visiting the Basilicata region of southern Italy, also known as Lucania

Welcome back, Carol. Nice report.

Hello again. I would really like to encourage thoughtful, curious, flexible travelers ("tourists" OK) to visit this beautiful unspoiled area before its old traditions fade away. I will therefore be topping this message every now and then. Thanks for reading. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

Carol;
We stayed in Matera for 3 nights last year as a part of an independent trip we took to Southern Italy.
We arrived in Matera two days before the Feasta della Madonna Bruna, which is held every year on July 2nd. There was a nightly festa leading up this day, with music in the piazza nightly,
and all the streets festooned in festive lights.
Matera is renown for having a great passeggiata, with most of the townspeople taking a nightly stroll. With the approach of the feast day, it seem liked everyone for miles around was
there. Finally, on July 2nd the Festa
began. At dawn a cart , with a statue of the Madonna in it, drawn by eight mules and guarded by men wearing folk costumes makes a trip throughout the town, and finally to the Duomo. There it goes around the square in front of the Duomo 3 times. Then the Madonna is removed and brought into the church.
Then, with fireworks blasting amid the confusion, townspeople destroy and demolish the cart, taking pieces of it with them for souveniers.
That evening there is a fantastic fireworks display.
We loved Matera and Basilicata.
The Sassi in Matera were remakable.
We got lost twice roaming through them.
The people were warm and friendly.
The food was good and inexpensive.
We ran into no American tourists.
Unfortunately, because we only had a few days to spend in Basilicata, the only other towns we visited were Bernalda and Metaponta, although we drove around the countryside from Potenza
We plan on going back sometime in the near future and exploring the region more thoroughly.

Hi, Tony. It was nice to find your comment. I found Matera (i sassi) very interesting and unusual, but we were only there for a day trip. Remember how dry Matera is? Well, the day we were there, there was a surprise deluge and we all got soaked. I wanted to stay longer anyway, despite wet clothes, but majority ruled and our visit was cut short. Basilicata does seem to have some of the best pageantry anywhere, e.g., the festa you saw in Matera, the pagan "Maggio" in little Accettura, and the spectacular parade of the Turks in Potenza just to name a few. You're probably familiar with this very good website about the region. I found it over a year ago, but strangers who also discover it keep recommending it to me, and I keep recommending it to others because it's so good: www.basilicata.com. The photos are beautiful, info is useful, and it's easy to use. The "guestbook" message board is actually where I heard about the tour that I ended up taking! (I think it may be the only USAmerican tour strictly to Basilicata.)

Is anyone interested in seeing a folk dance group from this region? I don't know the details, but I thinks one will be in NYC and possibly in Princeton, NJ in Jan.

In a shameless attempt to draw some attention to this beautiful, hospitable, and underappreciated region, here I am again...TOPPING!

Carol,

I'm fascinated. My grandmother came from Brindisi di Montagna. I always thought that the Basilicata region was remote and unappealing to tourists, and have never read of any tours that went there. It's particularly interesting to learn that the tours are only in the Basilicata region, rather than of several more "popular" areas of Italy.I went to the site you referenced, but it's written almost exclusively in Italian, which I don't read or speak. Does this woman who handles the tours run some of them with English speaking guides? Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

I just finished a good book called Dancing with Luigi by Paul Paolicelli. He spent 3 years living in Italy and researching where both sets of his grandparents came from. One grandfather came from Matera, the other from a town in the Abruzzo. The book gives you a good understanding of growing up Italian-American and I enjoyed reading about his travels in Italy searching for records of his relatives.
Pauline
www.slowtrav.com

Carol, did you see my message about needing a hotel for one night in Basilica? We need it to be near the Autostrada, as a stopover from Tuscany to Sicily. I think Cosenza will be too far south. We have been trying Maratea, but I can see that it is very busy in August. We need a room for Saturday night, August 4! Any ideas?

