Morano Calabro, a UNESCO-listed hillside town,  is built on and up the side of a hill.  It looks like a dense and compact collection of simple, angular buildings—many capped by red-hued roofs—which gives it a striking, hive-like feel. Atop the hill and crowning the town is its ninth-century Norman castle.

Many of Morano’s medieval touches are very much intact today, especially its narrow, winding streets and stone stairs carved into the hillside.

But there also seems to be some present-day creative and industrious community leaders who are buying up abandoned properties and turning them into museums. Hundreds of regional school children visit these each year to help learn about the flora and fauna in their area, as well as the world. We visited two examples:

First, is a wildlife museum:

The second is an insect museum that contains species from not only Italy, but the world. We spoke with an entomology volunteer from the local university…this is quite an exhibit for such a small village (@4500 residents.)

Crowning the town atop the hill is a 9th century Norman-Swabian castle. The castle was built in the 12th century, and it is one of the best-preserved castles in Calabria. The castle offers stunning views of the town and the surrounding countryside.

We finished up our visit with some limoncello! Our trip is winding down and we are off to our last hotel location before we fly home tomorrow!