Tropea

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Comune di Tropea
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Calabria
Province	Vibo Valentia (VV)
Mayor	Francesco Mario Sammarco (since April 4, 2005)

Elevation	60 m
Area	3.2 km²
Population
- Total (as of December 31, 2004)	6,922
- Density	2,281/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	38°40′45″N, 15°53′55″E
Gentilic	Tropeani (dialectal: Trupani)
Dialing code	0963
Postal code	89861
Frazioni	Marina
Patron	St. Madonna of Romania
- Day	March 27
Website: www.comune.tropea.vv.it

Tropea is also a village in the prefecture of Arcadia in Greece, see by the alternative name of Tropaia

Church on an Island in Tropea

Tropea is a municipality located within the province of Vibo Valentia, in Calabria (southern Italy).

The town is a famous bathing place located situated on a reef, in the gulf of St. Euphemia connected with the mainland by a narrow strip in the Tyrrhenian Sea, toward the south with respect to Vibo Valentia and northward with respect to Ricadi and Capo Vaticano.

[edit] Ecclesiastical history

Nicotera and Tropea is a Roman Catholic suffragan diocese of the archbishopric of Reggio di Calabria.

The beach of Tropea.

Nicotera, the ancient Medama, is a city of the Province of Catanzaro, in Calabria, Italy; it was destroyed by the earthquake of 1783. Its first known bishop was Proculus, to whom, with others, a letter of pope St. Gregory the Great was written in 599. With the exception of Sergius (787), none of its bishops is known earlier than 1392. Under Bishop Charles Pinti, the city was pillaged by the Ottoman Turks.

In 1818, it was united on equal terms (aeque principaliter) with the Diocese of Tropea. It has a beautiful cathedral, restored after its destruction by the earthquake of 1783. Here the Greek Rite was formerly used. Only three bishops before the Norman conquest are known; the first, Joannes, is referred to the year 649; among its other prelates was Nicolò Acciapori (1410), an eminent statesman.

The diocese had in the early 20th century 72 parishes, with 78,000 inhabitants, a Franciscan house, and a house of the Sisters of Charity.