Aieta

The Palazzo Martirano-Spinelli was erected in the 16th century by the Martirano family, enlarged by the Marquises Cosentino and later sold to the Spinelli of Scalea. Its importance lies in the fact that in Calabria the Renaissance idiom is rarely applied to civil architecture: it almost always concerns religious buildings.

The building has been a national monument since 1913 and passed into the ownership of the Municipality of Aieta in 1980. It also houses the Mu.Vi.D'A. virtual museum, devoted to the history of the village.

The structure spans three levels. The ground floor held the guard corps, the chapel, the marquis's study, the reception and music halls, the kitchens and the pantry. The first floor housed the bedrooms.

The basements contained the wine cellars, the water cisterns and a prison. It is a layout that explains the building's function better than any stylistic description: this was not merely a residence, it was the administrative centre of a fief.

Aieta lies a short distance from the seaside tourism of Praia a Mare, which once served as its marina. The village, however, faces inland, towards the reliefs where the Pollino National Park extends.

This double exposure is why it appears so often in the itineraries of those arriving for river activities: it allows you to see, within a few hours, two landscapes usually visited on separate trips.

The most common combination is a descent in the morning and the climb up to Aieta in the afternoon, perhaps continuing towards the coast for the evening. The village is visited on foot and in a contained amount of time.

You reach it by car from the coast, on a road that climbs hairpin after hairpin from Praia a Mare: the same road that once linked the village to its own seafront. Coming from the River Camp in Laino Borgo means crossing the Lao valley to reach the Tyrrhenian side, so it is worth allowing time for the drive rather than squeezing it in before an activity.

The old centre is compact and steep, made of narrow lanes and stairways: the walking shoes you wore on the river are ideal, a pushchair is not. Families with small children usually leave the car at the edge of the village and walk up.

River Tribe's activities remain on the Lao, at Laino Borgo: you go to Aieta for the palace and for the viewpoint. The two combine well in the same day precisely because the distance is short.