Calabria
A ring slipped off somewhere in Tropea's old town on the day of a wedding
Tropea's old town sits on a rock that drops straight to the sea, and a wedding day there is spent on foot in its lanes and on its terraces.
A ring lost during a wedding in Tropea can be looked for, because the day followed a route that the couple and their guests can piece together, from the ceremony to the evening. What decides it is how closely that route can be pinned down, and which photograph is the last to show the ring on a hand.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch, keys or phone in Tropea, Pizzo or Vibo Marina with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the town, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
The same way of working applies on Tropea's beaches below the cliff, in Pizzo and at the port of Vibo Marina.
Start from the wedding pictures
Before anything else, gather the pictures and guests' videos that show hands, such as the exchange of rings and the toasts. The latest image with the ring still on a finger is the point the detectorist works forward from.
Next, set the day out on a map, one stop after another, and check at each one whether anything turned up after you left. In Tropea the old centre sits on the rock, with the town beaches at the foot of the cliff and the Marina by the porto turistico.
Places we cover in Calabria
- Tropea
- The old town of Tropea
- Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Tropea
- Piazza Vittorio Veneto, Tropea
- The Affaccio dei Sospiri, Tropea
- Largo Galluppi and Via Boiano, Tropea
- Villetta del Cannone and Via Umberto I, Tropea
- Piazza Ercole, Tropea
- The Marina and the porto turistico, Tropea
- The Rotonda and the Cannone beach, Tropea
- Mare Piccolo, Tropea
- Marina dell'Isola and Mare Grande, Tropea
- Pizzo
- The old town and main square, Pizzo
- U Spunduni, Pizzo
- Pizzo Marina beach
- The porticciolo, Pizzo
- Spiaggia la Marinella, Pizzo
- Spiaggia della Stazione, Pizzo
- Vibo Marina and its port
- Grotticelle beach, Capo Vaticano
- Michelino beach, Parghelia
- Paradiso del Sub beach, Zambrone
Tropea's old town, beaches and Marina, then Pizzo and Vibo Marina
In Tropea the spots are streets, squares, the sand below the cliff and the port. Pizzo adds its own town beaches, and Capo Vaticano, Parghelia and Zambrone their coves.
Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the Corso and the Affaccio dei Sospiri, Tropea
From Piazza Vittorio Veneto, which has a war memorial at its centre, Corso Vittorio Emanuele runs past small shops to the Affaccio dei Sospiri, a little terrace with a view of the sea. If pictures were taken there, say where on the terrace you stood.
Largo Galluppi, Via Boiano and Piazza Ercole, Tropea
Many of Tropea's old palazzi are grouped between Largo Galluppi, the largest open square in the old town, and the narrow Via Boiano. Piazza Ercole lies at the centre, where the main streets meet.
Villetta del Cannone and the Tre Fontane, Tropea
A second viewpoint, the Villetta del Cannone, is reached along Via Umberto I, and the carved fountains of the Tre Fontane stand in the lanes. Either in a photo helps place it.
The Rotonda and the Cannone beach, Tropea
The Rotonda is fine golden sand set between rocks right under the old town, with free stretches and a seabed that shelves gently. On foot you come down the Discesa Marina del Vescovado from Porta Nuova, or by the Scala dei Carabinieri, steps cut into the cliff below Largo Galluppi. Past the San Leonardo rock, where the port's pier begins, the Cannone is a small and quiet sandy cove.
Mare Piccolo and Mare Grande, either side of Santa Maria dell'Isola
The sand of Marina dell'Isola joins the foot of the cliff to the rock of Santa Maria dell'Isola, with its sanctuary on top. On the side facing the Rotonda is Mare Piccolo, very white fine sand under the old town. On the other side, the longer Mare Grande runs away from the rock. Say which side you were on and how far from the rock.
The Marina in Tropea, and the port at Vibo Marina
Below the upper town, the part of Tropea called the Marina lies next to the porto turistico, and mini-cruises leave Tropea for the Aeolian Islands. Vibo Marina, the seaside part of Vibo Valentia, is another port those mini-cruises sail from. For anything that went missing on a quay or on board, give us the name of the boat and the point where you boarded.
The old town, U Spunduni and Pizzo Marina
Pizzo's tartufo ice cream is sold in historic parlours on the main square. A few steps from the centre is the beach of Pizzo Marina, on a bay facing the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia, which the U Spunduni viewpoint looks over. Boats for the Aeolian Islands leave from the porticciolo turistico.
The Marinella and the Spiaggia della Stazione, Pizzo
The Marinella, also known as A Tunnara, is a beach of fine sand. The Spiaggia della Stazione lies beside the town's railway station, with golden sand, stretches of free beach and man-made piers along the shore.
