 In 1818, King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies authorized a government financed project for the reclamation of wetlands in Rosarno, as proposed by General Vito Nunziante.The General was familiar with the local farmers, who were experts in the cultivation of hemp, cereals, flax and breeding of silkworms and proposed the development of an agricultural town that would employ the latest best practice in farming.After the wetlands were drained and made suitable for cultivation, a plan for small houses and a church was created and families from nearby Tropea and the surrounding villages settled there.