Scilla

Scilla needs 1 day: touring Castello Ruffo, a medieval castle atop the rock that separates the town's two beaches, and walking through Chianalea, the fishing quarter with houses built directly on the sea rocks, in a single day. June-September brings ideal beach weather. It's inexpensive for Calabria. It lends its name to the sea monster Scylla from Greek mythology, who along with Charybdis -on the other side of the Strait of Messina- threatened sailors in Homer's Odyssey, and its Chianalea quarter, nicknamed the 'little Venice of the south,' keeps alive a swordfish harpoon fishing tradition from special boats called 'spadare'.