MONTELEONE (usually called Monteleone of Calabria to distinguish it from Monteleone of Apulia in the province of Avellino, which gave its name to the mediaeval duchy of the Pignatelli family) is a city of Italy in the province of Catanzaro, on the western side of the Bruttian peninsula, and is beautifully situated on an eminence gently sloping towards the gulf of Sta Eufemia. It was almost totally destroyed by earthquake in 1783, and for many years afterwards consisted mainly of slight wooden erections, but under the French occupation it was made the capital of a province and the headquarters of General Regnier, and it is now a well-built town. The castle was built by Roger, count of Sicily, whom tradition accuses of carrying off the ruins of the ancient temple of Proserpine to the cathedral of Mileto. The population of the town was 9244 in 1871, that of the commune 10,262 in 1861 and 12,047 in 1881.

Monteleone is identified with the ancient Hipponium, a Greek city first mentioned in 389 b.c., when its inhabitants were removed to Syracuse by Dionysius. Restored by the Carthaginians (356), held for a time by Agathocles of Syracuse (294), and afterwards occupied by the Bruttians, Hipponium ultimately became as Vibo Valentia a flourishing Roman colony. The harbour established by Agathocles proved of great service as a naval station to Caesar and Octavius in their wars with Pompeius Magnus and Sextus Pompeius, and remains of its massive mason-work still exist at the village of Bivona on the coast. In the town itself there are no traces of antiquity beyond a mosaic pavement in the church of St Leoluca (patron saint of Monteleone) and one or two Latin inscriptions.