Church of Santa Caterina

The Church of Santa Caterina tells the story of modern Locri more clearly than a simple timeline of urban growth ever could.

In the nineteenth century this stretch of coast was still known as Gerace Marina. From 1843, the people who lived and worked in the growing settlement asked for the parish of Santa Caterina to be transferred here from Gerace. A new parish seat followed in the middle of the century. Around it, a community on the coast began to recognise itself as distinct from the older hill town.

The earthquake of 1908 destroyed the church. It was rebuilt and reopened for worship in 1929. Its history therefore bears the marks of rupture and reconstruction, an experience shared by many towns in southern Calabria.

Look at the façade and the two bell towers. If the church is open and no service is taking place, step inside. Three naves lead the eye towards the sanctuary. The decoration belongs to different periods; artists who worked here include Nik Spatari and the Locri-born painter Melo Muscari. The church is not fixed in a single moment. It has continued to receive the images and memories of its community.

Santa Caterina is the patron saint of Locri. Yet this stop is not only about devotion. It is about the way a group of residents becomes a town: by building shared places, losing them, rebuilding them and inhabiting them again.

As you leave, look along Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Today’s street runs through the history of the modern settlement. The ancient past will soon return to our route, but first we meet another place that defines Locri’s role today: the Cathedral.