Cosenza is
located at the confluence of the
Busento and
Crathis rivers. The municipality, with a population of about 70,000, is at the centre of an urban area which counts almost 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the
Province of Cosenza, which has a population of around 730.000. Because of its cultural past, the city was once known as the
Athens of Calabria. The
Cosentian Academy, for example, was one of the very first academies founded in Italy (
1511).
