Basilicata : Andiamo Homes

Basilicata

The Province of Basilicata lies in Southern Italy. It faces the Ionian Sea to the South-east and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the South-west with borders to the provinces of Campania, Calabria and Puglia.

Italy's Best Kept Secret

_{The region of Basilicata has been described as ' Italy's Best Kept Secret' . Others have said : `Enchanting unspoiled and steeped in history.' Inland it is almost completely mountainous, with mountains which rise to over 3000mt. The majority of this area is now part of the largest national park in Italy and is called the National Pollino Park. Its Tyrrhrean coastline is truly breathtaking with pine-clad mountains reaching down to the sea. Hidden beaches are dotted around and the coastline has in recent years become Basilicata's exclusive resort area. On the Ionian coast the terrain opens out to flat plains and golden beaches. Places like Metaponto (where Spartacus took his last stand against the Romans) are full of history and archeological findings. One of the 395 world heritage sights called the 'Sassi' can be found at Matera and is where the recent film of Mel Gibson ' The Passion of Christ ' was filmed. Due to the fertile plains in this area, visitors can enjoy the immense citrus, vine and olive groves which populate this beautiful region.}

^{The only region in Italy that can boast two names - (Basilicata, however, is the one that is officially recognised) it was known as Lucania in olden times from the Latin lucas, either because it was a woody land or, because it was populated by the Liky, an ancient people coming from Anatolia. Also it may be because it was the land a warrior-like race had reached following the sun, then known as luc. It was called Basilicata for the first time in a document of 1175, originating probably from the name Basiliskos, a Byzantine administrator.}

^{Basilicata, whose people even today prefer to be called Lucanians rather than Basilischi or Basilicatesi, for years seemed to be the place where all the enormous problems of Southern Italy were concentrated. It is washed by two seas, the lonian to the south-east and the Tyrrhenian to the south-west, with mountains in the centre, (some having peaks rising above 2,000m) and hills and flatlands for a short way to the east and south east respectively. It is a region which gives itself over to the traveller, offering a vast range of natural beauty to discover not to mention its history and its traditions.}

Then there is its cuisine, simple and genuine which features all the characteristics of the Mediterranean diet. Take, for example, its many cheeses such as pecorino, made from goat'smilk or casiddi and caciocavallo which is made from a particular breed of cow called the Podolica. The sausage known as luganega or ucanica is another regional product which you eat fresh, cured or preserved in oil, as with the pork sausage - soppressate, also dried or preserved in extra virgin olive oil. Basilicata has its own fine wines too and all can be savoured in one of the many hospitable family restaurants.

^{Basilicata knows how to win people over whether their visit is a question of simple curiosity or their love of travelling over mountain tops and hills that offer breathtaking and unusual panoramas, or then again the desire to visit cities packed with history or untouched seaside towns with never ending beaches of fine, golden sand where the Greeks landed in the VIIIBC. Basilicata is a land of strong contrasts and a sense of community harmony. It jealously safeguards its own identity where all the typical features of the rural countryside have been conserved, yet also, as if to create contrast,still has post-modern skyscrapers and bridges built to challenge the laws of gravity, like the one at Potenza.}

Map of the Region of

BASILICATA

Health, Natural Spas and Nature

Traditionally, as yet, tourists infrequently make some very welcoming and attractive spots their point of destination: health is the key in the natural spas of Rapolla, Terme di Ala and Latronico and Terme La Calda. Nature is for the taking in the Pollino National Park, The Regional Natural Park of Gallipoli Cognato and the Lucanian Dolomites and in the Natural History and Archaeological Park of the Murgia and the rupestrian (rock) churches of the Matera District. For those who delight in history, there is the museums of Potenza, Matera, Melfi, Venosa, Metaponto, Policoro, Castel Lagopesole and Irsinia. Culture and tradition abound with the folk festivals in Matera and the art of Maratea. Food and gastronomy is offered by hordes of family restaurants and are the jewels of Lucanian hospitality and its cuisine. The beauty of the seaside is not to be forgotten in the clear waters at Maratea and Metaponto, Pisticci, Scanzano Jonico, Policoro, Rotondella and Nova Siri. Travelling in Basilicata still offers all the excitement of an adventure, a voyage of discovery into a past packed with history, of being at one with untouched and breathtaking nature and then there are the very hospitable people ready to help and advise anytime they are needed.