Oppido Mamertina, Province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria

The territory is extremely varied in altitude, and extends from the peaks of the Aspromonte down to the heart of the Gioia Tauro plain. In the center of the plain, olive cultivations with centuries-old trees and citrus groves dominate. The hilly areas are characterized by chestnut and walnut woods, pine forests and Mediterranean scrub. From 1000 mt altitude the mountains are covered with beeches, pines and silver firs.

Info

Altitude: 321 m a.s.l
Population: about 4800 inhabitants in 2023
Zip/postal code: 89014
Dialing Area Code: +39 0966
Patron Saint: Maria SS. Annunziata celebrated on 25 March
Frazioni: Castellace, Messignadi, Piminoro, Tresilico.
Demonym: oppidesi

Genealogy

Surnames in Oppido Mamertina.

Demographics - Number of Inhabitants in Census Years

1861: 8666

1871: 7614

1881: 7780

1901: 9090

1911: 10126

1921: 10765

1931: 10842

1936: 11138

1951: 11444

1961: 9864

1971: 7710

1981: 6465

1991: 6252

2001: 5559

2011: 5406

2022: 4808

History

Founded on the ancient Oppidum, a settlement of the Mamertines, mercenary soldiers from Campania origin, recruited between the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC by Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse. Upon the death of the latter, in 289 BC, most of the Mamertines remained without work and returned to their homeland or settled in other places, as in Mella, Calabria, in the 3rd to 1st century BC, where they had found refuge joining the local Italic population and founded the mythical Mamerto. In 1056 it was conquered by Roger the Norman and became a duchy during the Angevin domination, it was long disputed between the Angevins and the Aragonese.

What to see

The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is also episcopal seat of the diocese of Oppido Mamertina-Palmi. It is among the largest sacred buildings in Calabria. The cathedral was rebuilt to a design by Ettore Baldanza, in neoclassical style, after the devastating earthquake of 1908. The oldest part is the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, dating back to the first half of the 19th century, which withstood the earthquakes of 1894 and 1908 intact.
The castle, built between the 10th and 11th centuries with a was residential and defensive function. In 1056, it resisted the siege of Roger I Altavilla and later it was the residence of the second Roger's sister. Part of the underground served as a civil prison; it was abandoned after the earthquake of 1783.
The archaeological sites of the Pre-Hellenic necropolis, protohistoric necropolis, the Archaeological Park of Mella ( the ancient Mamertum) of the third to 1st century BC.
the medieval borough of Oppido Vecchia.

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