Pizzo Holidays

Pizzo is a pretty seaside town perched on the shores of southern Italy. It’s part of La Costa degli Dei – AKA the Coast of the Gods – so as you can imagine, the surroundings are really something. Restaurant-ruffled piazzas, winding shopping lanes and a centuries-old castle dress the clifftop. Souvenir shops are outnumbered on the intertwining streets by clothing boutiques and cake shops called pasticcerias. And although sunbathing plays second fiddle to the charming town centre, you can reach a pair of sandy coves if you follow the zig-zagging road down to sea level.

Classic Italian cuisine is Pizzo's forte. Piazza della Repubblica, the main square, is brimming with restaurants that serve Mediterranean staples with a Calabrian twist. Pizzas are topped with dollops of spicy nduja sausage and the local pasta – called fileja – is like a cross between penne and tagliatelle. On the seafood front, the town’s been a hotspot for tuna for centuries, and in the summer months it's a regular on local menus. Leave room for dessert wherever you go – Pizzo's famous for its tartufo, which is ice-cream in a chocolate shell with a gooey fruit syrup centre.

Pizzo’s Aragonese castle was built in the 1400s to defend the town from pirates, who it’s believed stored their loot – and any hostages they captured – in sea caves along the coast. These days the castle's known as Castello Murat, after Napoleon's brother-in-law was imprisoned in the tower. A few euros buys you entry, and you can see the historic cannons, cells and artefacts inside.