Grotticelle, below Capo Vaticano
At the foot of the Capo Vaticano promontory, about ten kilometres from Tropea, Grotticelle is three coves of white sand split by granite rocks. A steep, winding road leads down to the bays. Most of the sand is free, with a few beach establishments.
Michelino in Parghelia and Paradiso del Sub in Zambrone
North of Tropea, Parghelia's Michelino beach, also called the Spiaggetta, is reached by a path cut into the rock and runs to the Pizzuta cliff and the Palombaro rock. Further up the coast, Zambrone's Paradiso del Sub is white sand under a staircase carved into the cliff, marked by the large Lion Rock. Neither has bars or sunbeds.
Guests' pictures in, a brief out
Several people, one conversation
The couple and the guest who first noticed can all write in one WhatsApp group, and one of us reads and answers every message.
A timeline built from photos
We put the photographer's and guests' pictures in time order beside the map of the day, and that becomes the detectorist's brief.
When the pictures point nowhere
If the photos and the route leave no likely place to look, you hear that from us before a detectorist is asked to travel.
Figures before a booking
We explain the costs before any search is booked.
What lies underfoot, from the Corso to the Marinella
Tropea has lanes and terraces above and sand below the cliff, and Pizzo has sandy beaches too.
Lanes, squares and terraces
Tropea's old town is made up of lanes, small squares and viewpoints over the sea, and in Pizzo narrow alleys open into small squares as well. If the street sloped where you think it fell, say so, since a ring can roll.
Sand and shallows
Tropea's town beaches are fine sand over a gently shelving seabed, and the search can go into the shallow water off them. In Pizzo the Marinella is fine sand, and the Spiaggia della Stazione is golden sand with piers along the shore.
Quays and decks
For a watch or keys dropped while boarding at Tropea, Pizzo or Vibo Marina, speak to the crew of your boat before anyone else.
Questions about Tropea, Pizzo and Vibo Marina
The groom felt his wedding band slip during the walk along the Corso to the terrace for photographs.
Then the search is about one street. Corso Vittorio Emanuele leads from Piazza Vittorio Veneto to the Affaccio dei Sospiri, so the detectorist starts with that walk and the spot where you posed at the end. Request the picture files that show your hands, with their time stamps, and mark on the map every place the party paused on the way.
An earring went missing on the sand at Grotticelle, below Capo Vaticano.
Say which of the three coves you were in, and whether you walked down the road or came in by boat. A photo from your towel with the nearest big rock in it places you, and a picture of the earring you still have shows its size and metal.
My necklace was on at the Villetta del Cannone and gone by the time we reached Piazza Ercole.
The Villetta del Cannone is a viewpoint off Via Umberto I, and Piazza Ercole is at the centre of the old town. Draw the way you walked between the two, and send every picture you took at the viewpoint, because the necklace may be visible in one of them.
We came back into Tropea's port from a day out to the Aeolian Islands, and the car keys were not where we had put them.
Ask the crew to look on board before the next trip goes out. Then draw on a map your route from where you stepped ashore, through the Marina, to the car. Tell us what the key and its fob look like.
My anklet came off somewhere between our towels on the Rotonda and the water.
Take a photo from your towel spot with the cliff and the San Leonardo rock in it, so the detectorist can line it up. Say whether you went in and how deep: the seabed shelves gently there, and the shallow water can be searched as well as the sand. Tell us too whether you came down by the Scala dei Carabinieri or by road.
I put my phone down while we ate tartufo on the main square in Pizzo, and it was not in my bag afterwards.
Ask at the ice-cream parlour and any shop you went into afterwards. If nobody has it, mark your table on a map with the lanes you took from the square, including any walk down to Pizzo Marina.
Walking back to the car from the Marinella in Pizzo, I realised my Oura ring had gone.
The Marinella is popular with visitors and residents alike, so write soon. Mark where the towels were and draw the path you took to the car, including the point where you came off the sand.
I lost a bracelet on the beach next to the railway station in Pizzo.
Man-made piers mark off the shore at the Spiaggia della Stazione, so use them to fix your place: take a photo from your spot with the nearest one in it, and say whether it was to your left or your right as you faced the sea. A description of the bracelet and its fastening helps too.
My watch was no longer on my wrist once we had boarded a mini-cruise at Vibo Marina.
The watch may have dropped on board as you stepped on, so ask the crew to look. Then mark on a map where the queue stood on the quay, and describe the watch and its strap.
Calabria
The wedding day, told in pictures
Whoever noticed first is the right person to write.
Tell us on WhatsApp what has gone missing, and whether it was Tropea, Pizzo or Vibo Marina. Pictures, pins and the running order of the day can come after that.