Saint Eufemia is the smallest but also the oldest of the three centers that make up today’s Lamezia Terme. The center that is inhabited today rises in a different spot from the original one, on whose ruins was built the Benedictine abbey of S. Eufemia. That original ancient city (which is mentioned in the Abbey’s charter) had in turn been erected over a monastery of the Order of Saint Basil around which was born a complex of majestic buildings with a church and convent of monks.

The Abbey, which grew to great splendor during the Swabian domination, became a formidable feudal power that dominated the whole plain and outlying territories. As we have already pointed out, it declined slowly under the Angevines and was razed to the ground by the terrible earthquake of 1638, along with all the buildings on the plain that surrounded it. The head of the Knights of Malta, Fra. Signorino Gattinara, who happened to find himself in S. Eufemia, had a new village rebuilt soon on a small hill nearby, where currently S. Eufemia Vetere is located.

Ruins of the abbey (S.Eufemia) Storicitta Collection

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