Slightly damaged by the disastrous seventeenth and eighteenth-century earthquakes, it has kept its origin urban physiognomy of almost integral buildings from those centuries. Here noblemen's houses of great beauty and architectural value can be admired, typified by local stone doorways.

Then there is a maze of porticoes, courtyards, luxuriant gardens, steep steps and quaint lanes that run up to lovely, elegant small squares. Notable from an architectural point of view, the so-called Seat of the Nobles (Sedile dei Nobili), a fine seventeenth-century building with a wealth of baroque decoration and a granite facade, it is currently being restored.

The eighteenth-century Tocco mansion should also be seen, with its Baroque facade, rustic doorway, stone balustrade and corbels, and noteworthy eighteenth-century wrought iron balconies.
Also the Toraldo mansion should be mentioned, a lovely aristocratic home with a fine stone doorway.

The so-called 'Belisario wall' is also fascinating, that is, the remains of the town walls that once protected Tropea, perhaps dating back to 1000 AD, at least the lower part; unfortunately, the arch behind the Norman cathedral is badly damaged and the small service building situated on the upper part of the wall.