A Quick Tour Of Italy - Basilicata
Author: Levi Reiss
If you are looking for a European tourist destination, consider
the Basilicata region of southern Italy. Basilicata forms the
instep of the Italian boot with two small seacoasts, one on the
Ionian Sea in the east and one on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the
west. Depending on your interests, Basilicata may be an ideal
vacation spot. You can get classic Italian food, and wash it
down with fine local wine. Basilicata is among the few regions
of Italy as yet undiscovered by tourists. There's a tradeoff;
you won't have to fight the crowds to see what you want to see.
On the other hand, you'll have a hard time finding fancy hotels.
And its roads are not always the best, hardly surprising when
you consider the region's mountainous terrain.
Matera, population sixty thousand, lies south of the Apulia
border. This area has been settled for at least twelve thousand
years. In September 1943 Matera was the first Italian city to
rise against the German invaders.
Matera's Apulian-Romanesque Cathedral dates from the Thirteenth
Century. In Matera's unique old town the streets are often
rooftops; its houses, churches, and chic restaurants are caves,
hewn out of solid rock. The Sassi of Matera are caves occupied
continuously by human beings for some nine thousand years. They
have been designated a World Heritage Site. Numerous bars and
restaurants take advantage of this unique location. The area was
once called ''la vergogna nazionale,'' translated as Italy's
shame. Matera resembles ancient Jerusalem and historical movies
such as Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St.
Matthew and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ were shot
there.
Terranova di Pollino is a mountain village in southern
Basilicata very close to Calabria. It lies at the entrance to
the Parco Nazionale del Pollino (Pollino National Park) which is
the largest in Italy at just under 750 square miles (more than
1900 square kilometers.) The park is home to a wide variety of
endangered species. Many fossils have been found including a
very well preserved skeleton of a giant elephant that lived
between 400,000 and 700,000 years ago.
Basilicata is home to very traditional cooking. The major meat
is pork and the locals know how to extract the maximum from
their porkers. Hot peppers are popular and can be searingly hot.
Basilicata bread is quite popular in many parts of Italy. If you
like powerful wines, you should try the Aglianico del Vulture
which comes from a local grape that grows on the extinct Mount
Vulture volcano or its surrounding hills. This wine may be
cellared for up to twenty years.
About the author:
Once upon a time Levi Reiss wrote ten computer and Internet
books either alone or with a co-author. And yet, he really
prefers drinking fine Italian or other wine, with the right food
and friends. He knows about dieting but now eats and drinks what
he wants, in moderation. He teaches computers at an Ontario
French-language community college. Visit his Italian travel website which focuses on local wine and food.
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