Definition: Some Greeks from Euboea established a settlement (Aenaria or Pithecusae) in the Bay of Naples around 770 B.C. Excavations there show iron-working, which supports a belief that the Greeks went to Italy in pursuit of metals. The areas settled by the Greeks may have been colonies or trading posts or both.
Later Greeks moved to the western Mediterranean in search of a better life. Shortly after the settlement of Pithecusae, there was a colony at Cumae, which was followed by other colonies in southern Italy and Sicily.
The colonists did well and so one of the colonies, Sybaris, became synonymous with luxury (sybarite).
The name Magna Graecia was in use to apply to southern Italy by the 5th century. To the Greeks, the area was known as Megale Hellas.
Source (and for more information): T.J. Cornell The Beginnings of Rome
Also Known As: Megale Hellas
Examples:
Colonists from Corinth settled in Syracuse, the birthplace of Archimedes and location of the Sword of Damocles. Pithecussae, Cumae, Tarentum, Metapontum, Sybaris, Croton, Locri Epizephyri, and Rhegium were some of the cities.
