Secret Basilicata: 10 Places That Aren't Matera

Basilicata is Italy's second least populous region. Once described by Carlo Levi as "no man's land" in Christ Stopped at Eboli, today it counts among Italy's most visited regions thanks to Matera. But Matera is only 5% of Basilicata. The rest remains almost entirely undiscovered.

1. Maratea and the Tyrrhenian coast

Thirty kilometers of sheer coastline, crowned by the Christ the Redeemer of Maratea (a 21-meter statue, one of the largest in Italy, second only to the Colossus of San Carlo Borromeo in Arona). Coves like Cala Ficarra and Cala Jannita can only be reached by boat or on foot. The old town of Maratea is medieval and silent.

Maratea: Basilicata's secret coast →

2. Aliano and the landscape of Carlo Levi

Aliano, in the heart of the Lucanian calanchi, is the village Carlo Levi described in Christ Stopped at Eboli. The house-museum, the piazza of internal exile, the cemetery. The calanchi (clay ridge formations) surround the village like a lunar landscape.

3. Monte Vulture and the Monticchio lakes

The Vulture, an extinct volcano in northern Basilicata, cradles two volcanic lakes (Laghi di Monticchio) and the abbey of San Michele di Monticchio set into the cliff face. This is Aglianico del Vulture wine country. Rionero and Melfi (with its Norman-Swabian castle) are the two capitals.

4. The Piccole Dolomiti Lucane and the Volo dell'Angelo

Pietrapertosa and Castelmezzano, two villages perched among the "Piccole Dolomiti Lucane" (spectacular rock formations), are linked by the Volo dell'Angelo: a roughly 1.4-kilometer steel cable along which you hurtle in a vertical zip line at 120 km/h. But both villages are equally splendid on foot.

5. The ghost town of Craco

Craco, evacuated in the 1960s and '70s after landslides, is now Italy's most photographed "ghost village." Guided tours lead through the ruined old town. It has served as a set for many films (Bond, The Passion of the Christ). An hour from Matera.

6. Pollino National Park, the Lucanian side

Half of Pollino lies within Basilicata. Arbereshe villages like San Costantino Albanese and San Paolo Albanese preserve their Greek-Catholic language and rites. Monte Serra Dolcedorme (2,267 m) is southern Italy's highest peak after Etna. Trekking, and the rare loricate pines.

7. Venosa and Horace

Venosa, the birthplace of the poet Horace, holds the Aragonese castle and the abbey of the Santissima Trinità, with its Chiesa Vecchia and the Incompiuta (a church begun in the eleventh century and never finished, romantic in its rawness). One of the "Borghi più belli d'Italia."

8. Metaponto and Lucanian Magna Graecia

Modern Metaponto is an ordinary town, but its archaeological park with the Tavole Palatine temple (15 Doric columns from the sixth century BC standing amid open country) is one of the best-preserved Greek sites in Italy. Less famous than Paestum, and just as poetic.

9. The Ionian coast: Metaponto Lido and Nova Siri

The Lucanian Ionian coast (35 km) is one of the few Italian shorelines with white sand and shallow water stretching a full kilometer out. Marina di Pisticci, Marina di Ginosa (across the Puglia border), Nova Siri. Less crowded than Puglia, and easier on the wallet.

10. Potenza and mountain Basilicata

Potenza is among Italy's least-visited regional capitals (and, at 819 meters, the highest in the south). The Ponte Musmeci, by Sergio Musmeci, is a masterpiece of twentieth-century engineering. Beyond the city: Melfi with its castle, Rionero in Vulture, and the hills of Aglianico.

When should I go?

April-June and September through mid-October. Summer: the Ionian coast is superb, the interior sweltering. Winter: snow blankets the Pollino, and the villages fall silent.

How should I plan my trip?

A week can cover: Matera + Craco + the calanchi + Metaponto (east), or Vulture + Piccole Dolomiti + Aliano (center), or Pollino + Maratea + the Tyrrhenian coast (south).