Stilo (Calabria)

Stilo is a town and municipality in the province of Reggio Calabria, in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The town is inscribed into 'I Borghi più belli d'Italia' list (the most beautiful villages in Italy). The origins of Stilo are connected to the destruction of the ancient Greek colony of Caulonia by Dionysius II of Syracuse, followed by another by the Campanians (allies of the Romans) in 277 BC. Immersed in rocks and vegetation, the small cube of the Cattolica di Stilo seems suspended between earth and sky. It is a small 9th-century temple which imitates the classic Byzantine church, with the Greek cross plan, three apses facing east and five small domes. Here the monks of St. Basil (Basilians), who in Calabria had found refuge from persecution, pursued their ideals of poverty and detachment from worldly concerns. The economy of the commune is mainly based on agriculture, with the production of cereals, oil, wine, and cheese.