Diamante

Diamante is an Italian town in the province of Cosenza, located on the north west Tyrrhenian coast, the center of the Cedars’s Riviera. The geographical position and its crystal sea make it one of the preferred tourist destinations of Calabria. The territory includes the island of Cirella, in whose depths reigns Posidonia Argentata. Historical sources documenting a settlements since the time of the Phoenicians and Romans, but the first news about the birth of a real inhabited date back to 1500, when the Prince Sanseverino ordered the construction of a defensive position to counter the Saracen raids. Diamante soon became a center for fishing and agriculture, thanks to the large fleet and production of cedar. The special features of this citrus fruit ("Smooth Cedro of Diamante") made it unique and well known on the world market, especially popular among Jewish communities in Israel and United States. Diamante is also known as for its murals, to be admired walking through the alleys, and the flagship product of the Calabrian cuisine, chilli: since 1992 it has devoted an annual event called "Chilli Festival", a cultural-gastronomic exhibition conceived by the journalist Enzo Monaco to mark the fifth centenary of the discovery of the Americas. Cirella, seaside resort, is an important archaeological site: one of the first cities founded by Ausoni, named by Strabo, Diodorus and Silio Italico.