WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW OF TREBISACCE

    

 

 

 

Trebisacce is situated on the North-East coast of the Ionian sea, precisely in the Northern part of the Sybaris plain. The word Trebisacce comes from the Byzantine language Trapezàkion "small table" and it is evident the historical reference to the tableau where the old village was built.

In far- off times the territory, as the acrcheological remains testify, registers the presence of human settlements. It is of great interest the site in Broglio area where it has been dug out a protostoric village and findings which date back to the Middle Bronze Age and to the First Iron Age. In the Iron Age the contacts with Greece and the Phoenicians, started at the end of the Bronze Age and stopped at the Final bronze Age , resume more and more intensely: fragments of painted cups and a scarab have been found on the last pavement of the ditch. Similar evidence come from the acropolis of Terra Mordillo and Francavilla Marittima.

 

 

 

 

The territory is caracterized by a coastal strip , terraces and hills. The town consists of two parts: the old one commonly called "paese" (historical centre) and castled on a plateau, the lower one, known as "marina" is, instead, situated along the coastline . The old village is surrounded by walls erected n the XVI century to defend the place by Saracens' raids. Once the rampart , called by the local people "bastione" , had four entrance doors: Saint Leonard, The Annunciation, Saint Martin, Saint Anthony. It has been defined " the balcony of the Alto Ionio, in fact from here you can enjoy an extraordinary panorama.

 

 

You can also easily see two Saracens towers whose function was to spot Saracens' arrival
 

 

 

 

The church of Saint Nicholas of Mira is of great historical interest. It was erected in 1040 in Byzantine period and later, it was restored in baroque style with the typical bent tiles set in circles around the dome and the Basilian bell tower of the XII century with its distinctive intrnal pendentenctives.

 

 

 

The Marina developed along the coast . This was possible because Trebisacce was the town that you have to cross to go from the North, coming from the ADRIATIC sea to Sicily and from the South to Apulia and other regions. The new part of the town developed especially from the 60s onward thanks to the railway, which gave a strong drive to the economy of the area,  with the flourishing of many cheese-food processing industries , the building contractors  and mostly the warf for being a trade landing place and  for fishing boats docking.

In the 80s it becomes a service town : schools, offices , bus company, health service, banks.

Many people from the nearby villages bought land in the marina to build their house  and through the decades the Marina became more and more open to the guests who liked to live here and started his own business. We can say that only few fishermen and landowners can say they are the true sons of the town since many people from different villages and other countires live happily in this town.The characteristic of the true man of this town is walking bare feet as a matter of fact they are called in dialect " scauzacane" which means without shoes.

 

 

 

 THE ECONOMY

 

Citrus trees have always been at the base of the local economy and the oranges produced here are still exported all over Italy. The type of orange grown here is called " il biondo" (the blonde) which differs from other kinds because it is available when other types of iranges are not anymore in season since its maturing time is late Spring and it is also a very juicy orange. Citrus orchards (orange , lemon, tangerine) are the main resource in agriculture sector. They are found in the vigna (vineyards), a term used prior to the cultivation of the citrus since there were vineyards in the area. Today they say vigna but referring to the orange and lemon orchards.

There are a great number of agri-farms which use this citrus fruit to put into the market first quality preserved fruit.

There are also olive groves since olive oil is the base condiment of our diet. There are many oil mills that produce good quality olive oil which is destined to home and foreign market.





 

 

 

Another line of business is fishing. Every day  motor trawlers and fishing boats sail to come back in the evening with the catch of fish. The fish market of Trebisacce is a reference point for all fishermen of Ionian coast line