Calabria

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

Before: documents, housing, school. First week: codice fiscale, SIM, bank account. First month: residence permit if non-EU, residence, SSN registration, then the driving licence within a year. Household goods duty-free for arrivals from outside the EU, car to be re-registered.

Tyrrhenian Salerno–Reggio line with Frecce and Intercity trains (Lamezia, Paola, Reggio), slow and partly single-track Ionian line. Ferrovie della Calabria for the Sila and buses. Airports of Lamezia Terme (main), Reggio and Crotone. Villa San Giovanni–Messina ferries. Toll-free A2 Mediterranean motorway, SS106 Jonica being upgraded. A car is indispensable.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

Five provincial health authorities (Catanzaro, Cosenza, Crotone, Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia), Dulbecco university hospital in Catanzaro, Cosenza hospital trust, GOM in Reggio. Under a recovery plan since 2009 and a commissioner since 2010 (the regional president since 2021); non-compliant in the 2023 LEA monitoring but improving sharply. Highest outbound patient mobility in Italy.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

The lowest employment rate in Italy and one of the highest unemployment rates, with widespread undeclared work. Public administration, retail, seasonal agriculture (Gioia Tauro plain, Sibari), summer tourism, port of Gioia Tauro, call centres, university in Rende. Graduate emigration among the highest. Regional job centres; ZES unica.

Three state universities: University of Calabria at Arcavacata di Rende (residential campus, the largest), Magna Graecia in Catanzaro, Mediterranea in Reggio Calabria, plus the Dante Alighieri University for Foreigners in Reggio. There is no single regional student-support agency: grants and housing are run by the universities with regional funds.

Metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria and four provinces (Catanzaro, Cosenza, Crotone, Vibo Valentia). Ordinary statute. Three law 482/1999 minorities: Arbëreshë (Italy's largest Albanian community, mainly around Cosenza), Greeks of Calabria in the Aspromonte, Occitans of Guardia Piemontese. Festivals: San Vitaliano in Catanzaro, Madonna della Consolazione in Reggio, Varia di Palmi.

Warm Mediterranean coasts, Sila and Aspromonte with snowy winters. The whole region is in seismic zone 1 or 2, the most hazardous in Italy (earthquakes of 1783, 1905 and 1908 with tsunami). Frequent floods and landslides (Crotone 1996, Soverato 2000), summer fires (Aspromonte 2021), coastal erosion.

No UNESCO town, but the ancient beech forests of the Pollino and Aspromonte are in the transnational site and the Codex Purpureus of Rossano is on the Memory of the World register. Three national parks (Pollino, Sila, Aspromonte), Tropea and the Costa degli Dei, the Riace Bronzes in Reggio, Gerace, Stilo, Scilla. Season concentrated in August; municipal tourist tax.