Calabria to invest in ambitious Magna Grecia cycle path

Italy’s Calabria region has estimated it will need around €150 million to create one of Europe’s longest paved cycle paths, the Magna Grecia.

The 1,000km route would also need involvement from the neigbouring regions of Basilicata - also known as Lucania – to the north and the island of Sicily to the south.

Calabria, which occupies the so-called toe of the country’s boot-shaped peninsula, is one of Italy’s sunniest and hottest regions. Geography ranges from rugged mountains to dramatic coastlines along the Tyrrhenian Sea and Ionian Sea.

Magna Graecia is a term for Great Greece, the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of southern Italy in the present-day regions of Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily. They were heavily populated by Greek settlers.