Roman Catholic Diocese of Nicotera-Tropea
The Diocese of Nicotera-Tropea was a Catholic diocese in Calabria, Italy, that existed until 1986. It was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Reggio di Calabria and covered Nicotera (the ancient Medama) and Tropea. Nicotera was destroyed by the earthquake of 1783.
Its first known bishop was Proculus; Pope Gregory I wrote about his penance and return in 599. In the 900s the Diatyposis of Leo VI lists Nicotera among the suffragans of Reggio. In 1304 Nicotera was deprived of its bishopric after the murder of its bishop, and the cathedral was reduced to a parish as the diocese’s territory was given to Mileto. Pope Boniface IX reestablished Nicotera in 1392.
From 1565 the diocese participated in provincial affairs, and in 1578–1582 Bishop Luca Antonio Resta led its first diocesan synod. The diocese continued to hold synods, including those under Bishop Carlo Pinto (1638), Antonio Mansi (1703–1713), and Francesco Franco (1772). The seminary was established by Bishop Ercole Coppola (1651–1658).
In the early 19th century, after the Napoleonic era, the Congress of Vienna led to negotiations over church organization. A concordat signed in 1818 allowed the restoration of the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples, and the bull De Ulteriore (1818) re-established the Archdiocese of Reggio with Nicotera and Tropea as its suffragans, united aeque personaliter with the bishop residing in Tropea.
After Vatican II, the church reorganized many small dioceses. On 30 September 1986, Pope John Paul II merged Mileto, Nicotera, and Tropea into a single diocese, the Diocese of Mileto-Nicotera-Tropea, with the seat in Mileto. The Mileto cathedral became the main cathedral, while the Nicotera and Tropea cathedrals became co-cathedrals. There would be one tribunal, one seminary, and one governing body for the new diocese.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:01 (CET).