Page 521 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italy

SOUTHERN IT AL Y  519

BASILICATA AND

CALABRIA

Remote and wild, Basilicata is one of the poorest regions
in Italy. It is underdeveloped and undervisited, and rural
areas remain unspoiled. Neighbouring Calabria has been
immortalized in the drawings of Edward Lear, who, travelling
through on a donkey in 1847, was transfixed by the “horror
and magnificence” of its savage landscape.

Today these regions are distinctly separate, Centuries of rule by Naples led to the
but they share a common his tory and, marginalization of Basilicata and Calabria.
along with Sicily and Puglia, were part of Nowadays Calabria has an infamous
Magna Graecia. Ancient Metaponto in reputation due to the ’Ndrangheta, the
Basilicata was an important centre, as were ferocious first cousin to the Mafia, whose
Crotone and Locri Epizephiri in Calabria. activities are a constant menace. Banditry
Their ruins evoke an illustrious past. exists, but the sensible trav eller should
After the Greeks came the Romans, have little to fear.
followed by Basilian monks. These were Owing to emigration, Basilicata and
members of the Greek-Byzantine church Calabria are sparsely populated and have as
who were fleeing their territories which much to offer in unspoiled countryside as in
had been invaded by Muslims. Their historic centres. The vast coastline boasts
religious establishments make up a core fine beaches, while the interior features the
of interesting monuments, such as the Aspromonte and Sila mountain ranges.
Cattolica at Stilo and Matera, where The remote landscape has kept change at
the monks took refuge in caves. bay. Isolated Pentedattilo, for example,
Many of the historic remains are Norman, preserves customs of Byzantine origin, while
but sporadic evidence of the Swabian, around San Giorgio Albanese there live
Angevin, Aragonese and Spanish close-knit communities of Albanians,
occupation still exists. descended from 15th-century refugees.

Sparsely populated, rugged countryside surrounding Stilo in southern Calabria
Traditional white houses nestled among the hills of il Dirupo, Pisticci

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