Located in the province of Cosenza, embracing the Tyrrhenian coast of Calabria, Diamante is a village known worldwide for being a real little pearl of blue and white, just like the waters and sands that characterize it. Also known as a city made of paintings, for the number of murals in its charming alleys of the city center, Diamante knows how to combine historical charm and unspoiled scenic beauty.
Drawings and colours of a unique village
It is precisely the murals that make Diamante unique and inimitable: its alleys, fishermen’s houses and everything that distinguishes this small village is certainly the constant presence of over three hundred murals, which animate the streets and fascinate tourists, immediately ready to find and immortalize them all. All this was made possible thanks to a creative idea of the painter Nani Razetti, who thanks to the complicity of the mayor in 1981, Evasio Pascale, gave life to a real movement called “Operation Murals”. From all over the world, more than eighty painting artists came to Diamante, and gave life to works of art that, even today, are admired and appreciated by all.
Photo by Il Crotonese
Mystery and fascination between drawings and history
When you get to Diamante you have the idea of being in a special place and all to be discovered, and the drawings that make it unique and colorful seem to tell us a real long story, all to be discovered. The drawings are nothing but the fullest and most realistic representation of the traditions, events and people that make this village unique, combining charm and fantasy that only fairy tales can give us. The drawings have been realized with very different techniques and styles, without any rule or thread to follow, except that of being part of a real open-air work of art, accessible to the eyes of the world.
Diamante beyond its colors
Diamante is not only his murals: it’s much more than that. In fact what it can offer its tourists is certainly a solid history, with cultures handed down from century to century, but also a unique landscape beauty. And it is precisely its beaches that are the pride and joy, thanks to its low cliffs of dark color, of volcanic origin, and its coves that enclose glimpses of water as blue as the sky. Its promenade boasts that of being one of the best of the whole coast that characterizes Cosenza, and it certainly has an extra gear that others will never have: the island of Cirella.
Diamond and its island: Cirella
The island of Cirella rises just in front of the town of Diamante, and its characteristic inlets and caves have been carved directly by the erosion of time and sea, giving it a unique and immediately recognizable characteristic shape. The size of Cirella does not exceed forty metres in height, with a surface area of just over 0.10 kilometres: despite its small size, the undisputed nature in it is typically Mediterranean, with enchanting groves and lemon trees. It will still be possible to see what remains of several military ruins, but many people think that it hides historical finds still unknown, still dating back to the Roman period. It will be possible to reach the islet of Cirella using a boat: you can sail the sea around it, and you can dive for an absolutely unforgettable bath.
Diamante: land of good food and chilli pepper
Another characteristic of the village of Diamante is certainly to be made famous in the world also for a small red element, loved and used in the kitchen: chilli pepper. The importance and use of chilli pepper in the culinary tradition of Calabria is known all over the world, but Diamante has also established a real festival dedicated to it: the Peperoncino Festival, which generally takes place during the end of the summer, in the month of September. You can taste the typical flavours and scents of the Calabrian tradition, in the unique atmosphere of the village that hosts it.
