Basilicata - 57 Attractions You Must Visit
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About Basilicata
Difficult accessibility and lack of extended promotion make Basilicata one of the most remote and least visited regions of Italy. However, tourism is slowly growing since the early 2000s. Matera, once dubbed "national disgrace" by prime minister Alcide De Gasperi who urged to take strict development measures due to its extreme poverty, is now Basilicata's main attraction and has gained fame worldwide for its historical center, the Sassi, designated in 1993 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Types of Attractions in Basilicata
Activities Around
List of Attractions in Basilicata
Oasis of Bosco Pantano
Outdoors- Other
Forests
The Bosco Pantano di Policoro oriented nature reserve is a protected natural area located in the municipalities of Policoro and Rotondella, in the province of Matera. The reserve covers an area of 500 hectares and was established in 1999, 21 of which are oases of WWF Italy called "WWF Policoro Herakleia". The reserve includes the site of community interest (SIC) “Bosco Pantano di Policoro and Costa Ionica Foce Sinni”.
Palazzo Lanfranchi
Iconic Buildings
Monuments
Palazzo Lanfranchi is the greatest monument that represents the seventeenth - century period in Matera. In front of the door is the sculpture "The Drop" by Kengiro Azuma. The palace has undergone many renovations and has housed the Museo Della Grafica since 2007. The Museum houses the collection of the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe dell’Università di Pisa; initially curated in 1957 by Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti.
Palombaro lungo
Man-made Structures- Other
Palombaro Lungo is the largest underground water cistern in the city of Matera and is located under the pavement of Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where rainwater and spring waters from the hills of La Nera, Lapillo and Macamarda converge. Together with other underground cisterns it forms the famous underground Matera; the cistern is part of a water collection system that extends along the entire length of the stones of Matera and was necessary for the supply of its inhabitants.
The Appennino Lucano Val d'Agri Lagonegrese National Park is a national park located in Basilicata and established in 2007 and is, in chronological order, the penultimate Italian national park to have been established. The park has an extension of 68 996 hectares along the Lucan Apennines, includes 29 municipalities in Basilicata and 9 mountain communities. The territory is rich in woods. From the vegetational and floristic point of view, the lower altitudinal belt presents the evergreen oak w
park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera
Parks
Iconic Buildings
This is the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region, perfectly adapted to its terrain and ecosystem. The first inhabited zone dates from the Palaeolithic, while later settlements illustrate a number of significant stages in human history. Matera is in the southern region of Basilicata.
The Pertosa-Auletta caves are a complex of karst cavities of tourist importance, located in the municipality of Pertosa. The karst complex develops in the subsoil of the nearby municipalities of Auletta and Polla, at 263 m asl , along the left bank of the Tanagro river. The caves of Pertosa-Auletta have a flow of over 50,000 visitors a year in constant growth. Open to tourists since 1932, the first section can be visited with a particular boat pulled by a steel cable, which serves to reach the
Piazza Vittorio Veneto
Town Squares
Piazza Vittorio Veneto is one of the historic and arcaded squares of Turin, located in the eastern part of the city center, between the end of Via Po and the left bank of the Po river. In fact, the square ends with the historic Vittorio Emanuele I bridge, which connects the square itself, together with the two lateral riversides and the so-called Murazzi del Po, to the right bank of the river.
Pollino National Park
National Parks
The Pollino National Park, located between Basilicata and Calabria between the provinces of Cosenza, Potenza and Matera, with its 192 565 hectares, of which 88 650 on the Lucan side and 103 915 in the Calabrian one, is the largest national park in Italy; takes its name from the mountain massif of the same name. Since November 2015, with the inclusion in the global list of geoparks by the UNESCO, the Pollino park is considered a world heritage site.
Riserva regionale Lago piccolo di Monticchio
Lake/ River/ Ponds
The Lago Piccolo regional reserve of Monticchio is a protected natural area located in the municipalities of Rionero in Vulture and Atella, in the province of Potenza. The reserve occupies an area of 187 hectares and was established in 1984. The small Lake of Monticchio together with the Large Lake constitute the pair of volcanic lakes that has occupied what remains of the ancient crater of the Vulture volcano. The Reserve falls within the territory of the municipality of Atella.
San Fele
Old Towns
San Fele is an Italian town of 2 800 inhabitants in the province of Potenza , in Basilicata . Historically it comes from the fiefdom corresponding to the Vitalba Valley , together with Rionero in Vulture , Monticchio , Sant'Andrea, Montemarcone, Montesirico, Rapone. San Giustino de Jacobis is known for being born here and for the presence in its territory of one of the oldest and most mysterious sanctuaries in Basilicata : that of Santa Maria di Pierno.
San Severino Lucano
Old Towns
San Severino Lucano is an Italian town of 1 497 inhabitants in the province of Potenza, in Basilicata, located in the Pollino National Park. This municipality, together with its hamlets, marks the entrance to the heart of the Pollino Massif on the northeast side, in a particularly happy position due to the presence of numerous waterways, the main one being the Frido stream, from which springs, in the homonymous valley surmounted by the cliff on which the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Pollino sta
Sassi di Matera
Iconic Buildings
The Sassi di Matera are two districts of Matera, Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano, made up of rock buildings and architecture dug into the rock of the Murgia of Matera and inhabited since prehistoric times. Together with the Civita district (built on the spur that separates the two Sassi), they constitute the historic center of the city of Matera. In 1993 they were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Serra del Prete
1 Day Treks
Mountain Peaks
The Serra del Prete is a mountain of ' southern Apennines, on the border between Calabria and Basilicata. With its maximum height of 2,181 m, it is the third highest mountain in the Pollino Massif, and therefore in the Pollino National Park, after Monte Pollino and Serra Dolcedorme. The mountain is located between the municipalities of Morano Calabro, on the southern side, and from Viggianello on the northern side.
Statue of Christ the Redeemer
Sculptures
The statue of Christ the Redeemer of Maratea is the work of the Florentine sculptor Bruno Innocenzi and was commissioned by Count Stefano Rivetti of Valcervo. The statue was erected in 1965 on the summit of Monte San Biagio in the old Maratea Superior, also called Castle, the place where once stood a memorial cross in stone. This is the third tallest statue of Jesus in Europe, after Christ the King in Świebodzin, Poland, and Cristo-Rei in Lisbon.
Temple of Hera / Palatine Tables
Monuments
The territory of Metapontum is the most important archaeological site in Basilicata. It’s worth a visit indeed. The Palatine Tables is the remains of a Doric temple peripteral hexastyle the sixth century BC dedicated to the Greek goddess Hera. The temple, located near the Bradano, was linked to an extra-urban sanctuary, from which the temenos wall and the remains of an older altar emerged.
Terranova di Pollino
Old Towns
Terranova di Pollino is an Italian town of 1 129 inhabitants, in the province of Potenza, in Basilicata, at the southern limit of its border with the province of Cosenza. The municipality, located in the Pollino National Park, includes several hamlets in its territory, which are: Casa Del Conte, Destra Delle Donne, San Migalio, Vena Della Ricotta.
Tramontano castle
Iconic Buildings
Situated on a hill near the town centre, In Aragonese style, the castle, with a central male and two lower side towers, one and the other round, scalloped and equipped with loops, was built from 1501 by Giovanni Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera. This 15th-century castle was left unfinished after the unpopular Count Tramontano, seemingly unaware that high taxes and his habit of bedding every new bride on her wedding night wasn't winning much favour, was killed by rebellious subjects.
Map of attractions in Basilicata
Comments
For more information about Basilicata, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilicata