Italy 1943–1945
Baytown landing shore, Gallico–Catona (Reggio Calabria)
Landing beach
The story
Right beside the ferry port, this stretch of shore north of Reggio is where Eighth Army returned to the European mainland on 3 September 1943, the first Allied landing on the Italian peninsula. It was almost unopposed, which made it a strange beginning for a campaign that would last another twenty months.
What to look for
Walk to the waterline and look across the strait to Sicily, only a few kilometres away.
Plan your visit
Free, open shore · 10–15 min from the Villa San Giovanni ferry terminal · then about 4 h 30 min to Paestum
Nearby sites
- Sacrario di Cristo Re, Messina · 9 km
- Capo Peloro, Torre Faro · 11 km
- Monte Cipolla, Brolo · 73 km
- Museo Storico dello Sbarco in Sicilia 1943, Catania · 87 km
- Landing beach, Sant'Agata di Militello · 88 km
- German War Cemetery, Motta Sant'Anastasia · 92 km
All 96 sites in Italy 1943–1945 →
Into Europe: Italy 1943–1945
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The places of the Allied campaign in Italy, from the Sicily landings of July 1943 through Salerno, the Winter Line, Ortona, Cassino and Anzio, Rome, the Gothic Line and the final battles on the Senio and the Po in April 1945.
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