Cosenza (population 104,000), a provincial capital in Calabria, stands at the confluence of two rivers. The old town, overshadowed by its castle, descends to the River Crati, whereas the growing modern city lies to the north, beyond the Busento, on level ground. The historic city centre is crossed by the winding Corso Telesio.

"To call the town picturesque is to use an inadequate word," wrote George Gissing in his 1901 travelogue, By The Ionian Sea. "At every step, from the opening of the main street at the hill-foot up to the stern medieval castle crowning its height, one marels and admires. So narrow are the ways that a cart drives the pedestrian into shop or alley; two vehicles (but perhaps the thing never happened) would with difficulty pass each other."

Cosentia, the capital of the Bruttians, came under the influence of the Greek settlements of Magna Graecia. Taken by Rome in 204 BC, in imperial times it was an important stop on the Via Popilia, linking Rome with Reggio and Sicily. Alaric the Visigoth died here in AD 412 (probably Malaria) on his way back to Sicily after the sack of Rome.