in Basilicata but given its rich cuisine, stunning national parks, ancient towns and great beaches, it’s hard to fathom why this seductive region remains so quiet
of Matera are thought to be the first human dwellings in Italy, delved maybe 9,000 years ago. But by the 20th century they were places of inhuman squalor and penury. Author Carlo Levi, exiled to Basilicata by the fascists in the 1930s, wrote: “In these dark holes with walls cut out of the earth I saw a few miserable beds, and some rags hanging up … I have never in my life seen such a picture of poverty.” The Sassi lay empty for decades after the war, their inhabitants rehoused, but from the 1980s people started moving back, modernising caves and converting them into hotels, bars and shops. Matera gained Unesco world heritage listing in 1993 and is now more prosperous, but there has been no jarring change in appearance or atmosphere. The steep steps, rocky outcrops and stone alleyways could be Babylon or biblical-era Jerusalem, and have been used in films including, recently, the 2016 remake of Ben Hur, Wonder Woman and this year’s Mary Magdalene.
its year as European Capital of Culture in 2019, Matera is more striking than pretty – Levi wrote of its “painful beauty” – but few other living cities in Europe have such a magical air of real antiquity. The Sassi are in two sections, the Barisano and the older Caveoso, where more of the sights are. There are over 150 rock-cut churches here and in the countryside nearby, many of which can be visited (tickets from €2.50 for one church to €6 for three). Less-visited than most – it’s a 15- minute walk south along the Gravina ravine – is 13th-century Santa Barbara, with astounding rock paintings. The hard life of cave-dwelling peasants is recreated in the Casa Grotta (adult €2) on Vico Solitario, with two furnished cave rooms complete with animals and papà enthroned on a stone latrine in a corner.
deep series of water tanks dug in the early 1800s to keep Matera, high on its limestone hill, supplied with water in hot dry summers. A €3 ticket (under-18s free) includes a guided tour (four a day in English) of cisterns waterproofed with terracotta and porcelain. They are as impressive as any cathedral, though excavated from the earth rather than soaring skywards. Matera is not all about old stones; there are new ones at the Musma contemporary sculpture museum (closed Mondays), in 16th-century Palazzo Pomarici, whose collection includes works by Picasso and De Chirico as well as striking modern works in plastic, glass and metal.
Ionian coast, Gusti Lucani (two courses €15, unofficial page on Facebook) is famous for meatballs of pork and pecorino cheese, and Lucanian orecchiette pasta, with tomato sauce rather than the greens offered in Puglia. In Rotonda, A Rimissa restaurant (two courses €20) is owned by the albergo diffuso and makes the most of ingredients such as local red aubergines, served lightly pickled as an antipasto, and round white poverelli beans. The place is celebrated for its grilled meats, but I was most taken by the fileddri(fat spaghetti) with sauces of either wild greens, dried peppers and tiny chillies; or ricotta and cured pig’s cheek. This is an area where the salami speciality changes every few kilometres – with fennel in one village, say, but paprika up the road. At Il Ristoro del Carbonaio (four courses with wine €25), a converted roadkeeper’s house near the mountain village of Viggianello, a lunchtime bean and potato stew (€7) is good hiking fuel, and owner Franco tells proudly how the hand-cut prosciutto comes from a pig keeper up the road, and the tangy cheese is a goat/sheep mixture made by a woman in the next valley.
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