Small, mountainous and, until recently, forgotten. Matera changed that: the Sassi — a city of houses cut into a ravine, continuously inhabited for some 9,000 years — went from national embarrassment to UNESCO site to European Capital of Culture in 2019. Beyond it, the Lucanian Dolomites hold Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa (linked by a zip line strung between the peaks), the Pollino is Italy's largest national park, and Maratea gives the region 30 km of dramatic Tyrrhenian coast.
- Matera's Sassi and rock churches
- Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa
- Maratea and the Christ the Redeemer statue
- Pollino National Park
- Venosa and Melfi
- Metaponto's Greek temples
- Best time to go
- April–June and September–October. Matera is punishing in August heat and lovely in winter light.
- Getting there
- Bari airport is the practical gateway — 1h to Matera by road. Trains to Matera are indirect; drive.
© OpenFreeMap · OSM · terrain Mapterhorn · boundaries © EuroGeographics (Eurostat GISCO)
Headline places
What italia.it leads with in Basilicata.
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Murgia Materana Park The ravine opposite Matera, with 150 rock-cut churches in it -
Castelmezzano & Pietrapertosa Two villages wedged into the Lucanian Dolomites, joined by a zip line -
Pollino National Park Italy's largest national park, and the last Bosnian pines in the country -
Venosa Horace’s birthplace, with an unfinished abbey built from Roman and Jewish stone -
Melfi Castle Frederick II’s Norman-Swabian castle under the extinct Vulture volcano -
Metaponto Fifteen standing Doric columns of a Greek temple where Pythagoras is said to have died
Cities & bases
Where to sleep, and what each place is good for.
Basilicata by experience
The themes this region delivers on.
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Art & culture More UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country on earth -
Food & wine Regional to the point of parochial — and all the better for it -
Coast & islands 7,900 km of coastline and around eighty inhabited islands -
UNESCO Italy Sixty World Heritage sites — the largest tally of any country -
Borghi & villages The hill towns that carry I Borghi più belli d'Italia and the Orange Flag -
Nature & national parks 25 national parks, from alpine glaciers to volcanic islands -
Sport & the outdoors Dolomiti Superski, the Giro's climbs and Garda's windsurfing -
Luxury Italy Portofino, the Costa Smeralda, Capri and the great lake villas
More of The South
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Abruzzo The wildest Apennines — bears, national parks and a trabocchi coast -
Molise The region Italians joke doesn't exist — mountains, tratturi and Samnite ruins -
Campania Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and the islands of the bay -
Puglia Trulli, baroque Lecce, whitewashed towns and two seas -
Calabria Tropea's cliffs, three national parks and the Riace Bronzes