You can start, for example, from Piazza Tommaso Campanella, dominated by the fifteenth-century church of San Domenico, characterized by a splendid rose window and numerous late 18th-century artworks housed inside.
Heading down Corso Telesio, the vibrant heart of the old city, once called “Via dei Mercanti” (Merchants’ Street), you can admire the Church of the Knights of Malta, Palazzo Tarsia, and the Old City Hall.
You then arrive at the Cathedral, originally from the 11th century, which over the centuries underwent reconstructions and renovations, also due to earthquakes.
A short distance away is Piazza XV marzo, which commemorates the insurgent motions of March 15, 1844, around which many monuments revolve, from the central statue of Bernardino Telesio to the Rendano Theatre, from the Government Palace to the Cosentina Academy with the Civic Library, one of the most important in southern Italy. On the nearby Via Gaetano Argento stands Palazzo Sersale, where Emperor Charles V was hosted during a stay in Cosenza in 1535.
Next to it is the Monastery of the Virgins, which houses numerous 16th-century pictorial masterpieces. The entire area between Corso Telesio and the so-called Giostra Vecchia, the soul of Renaissance Cosenza, represents an invaluable historical and cultural heritage for the city; it shelters architectural gems such as Palazzo Caselli, Palazzo Orsomarsi, Palazzo Bombini, and the Arches of Vaccaro and Sambiase.
