In addition to the Orto di S. Chiara, the displaced were also given the use of a plot belonging to the Cathedral Chapter known as la Bella (where the district of the same name would later rise), the Orto di Mazza (in the Belvedere quarter) and the Bosco di S. Francesco.

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But it was only after the earthquake of 1783 that the actual urbanisation of the Orto di S. Chiara began. It would take the name of ruga "Torre" from the old tower-house known as "di Brunaccio" (perhaps after the family that lived there), which can still be seen in Pacichelli's view of the town, and which later belonged to the Scalzo family before being demolished.

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Through the Cassa Sacra (a Bourbon government body set up to administer expropriated ecclesiastical property and invest it in post-earthquake reconstruction), the land of the Orto di S. Chiara was therefore leased out for the construction of buildings needed for the post-earthquake reconfiguration of the town of Nicastro.

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Palazzo Ventura (19th century)

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Among the most significant buildings in the Torre district is Palazzo Ventura (19th century), notable for its size and layout, which recalls the Neapolitan architecture of the same period, closely echoed by its wide entrance hall and grand staircase.

Its portal, decorated with rustication and rosettes, is made of stucco rather than stone, as one would expect from a type so widespread in Calabria in those years. The diamond-point blocks, alternately shorter and longer, frame the tall arched portal; the rosettes fill the spaces left empty by the shorter blocks, while an outer moulding encloses the composition. Carefully designed according to a precise geometry, the portal plays on the rhythmic effect created by the alternating elements and by the contrast between the rosettes and the massive rusticated blocks.

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In the upper part of the building stands one of the many colonnaded roof terraces built to enjoy the view over the landscape, a common feature in many buildings of the historic centre.

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The corner stones of Via Torre (18th-19th century)

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The placing of corner stones and boundary markers near important buildings, sometimes decorated or made from reused ancient elements, is fairly widespread in our historic centres and can also be found in several spots along Via Torre.

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Of the two elegant stone corner pieces once placed to protect the corners of the building between Vico VII and Vico VIII Torre, unfortunately only one survives today, partly embedded in the masonry but still visible to a careful eye; a third, with a polygonal section, stands a few metres away, on the corner of casa Torcasio.

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These elements were usually placed near important buildings, in this case the nearby Palazzo Nicotera di Martà (19th century), now owned by the Garo family. Their function is similar to that of the cast-iron bollards used in the nineteenth century, but they also served to mark property boundaries. The Nicotera family's urban property did in fact extend here to the house facing the palace's main entrance.

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The "Strada del Teatro"

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Right at the start of Via Torre, on the edge of the façade of the Episcopal Seminary, an old street sign in pale stone from the early nineteenth century can still be admired today, bearing the inscription "Strada del Teatro".

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The reference is to the Teatro Numistrano, the town's first theatre, whose founding is dated by Giovanni Maruca to 1814 "on the initiative of a group of young amateur actors encouraged by D. Raffaele Mileti of Grimaldi, Vicar General of the Diocese", who made available the premises of the disused church of the Madonna della Sanità, adjoining the ruined Augustinian convent on what is now Via Federico II.

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The small Teatro Numistrano, whose name the Corso would take on some decades later, was built four years before the Real Teatro Borbonico in Reggio Calabria (1818) and a full sixteen years before the Teatro Real Ferdinando in Cosenza and the Real Teatro San Francesco (or "San Carlino") in Catanzaro, both inaugurated in 1830. The theatre was reached by taking Via Torre from what is now piazzetta F.A. d'Ippolito, passing the palace of the Barons Nicotera di Martà and the adjoining Sub-Prefecture, and finally arriving at the theatre.

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Recognised as public property, from 1858 it was maintained at the Municipality's expense, which appointed a dedicated Commission to handle the programming of performances and the theatre's smooth running. Theatrical life was enlivened by touring opera, drama and operetta companies, which sometimes stayed in Nicastro for extended periods, drawing audiences from the surrounding villages. Again from Maruca we learn the names of the Nicastro families who had their own boxes built and reserved for themselves: Sacchi, Maruca, Statti, Stella, Fiore Serra, d'Ippolito, Scaramozzino, Rovigno, Costanzo, Nicotera, Montesanti, Marini.

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The theatre survived until the early twentieth century, when a short circuit caused a fire that destroyed it completely. Only after the end of the Second World War was the theatre leased by the Municipality to Attilio Russo, son of the photographer Melchiorre, who used it as a cinema for a short period, until it was once again destroyed by fire. The building is still municipal property.

From the Arco di Maggiordomo to the Torre district

The underpass coming from Via Garibaldi, known as the Arco di Maggiordomo, leads into the Torre district, built after the 1783 earthquake on land owned by the convent of the Poor Clares. Beyond the arch, going up Via Maggiordomo, you reach a small multi-level square, Largo Costanzo, which frames two striking views of Nicastro's urban landscape: to the north, in succession, like overlapping layers, the castle, the church of S. Teodoro and the eighteenth-century palace of the Barons Statti; to the south, a palm tree, a garden, and the dome and bell tower of the Cathedral. And so, through streets with evocative names (Via Orto del Pozzo, Via della Vite, Via Belvedere, Via Torre), you climb all the way up to Via Conforti.