Cosenza is a city in Calabria, Italy, located at the confluence of two rivers: the Busento and the Crathis. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza. The municipality (Comune di Cosenza) has a population of about 70,000; the urban area counts almost 200,000 inhabitants. Thanks to its cultural past, the city is known as the Athens of Calabria. The Cosentian Academy, for example, was one of the very first academies to be founded in Italy (1511). To this day, Cosenza remains an important cultural centre with several libraries, museums, theatres, and the nearby University of Calabria. "To call the town picturesque is to use an inadequate word," wrote George Gissing in 1901. "At every step, from the opening of the main street at the hill foot up to the stern medieval castle crowning its height, one marvels and admires."