Overview
The Capo Colonna Archaeological Park, a few kilometres from Crotone, is spectacularly located on a headland overlooking the Capo Rizzuto Marine Protected Area, in one of the most beautiful natural settings in Magna Graecia.
In antiquity, this place was known as Lakinion Akron, i.e. Capo Lacinio, due to the presence of a sanctuary sacred to the goddess Hera Lacinia to whom a temple and the surrounding forest were consecrated. Today, all that remains of the mighty Doric temple built on the edge of the cliff is a column, which gives its name to the headland and is the symbol of the park.
The sanctuary, linked to the Greek colony of Crotone, was frequented by Pythagoras and remained active in Roman times. From here, Hannibal left to return to Carthage. It was also a point of reference for those who navigated these waters.
Around the ruins of the temple, one can still see the remains of an older place of worship, a building used for banquets, a settlement from Roman times, 18th-century baronial villas, the small church of the Madonna di Capo Colonna and the Nao Tower, a coastal fortification built in the 16th century. There is also a small archaeological museum not far from the temple.
