Province of Crotone

The province of Crotone (provincia di Crotone) is a province in the Calabria region of southern Italy. It was formed in 1992 out of a section of the province of Catanzaro. The provincial capital is the city of Crotone. It borders the provinces of Cosenza, Catanzaro, and also the Ionian Sea. It contains the mountain Pizzuta, the National Park of the Sila, Montagnella Park, and the Giglietto Valley. Crotone was founded in 710 BCE. It participated in the Second Punic War against the Roman Republic. The province contains 27 comuni (singular: comune), listed at comuni of the Province of Crotone. The area around Capo Colonna, the easternmost point of the province, revealed numerous archaeological remains of Stone Age settlements, with large quantities of Neolithic pottery being found. The Greeks settled on the coasts of Calabria during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, and the city of Crotone was founded, under the name of Kroton, by Greek Achaeans in around 710 BC. It grew to become a town of 50,000 to 80,000 inhabitants around 500 BC. The wrestler Milo of Croton was born in Crotone during the sixth century BC and the town had a great reputation for prowess in athletics having produced many Olympic champions. Pythagoras moved to Croton in around 530 BC, and a medical school was also based in the region at around this time. It flourished as an important port and conquered the city Sybaris under the command of Milo. Pyrrhus of Epirus then controlled the city until it fell under Roman Republic rule. The city Crotone participated in the Second Punic War, in which, it rebelled and fought against its Roman Republic rulers. The province of Crotone was formed in 1992 from land that had previously been part of the province of Catanzaro. The province of Crotone is one of the five provinces in the region of Calabria in southern Italy. To the northwest lies the Province of Cosenza and to the southwest lies the Province of Catanzaro. To the south and east, the province has a coastline on the Gulf of Taranto, part of the Mediterranean Sea.