Janice, since I was on a tour and only had to find my own hotel in Accettura (easy--there's only one) I don't have much experience booking my own hotels in Basilicata. Also, I personally didn't drive at all -- never do on vacations, and never will in the mts. in a foreign country. I liked our hotel in Muro Lucano (Hotel delle Colline, tel. 39-0976-2284, fax 39-0976-2192), a beautiful medium-sized hill town, but, though near the highway, it's way up a steep hill, so maybe not very convenient for you. I don't think Basilicata is such a likely place for a quickie one-night stop, but FYI Potenza is the largest city in the region and probably has the most hotels, though lacks the unspoiled charm of small remote towns. The most touristed places in Basilicata (where there are probably the most hotels) are Maratea, Metaponto and Matera, and Potenza is probably the busiest town. Maratea is beautiful, but it's a resort, and probably the hotels are very expensive and as heavily booked as Taormina Sicily during the "in" season. I've never been to Cosenza, which is in Calabria. When I was a teenager, I stayed one night in Paola, Calabria, with my parents. It was a medium-sized pretty town near the highway, and at the time (1963) there seemed to be no tourists except us, but I don't know how it is now. For names and #s of hotels in Basilicata, try the website www.basilicata.com. Click "alberghi" and then choose the province (Matera or Potenza) and then the particular town(s) you've IDd as maybes based on location. (The site is not entirely up to date re hotels, e.g., it listed a Hotel Croccia in Accettura that has been closed a few years.) If you find a SMALL town with a hotel, it will probably have vacancies unless there's an annual festa or some big wedding going on. However, a SMALL town is unlikely to be right along the highway.

Pauline, I never read the book you mentioned -- will look for it. Most of my reading re southern italy (e.g., Christ Stopped at Eboli, Fontamara) dates from my college days. I've been to a lot of the more "famous" parts of Italy, and lately I've become more interested in seeing the towns of my ancestry. Last year I stayed briefly in the little town in the Nebrodi Mts. (prov. of Messina) in Sicily where 1/2 my roots are. However, unlike many people who visit their ancestral villages, I'm really not that interested in genealogy -- more in the way of life, cooking, folkways, economy, dialect, crafts, history, farming, meeting people, etc.

Marly, I wrote you a whole long message but it didn’t post! I guess with answering the phone, talking to dogs, etc. I took too long. Very frustrating, but I’ll try again.

Brindisi di Montagna is , I think, a town with a lot of history of Albanian settlement. Might be interesting to learn about it

Although I always wanted to go there, I also thought that Basilicata might not be very appealing to the average person. I always knew more about the Sicilian half of my heritage. I imagined Basilicata to be as described in Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi. But the town in that book (really Aliano, called “Gagliano” in the book) was is an exceptionally dry, stark, infertile, desperately poor and neglected pocket of this mostly poor region. I was surprised how green most of the region was. Farming seems to be doing quite well. Obvoiusly, it was a very poor region, which is why there was such massive emigration. But I think it is now prospering a bit. However, unemployment is very bad, and educated young people generally leave the region to find work. The scenery is very beautiful – ANYONE would think so, not just people with ancestry there. The food is good—very robustly flavored “real” food using good and varied produce, and not at all fancy. The people are unbelievably hospitable and seem to really like Americans, maybe because so many of their distant relatives are Americans. (By that reasoning, I think they probably feel warmly toward people from USA, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, etc.). The area is not all commercially geared up for money-spending visitors, so it’s quite unspoiled.

Yes, the tour was to Basilicata ONLY. The woman who organized it is an American whose parents grew up in Basilicata. She loves the region and has a sentimental mission of getting people to respect it and appreciate it. The tour is less than perfect and polished, but it has other wonderful qualities that more than make up for it.

