typical restaurant for lunch. In the afternoon the tour will continue in Corigliano, another historically important town, as its center, full of important religious buildings, shows. Our attention, however, will be focused on the beautiful Ducal Castle, which is said to be “one of the most beautiful and well preserved castles in Southern Italy”. It is a fortress dating back to the XI century that towers, since seven centuries, above the Southern access to the plain of Sybaris. We can observe the castle’s slow evolution during the eras in the stratifications and superpositions of the different construction phases and the change of function of the building from a purely military to a prestigious residential purpose. The Ducal Castle has been recently renovated and it hosts the seat of the Magna Graecia Library and the Museum of Image (the Sanseverino- Saluzzo- Compagna archive) and others, the renovation made it possible the functional recovery of some rooms like the Salone degli Specchi, the dining room, the Sant’Agostino chapel, the XIX century kitchens. These luxuriously decorated salons are now used for events and meetings.
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