Unlike the Tyrrhenian side, the seismotectonics of the Ionian sector of the Calabrian peninsula is still not well defined, both in terms of active tectonics and seismic activity. This work focuses on a strong earthquake that occurred along the northern Ionian coast of Calabria in 1836 (Rossano area, Mw=6.2), by applying a multidisciplinary approach in order to find out its possible causative fault. Thanks to the reappraisal of the historical accounts of the earthquake - which also contain possible surface break descriptions - and to geological, geomorphological, structural and paleoseismological analyses carried out in the mesoseismic area, we propose that the poorly known, E-W striking, normal Rossano Fault might have been responsible for the 1836 event. This fault, which is characterized by an impressive ~100-mhigh rectilinear scarp, downthrows the Palaeozoic rocks of the Sila Massif below the coastal alluvial plain of Rossano. Absolute dating of faulted talusdeposits, coupled with observations on the geometry and aspect of the fault free-face, allow to hypothesize repeated surface ruptures in the Late Holocene.