Praia a mare

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Praia A Mare, population 6,307 (2004) is a town on the Tyrrhenian Sea Coast in Cosenza Province in the Region of Calabria, Italy.

Today, Praia A Mare is primarily a tourist town whose principal attraction is a 2 kilometer long beach which is sandy at its northern end but increasingly pebbly as one goes south. During the summer months, the beach is divided into about 50 lidos, although intermittently there are unprotected slivers of beach open to the public at no cost.

At the southern end of the town, about 100 meters from shore sits a formidable outcropping of rock called Dino Island which features a number of large and impressive sea caves, accessible by small craft and paddle boats. At the most southerly extremity of the beach, a medieval tower, built by Byzantine forces to guard the coast, sits on an outcropping of volcanic rock with a commanding view of the sea approaches to Praia A Mare.

About 50 meters up the slopes of a mountain that rises precipitously above the town is another large cave complex, also carved by wave action several million years ago, inside of which is a completely built church called the Chiesa La Madonna della Grotta, and an open air sanctuary. Both the church and sanctuary are both in use today. Near the sanctuary is the site of an archaeological dig which has been advancing slowly for twenty years. Among other finds are the bones of a prehistoric shark.