Cosenza | Italy, Map, History, & Facts | Britannica (original) (raw)

Cosenza, city, north-central Calabria regione (region), southern Italy, on the Crati River at its confluence with the Busento, north-northeast of Reggio di Calabria. The ancient Cosentia, it was the capital of the Bruttii (an Italic tribe) before it was taken by the Romans in 204 bce. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, died there in 410 and is said to have been buried, together with his treasure looted from Rome, in the riverbed of the Busento. Subsequently occupied by the Byzantines, Saracens, Normans, Angevins (house of Anjou), and Spanish, the town was proclaimed a republic in 1799. Under the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, it was the scene of numerous uprisings for Italian independence, culminating in the unsuccessful expedition of the Bandiera brothers in 1844. The town was damaged by earthquakes in 1783, 1854, 1870, and 1905 and by Allied bombs in World War II. Many of the chief monuments of its archiepiscopal see have been restored, including the Romanesque cathedral (1185–1222) and the Norman castle, extended by the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II and the Angevins. Several medieval churches house rich art treasures, and there is a civic museum.

Railways run to Paola, Sibari, Crotone, and Catanzaro. Agriculture (cereals, wine, olive oil, raw silk, and fruit) and the production of furniture, woolens, and tannic acid are carried on. Pop. (2004 est.) 71,014.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.