★ History and art · Matera and the MurgiaMateraA cave in a wall of the Picciano ravine, its walls covered in early medieval frescoes whose colours are still vivid.
The storyThe frescoes, painted between the 8th and 9th centuries by an artist known as the Painter of the Flowers of Matera, tell the story of the Creation and the Original Sin, with Adam and Eve against a background of red flowers. Long used as a sheep shelter, the cave was rediscovered in 1963 by a group of young enthusiasts from Matera. Restored and reopened in 2013, it is called «the Sistine Chapel of rock painting».
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Matera and the MurgiaIrsinaA village on a hill among the wheat fields of the Matera hills, with a cathedral that holds an unexpected masterpiece.
The storyIn 1454 a local priest, Roberto de Mabilia, came back from Padua bringing relics and works of art, among them a stone statue of St Euphemia. Scholars have attributed it to Andrea Mantegna, who was working in Padua at the time: it would be the great painter's only known sculpture. Beneath the village there is also a network of caves and cellars dug into the tuff.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Calanchi badlands and the Ionian coastCracoA ghost town on a clay hill, dominated by a Norman tower, among the badlands of the Cavone valley.
The storyIn 1963 a large landslide forced the inhabitants to leave the town, which was fully evacuated in the following years and rebuilt further down the valley. The empty houses, churches and palaces left hanging over the void drew the film industry: scenes from «The Passion of the Christ», «Quantum of Solace» and «Basilicata Coast to Coast» were shot here.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Calanchi badlands and the Ionian coastAlianoA village overlooking the calanchi, a lunar landscape of clay carved by water, which is also a literary park.
The storyIn 1935 and 1936 the Turin painter and writer Carlo Levi was sent into internal exile here by the Fascist regime. The experience produced «Christ Stopped at Eboli», the book that showed Italy the poverty of the South, in which Aliano is called Gagliano. Levi asked to be buried here, and his grave looks out over the calanchi. You can visit the house where he lived in exile and a museum dedicated to him.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Calanchi badlands and the Ionian coastTursiTursi's oldest quarter, the Rabatana, climbs a spur between two ravines, with stone houses and alleys.
The storyThe name comes from the Arabic «rabatah», suburb: tradition links it to the Saracens who settled here in the 9th century. The Rabatana was home to the poet Albino Pierro, who wrote in the Tursi dialect poems translated into many languages and was several times a candidate for the Nobel Prize. Not far away is the sanctuary of Santa Maria d'Anglona, alone on a hill.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Calanchi badlands and the Ionian coastValsinniA medieval village below a castle, above the Sinni river, bound up with the story of the poet Isabella Morra.
The storyIsabella Morra, born around 1520, lived shut away in the family castle and wrote verses full of melancholy, among the most intense of the 16th century. When her brothers discovered her correspondence with the Spanish nobleman Diego Sandoval de Castro, they killed her, along with her tutor and Sandoval himself. Her poems were published after her death, and today the castle and the village are a literary park dedicated to her.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Lucanian Dolomites and Val d'AgriSasso di CastaldaA Tibetan bridge about three hundred metres long, hanging in the void above a canyon near the village of Sasso di Castalda.
The storyThe bridge is dedicated to Rocco Petrone, the son of emigrants who left Sasso di Castalda for the United States; as NASA's launch director he oversaw the departure of Apollo 11 for the Moon in 1969. The village chose to remember his story with a structure that, like Petrone's journey, asks a little courage of those who cross it.
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