Around Italy: Basilicata, Cave Cities, Wild Mountains, Ancient Villages, and the Deep South of Italy

Around Italy: Basilicata, Cave Cities, Wild Mountains, Ancient Villages, and the Deep South of Italy

Basilicata is one of the most dramatic and least understood regions in southern Italy. Mountains, ravines, forests, high plateaus, ancient villages, vineyards, wheat fields, archaeological sites, and two very different coastlines create a territory that feels old, elemental, and deeply connected to the land.

Matera

Matera is one of the most extraordinary cities in Europe. Its historic Sassi districts are carved into and built around a limestone ravine, creating a complex urban environment of caves, houses, churches, stairways, cisterns, courtyards, and narrow passages.

The Sassi

Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano contain dwellings excavated directly into the rock, often with built façades added in front. For centuries families, animals, storage spaces, workshops, and religious sites existed within the same dense fabric.

Matera and Poverty

During the twentieth century, overcrowding and severe poverty created difficult living conditions in the Sassi. Residents were relocated, and for years the area became a symbol of southern Italian hardship. Later restoration transformed the districts into one of Italy’s most important cultural destinations.

Rock Churches

The landscape around Matera contains numerous rupestrian churches carved directly into stone, many preserving medieval frescoes.

Murgia Materana

Across the ravine, caves, rock churches, grazing land, and trails form a rugged plateau with extraordinary views back toward the city.

Pane di Matera

Durum wheat bread with a thick crust and deeply flavored yellow interior became one of the region’s defining foods. Large loaves were practical because they could remain edible for days.

Cialledda

Stale bread is revived with tomatoes, onions, herbs, olive oil, and other ingredients, demonstrating the Basilicata principle that bread should never be wasted.

Potenza

The regional capital is built at high elevation in the central Apennines and has a very different character from Matera. Cold winters, earthquakes, and mountain geography strongly shaped the city.

Dolomiti Lucane

Sharp rock formations rise above central Basilicata and create one of the most remarkable mountain landscapes in southern Italy.

Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa

These two villages appear almost fused with the mountains. Stone houses climb beneath jagged peaks and preserve a strong highland identity.

Pollino

Southern Basilicata reaches into the Pollino massif, one of southern Italy’s largest protected mountain landscapes. Forests, ridges, remote villages, and the pino loricato define the area.

Arbëreshë Culture

Some villages preserve Albanian-derived language, religious traditions, music, dress, and food, demonstrating Basilicata’s deep Mediterranean connections.

Maratea

The region’s short Tyrrhenian coast is spectacular, with cliffs, beaches, wooded slopes, caves, and small settlements surrounding the historic town of Maratea.

Metaponto

On the Ionian side, Metaponto preserves major evidence of Magna Graecia, including ancient Greek remains set within a broad agricultural plain.

Tavole Palatine

The surviving Greek columns associated with the sanctuary of Hera provide a powerful sense of the importance of ancient Metapontum.

Craco

The abandoned hill town of Craco became one of Basilicata’s most haunting landscapes after landslides and instability forced residents to leave.

Aliano and Carlo Levi

Carlo Levi’s exile in Basilicata inspired Christ Stopped at Eboli and brought international attention to the region’s poverty and isolation during the twentieth century.

Calanchi

Eroded clay hills create stark ridges and gullies, giving parts of southern Basilicata an almost lunar appearance.

Melfi

The massive castle of Melfi reflects the region’s importance under Norman, Swabian, and later rulers.

Frederick II

Melfi played an important role in the government of Emperor Frederick II and in the development of the Constitutions of Melfi.

Venosa

The birthplace of Roman poet Horace contains Roman remains, medieval architecture, and the atmospheric unfinished church known as L’Incompiuta.

Monte Vulture

The extinct volcanic complex in northern Basilicata creates one of the region’s most important wine territories.

Aglianico del Vulture

Aglianico produces structured reds with acidity, tannin, dark fruit, herbs, spice, earth, and strong aging potential. Volcanic soils and altitude help preserve freshness.

Peperoni Cruschi

Long sweet peppers are dried and then fried very quickly until crisp. Their sweet, aromatic crunch is one of Basilicata’s defining flavors.

Senise Peppers

The area around Senise is particularly associated with peppers traditionally dried in long hanging chains.

Strascinati and Ferretti

Handmade semolina pasta traditions remain fundamental. Rough surfaces and hollow forms are designed to hold rustic sauces.

Lagane e Ceci

Broad pasta strips with chickpeas form one of southern Italy’s oldest grain-and-legume combinations.

Rafanata

Eggs, horseradish, cheese, potatoes, and other ingredients create a distinctive preparation that reflects the mountain climate.

Lucanica

The ancient name Lucania became associated with seasoned pork sausage even in Roman sources, linking Basilicata to a very old sausage tradition.

Pecorino and Canestrato

Sheep and goat farming created major cheese traditions, including Pecorino di Filiano and Canestrato di Moliterno.

Caciocavallo Podolico

Long-aged cheese made from the milk of Podolica cattle can become intensely aromatic and complex.

Crapiata

Legumes and grains are cooked together in a traditional Matera-area dish connected with agricultural harvest culture.

Baccalà alla Lucana

Salt cod paired with peperoni cruschi demonstrates how preserved fish traveled far into inland mountain communities.

Emigration

Basilicata experienced enormous migration toward the Americas and other parts of Europe. Lucanian communities abroad often preserved village identities, dialect words, saints’ festivals, and food traditions.

When to Visit

Spring is excellent for Matera, villages, archaeology, and green mountain landscapes. Summer suits Maratea and the Ionian beaches. Autumn is ideal for Aglianico, peppers, mushrooms, chestnuts, and olive oil.

What Makes Basilicata Special

Basilicata’s culture developed through difficulty. Bread had to last, peppers were dried, pork was preserved, legumes replaced meat, cheeses matured in mountain environments, and homes were carved directly into stone. Its greatest strength is not luxury but endurance, memory, and landscape.

Around Italy by ZAFFERANO & CO.

Chef Gianluca