Discover Italy: Great Travel Tips - Scenic Drives - Motorcycle Tours - Art Cities - Food & Wine

Basilicata is a small region that is located in the South of Italy. Most of its land is dominated by an unspoiled nature, characterized by vivid colors, fresh air and extreme quietness.

Despite this region is not as visited as many others, it has beautiful treasures to offer: the natural beauties range from Mount Vulture to some peaceful lakes, such as Lake Grande and Lake Piccolo. The landscape is scattered with many enchanting villages, where authentic traditions interlace.

Basilicata is a great destination for sea lovers, especially for those who love exploring the rich seabed of the area. Famous sea villages like Policoro and Metaponto overlook the Ionian Sea and offer visitors beautiful beaches surrounded by wild nature, while the Gulf of Policastro, with its main sea resort Maratea, overlooks the Tyrrhenian Sea and features a jagged coast and small, lovely beaches.

The real favorite destination of the whole region is Matera, a city that is listed among the UNESCO World Heritage because of its Paleolithic settlements, called Sassi, which give the city a spectacular and unique appearance.

Food & Wine: this region's cuisine is mostly based on ancient culinary traditions and on local products. There is a great use of home-made pasta of different types, as well as bread, that is used to make some soups called panella o pane cotto. Lamb meat is also eaten a lot, so as some typical dishes like sanguinaccio dolce (a sweet cream based on pork's blood), lucanica (a pork sausage), or piatto d'erbe alla lucana (a dish based on vegetables). Different varieties of chili peppers and peppers are used to prepare many typical dishes.