Overview
Paola is a small municipality on the Calabrian coast in the province of Cosenza, with very remote origins, which owes its fame to being the birthplace of Saint Francis of Paola and to the Sanctuary dedicated to him that is one of the most important religious destinations in Calabria. The village unfolds on a terrace on the slopes of the Catena Costiera, overlooking the sea. In addition to the Sanctuary of Saint Francis, a walk through the village includes a look at the Piazza del Popolo with the seventeenth-century stone fountain and the Clock Tower powered by a seventeenth-century mechanical device, the Church of Madonna di Montevergine and, finally, the Chiesa del Santissimo Rosario church with its sumptuous Baroque interior. From the fontana dei Sette canali (Fountain of the Seven Canals), you go up towards the Church of the SS. Annunziata, or Chiesa Madre (Mother Church), up to the Castle of probable Norman origins. About 3 km from the village is the evocative Chiesa di Sotterra (Underground Church), a Byzantine-era hypogeum discovered in 1874 but dating from the 11th century, frescoed inside. The town also boasts the sea, with the long sandy beach of Marina di Paola, a favourite destination for the people of Cosenza.
