The climate is mainly Mediterranean ( Köppen climate classification Csa ) , except at the highest elevations ( Dsa , Dsb ) and the semi-arid eastern stretches in Apulia , along the Ionian Sea in Calabria and the southern stretches of Sicily ( BSw ) . The largest city of Southern Italy is Naples , a name from the Greek that it has historically maintained for millennia . Bari , Taranto , Reggio Calabria , Foggia , and Salerno are the next largest cities in the area . The region is geologically very active ( except Salento in Apulia ) and highly seismic : the 1980 Irpinia earthquake killed 2,914 people , injured more than 10,000 and left 300,000 homeless
1980 Irpinia earthquake
1980 Irpinia earthquake
Southern Italy