Numerical modelling of the Aegean and Calabrian subductions using geological reconstructions starting 75--80 Myr before the present reproduces the present-day geometries of the slabs and mantle wedges imaged by seismic tomography. The change from a shallow subduction dip of about 15¿ from the surface to a depth of 200 km into a dip of 60¿ below this depth in the Aegean subduction is caused by the south-west migration of the trench at the velocity of 3 cm/yr, obtained from GPS and geological data. The largest dip of 70¿ Calabrian subduction is caused by the termination of the active phase of opening of the Tyrrhenian back-arc basin and by the essentially purely gravitational sinking of the slab, in agreement with the null trench-migration velocity obtained from GPS data in Calabria. These two different tectonic settings are the ultimate causes of the different styles of seismicity within the two subduction complexes.