Province of Vibo Valentia

Vibo Valentia is a mountainous province situated on the Tyrrhenian Sea.^[5] The region was first settled by an Italic tribe, the Sicels, and then colonised by the Greeks in the 6th or 7th century BCE. The modern city of Vibo Valentia was originally known as Hipponion. It was later recolonised by people from the city of Locri in the region of Calabria.^[6] Dionysius I of Syracuse partially destroyed Hipponion, which was later rebuilt and ruled in succession by Carthage, by an indigenous people known as the Bruttii, by the tyrant Agathocles of Syracuse, and then by the Locrians, before being conquered by the Romans around 230 BCE. After about 400 CE the region was attacked repeatedly. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II rebuilt the town in the 13th century, and in 1284 it passed to the Ruffo family. Ferdinand I of Naples constructed a fort in Pizzo Calabro in 1486.^[6]

The current province was set up by a national law of 6 March 1992, which came into effect on 1 January 1996, and formerly part of the province of Catanzaro.^[7][8]

In June 2010 a dormant volcano was discovered off the coast of the province on the line of the fault that led to the 1905 Calabria earthquake.^[9]

As of 2026, the population is 149,922, of which 49.6% are male, and 50.4% are female. Minors make up 15.0% of the population, and seniors make up 25.0%.^[2]