If you have not yet discovered the beauty of Reggio Calabria, autumn is the best season to do so. Prefer September and October, months during which the city still shines with beautiful colours and a good climate. On the other hand, getting to Reggio Calabria is very easy thanks to the air and land connections – but also by sea, with the port! – which work all year round. Let’s discover the most important ones, namely the airport and three of the thirteen railway stations that serve the city and its district.
AIRPORTS
Reggio Calabria Airport (REG)
Reggio Calabria Airport (REG) today is an important international airport for southern Italy, but it has a glorious history also linked to military aviation. In fact, during World War 2, many actions against the English in the Mediterranean started from here! It was 1943 and the airport had existed for just four years but was already fully functional!
Transformed into a civil airport in 1947, it has since grown both in size and in air traffic. Reggio Calabria as a tourist destination has only enjoyed international fame for a few years, since the 1990s, but it is growing rapidly. And its airport is increasingly used.
It works with a single terminal and two runways arranged in a cross. Today the passengers passing through every year are 400,000. They can use the many services (bank, police, ER, restaurants, post office, relax rooms, meeting rooms, car rental and taxi/shuttle services) of the airport plus a quick and useful railway connection to the city center. A direct bus connection allows travelers to come and go from REG to Villa San Giovanni’s port, where ferry-boats from/to Sicily arrive and leave every hour.
STATIONS
Reggio Calabria is served by many large and small railway stations. But three of them are the most important as for national and international tourism.
Reggio Calabria Airport Station
A new and modern small station, it was inaugurated in 2013 and was created on the Reggio-Taranto railway route, also serving the suburbs and villages of the district in connection with the airport. It only has 2 tracks but its strategic importance, especially for tourists in transit, is fully recognised.
Central Reggio Calabria Station
It was built in 1866 and within a few years (between 1881 and 1884) it was connected to two appendices, namely the port station and the Lido (beach) station. This immediately made it a very dynamic station for both business and passing tourism. Having fallen into abandonment after the 1908 earthquake, it was rebuilt in the 1930s and then renovated in 2018. Positioned on the central Piazza Garibaldi, it houses a 1930s-style room with a splendid ceramic monument representing the typical optical effect of the strait, the ” Morgan Mirage”. It runs today with 10 modern platforms also welcoming the high-speed national trains.
Villa San Giovanni
Founded in 1884 as a completion of the Reggio-Lido railway stop, today it is the second largest and most efficient station in the district. In fact, thanks to its ferry-boat port rising nearby, trains going to -or coming from Sicily pass through here with very intense traffic. It houses 6 platforms, a bar, a large waiting room and even a small church!