CIRELLA. — This corresponds to C. Vecchia, of which ruins exist on the Tyrrhenian coast, a little to the south of the mouth of the Lao. It was a city of Bruttium, at the extreme north-western boundary of Calabria with Lucania. The Tabula Peutingeriana records it as 8,000 paces from Lavinium, and Barrio places it 7,000 from the Lao. It was destroyed by Hannibal during the Second Punic War and rebuilt by the Romans. In the Middle Ages it gave way to the present-day C.
A legend attributes the founding of its bishopric to St Peter. However, nothing on this subject is written by St Gregory the Great, who does mention almost all the dioceses of Bruttium. Only in 649 does a Romanus Cerillianus episcopus subscribe to the Lateran Synod of Pope St Martin I. This is followed by a period of absolute silence. It is therefore more than probable that C., like Thurii, Tempsa and other ancient cities of the Calabrian coast, was destroyed by some raid in the second half of the 7th century.