Reggio Calabria: the Bronzes, and the crossing

Reggio Calabria holds the Riace Bronzes in a museum that costs €10 and closes on Mondays, and it sits at the point where crossing to Sicily takes 20 minutes on foot or €43.20⁴ with a car.

Two Greek statues, found by a swimmer

A diver, Stefano Mariottini, came across them in August 1972 in the sea off Riace Marina, lying at 8 meters. They are two Greek bronzes of the 5th century BC, nearly 2 meters tall, cast by the lost wax method.

The detail work is what holds people at the glass: eyes of calcite and glass paste, lips and anatomical details inlaid in copper and silver. Scholars place their origin in Attica or the Argolid. Access to their room is capped for conservation reasons, so the visit is timed by the museum rather than by you. Read a diver found the Riace Bronzes.

The museum: €10, and a cheap evening ticket

The MArRC at Piazza De Nava 26 opens Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 am to 8:00 pm (20:00 on Italian signs), last entry 7:30 pm, closed Monday. Full admission is €10, EU visitors aged 18 to 25 pay €2, and under 18s and the categories listed in ministerial decree 507²/1997 go free. Prices in euros.

Two options cut the cost: MArRC Slim at €5 for entry from 6:00 pm until closing, and MArRC Expo at €5 for the temporary exhibition. Annual cards run €22 Gold, €40 Family and €5 for ages 18 to 25. These rates have applied since July 1, 2024 and were confirmed in September 2026. See things to do in Reggio Calabria.

On foot to Sicily: 20 minutes, €2.50

Blu Jet, part of the Ferrovie dello Stato group, runs the fast craft between Messina Porto Storico and Villa San Giovanni in 20 minutes, 16 sailings a day each way, on a timetable in force since December 14, 2025. The first leaves Messina at 5:20 am and the last at 11:50 pm, with the first from Villa San Giovanni at 5:45 am.

A single is €2.50 and a same day return €4.50 (2026). Commuter tickets exist: €60 for 40 crossings in 45 days, €40 on the subsidized rate and €10 for students. You can buy at the port desks, in the MooneyGo app, or together with a Trenitalia or Italo ticket, which is the tidy option if you are heading on to Taormina.

With a car it is a different economy

Caronte & Tourist runs Villa San Giovanni to Messina 24 hours a day, every day, and in September 2026 a single crossing for a car with up to five passengers costs €43.20⁴, plus a €2.30 fuel surcharge and €0.60 of ETS tax. Each extra passenger is €2.50.

Return options are €47.20⁴ same day, €53.40⁴ within three days and €85.50⁴ within 90 days. The night band from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am costs €37.90⁴ and is available from September 15 to July 15. Those rates are the ones published for September 1 to 30, 2026. The gap with the €2.50 foot passenger fare is the argument for leaving the car on the mainland. See getting to Reggio Calabria.

Bergamot is agriculture here, not a gift shop

The Bergamotto di Reggio Calabria essential oil has held DOP status since regulation (EC) 509⁵/2001 of March 15, 2001, and the production zone is a coastal strip running 100 km⁵ through this province, between Villa San Giovanni and Gioiosa Jonica, up to 200⁵ m above sea level.

The oil is cold extracted from the Femminello, Castagnaro and Fantastico varieties of Citrus bergamia Risso, with the water and oil emulsion separated by centrifuge. Groves are planted at 450⁵ trees per hectare and yield 350⁵ to 750⁵ grams of oil per quintal of fruit, which explains the price of a small bottle. Read a citrus that grows on one coast and see Calabria.

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