Basilicata & Calabria - Italy’s undiscovered south

Although it is difficult to claim that anywhere in Italy is ‘unknown’, the regions of Calabria and Basilicata are at least less familiar, and rank among the least visited parts of Mediterranean Europe. As the instep to Puglia’s heel, Basilicata misses out on the flow of visitors that its neighbour attracts, while Calabria, being mountainous and appreciably less fertile, has suffered from centuries of economic neglect.

Over the last two decades that has started to change. Matera, the renowned city in Basilicata, has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was European Capital of Culture in 2019. Calabria is finally reversing the outward migration that has marked its recent history and is investing in itself.

Most impressive in Matera are the Sassi, the rupestrian dwellings terraced into two ravines at the heart of the town, with rooms quarried into the bedrock at the rear behind architectural facades built of the self-same stone. Developed, enhanced and inhabited for over 1,000 years, the caves were forcibly depopulated in the 1960s but are now being thoughtfully and sympathetically re-developed.

To the north are the volcanic hills around Melfi and Venosa, the early Norman base from which the 11th-century conquest of Puglia and Calabria was undertaken – both of which possess mighty fortresses and impressive Romanesque churches. To the south are the important early Greek settlements that line the Ionian shore – Metapontum, Sybaris and Locri. The latter bring us into Calabria, and face to face not only with ancient Greek culture but with its medieval successor as well, for much of southern Italy was in the hands of Byzantium and its legacy lived on in centres such as Rossano and La Rocceletta.

Our base for most of the time in Calabria is in the culturally richer south, ideally placed for the great coastal centres of Vibia Valentia, Mileto and Reggio, as well as the wooded Aspromonte and that real jewel of a medieval city at Gerace.

Nor should one fail to mention food and wine – with some of the best Aglianico, the star grape variety of the south, grown on the volcanic soils of northern Basilicata, while Calabria is a provider of the most wonderful peppers, olives, citrus, figs, mozzarella, and spicy ’nduja sausages.