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The province of Catanzaro begins at the Savuto River, and from here down to Reggio the SS18, autostrada and main rail line all run parallel along the coast, apart from the stretch of the Tropea promontory. Immediately after the river, a few kilometres inland from the resort of Lido di Falerna, the hill-village of NOCERA TIRINESE (buses run from the station on the coast) is famed for the flagellants who - literally - paint the streets red every Easter during a religious festival that grips the whole village with fervour. Wailing processions sway through the streets, and teams of two sprint between churches, one holding a cross, the other beating himself with a spiked brush; his freely flowing blood is then splashed over the doors of the houses to protect those within - not to be washed off until it happens naturally with the rain. One of the few examples of this kind of ritual bloodletting still to be found in the south, and not at all a mere tourist event, it's worth catching if you're around here at the right time. Thirteen kilometres further down the coast, between Capo Suvero (marked by its lighthouse) and Lido di Gizzeria, is a fine swimming spot , a sandy spit with a freshwater lake close by, surrounded by palms and bamboo. The plain that stretches east from here, the Piana di Sant'Eufemia , is the narrowest part of the Calabrian peninsula, much of it reclaimed only in the last hundred years from malarial swamp: the mosquitoes remain but they no longer carry the disease. LAMEZIA has Calabria's main airport (most international flights are summer only), while SANT'EUFEMIA-LAMEZIA is the rail and road junction for Catanzaro and the Ionian coast. Heading south on the highway you begin a slow ascent on the long viaduct that is one of the engineering feats of the Autostrada del Sole, the views growing more inspiring as it rises above the coast to the high tableland of the Tropea promontory.
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