Yes, the tour is entirely in English. When we had guides at the various sites, they always spoke English. Sometimes they were regular official guides (in Matera and Venosa, e.g.), sometimes a local priest (e.g., in Aliano) and sometimes a young friend of the organizer/guide, who led us around his own town, demonstrated how to do genealogical searches, introduced us to his friends at a leisurely lunch. This same young man, who teaches folk dancing and organizes interregional and international cultural exchanges, also entertained us one evening with folk songs and explained their historical and folklore background, and another night taught us folk dances. Another day he invited us to yet another small town to see one ofh is costumed troupes of teenage folk dancers perform in the town square.

It is not necessary to know Italian to take the tour. Two of us (besides the guide/organizer) knew enough Italian to get along on our own if necessary, one person had taken a few months of private lessons before the trip, and the others seemed to know no Italian (or very little). We were all from the USA. I think other, non-USA, English speakers could also go on this tour, but without the air option, of course. In my opnion, it IS necessary to speak and understand Italian to travel independently in this region, outside of a very few major tourist sites. I did not notice ANY other English speaking tourists while I was there, so even those local people who studied English have little opportunity to practice it in real life, and I think many of the people who learn English end of moving out of the region to find work.

If you’d like info re the tour, please e-mail me directly. I hesitate to post specifics here, lest anyone view it as commercial promotion and hold it against the tour oganizer who never asked and doesn’t even know I’m posting anything here.

Marly, in the previous posting I forgot to reply re that website (www.basilicata.com). Yes it's all in Italian, except for the message board, which is called "guestbook" and which has messages posted in any language the poster feels like using, mostly Italian, English, Spanish and Portuguese. You may still get some use out of that website, though. On the home page, click on "Il Territorio" which will lead you to a table of geographic areas and topics. Click on the various options and you'll see a few pretty photos. i have other web addresses with photos of the region but I think all the words are in Italian. If you enter the guestbook (view) and scroll down you'll see some entries re the tour. Thst's where I heard about the tour. I also "met" another American on that site who'd taken the tour a previous year and with whom I have cousins in common.

Carol -

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful trip to Basilicata. It's an area I have planned on visiting but not yet done it. I appreciate your inspiration...

Dona

Carol,

Thank you so much for your generous reply. I did go to the message board on the Basilicata site once again, scrolled down, and found the name of the woman who runs the trips. I'm going to put myself on the mailing list to learn of future trips. One other question: would my fairly healthy mother who is in her eighties and walks slowly be able to handle this type of trip? I'm thinking of the hills and such, and how much walking is involved. Thank you again.

Dona, I hope you do go!

Marly, the walks are not long and, with very few exceptions, are not at all strenuous for an average middle aged person or an athletic elderly person, though they might be for an octogenarian. (There was just one short, somewhat strenuous walk to the top of castle ruins in Pietrapertosa, but only two of us opted to go. another walk, while not strenuous, involved clambering around paths broken in an earthquake and the footing was therefore pretty tricky. Only four of us chose to go on that walk.) All walks are optional, but some places (e.g., i sassi in Matera) can only be seen by walking. There's always the possibility of sitting on a bench somewhare, or having a cold drink at a cafe (or even sitting in the bus) while the others walk. A person who prefers not to walk could still soak up a little of the atmosphere of a town that way, and it might actually be very pleasant to do that sometimes. However, I have to point out that this is a rugged region and most of the towns are old HILL towns. (That's the beauty of it.) So even the shortest, slowest walk requires careful stepping on uneven surfaces and on streets that may be constructed right into the hill itself. This would be true no matter what tour you took to this area or if you traveled there independently. Sometimes because of travel time to/from the hotel, the time available to enjoy visiting a particular village or site may be quite limited. Therefore, while the group may walk slowly to see the sights, it could be a problem for the group if someone with EXTREME difficulty walking on rough hilly streets attempted to come along and had great difficulty keeping up even the slow group pace. So remember, waiting in a nice comfortable place, watching people, having a snack, taking pictures, or even napping is always an option and may be a nice way to experience a town.

I'd suggest also asking the tour organizer this question, as the tour is always being modified in response to percieved needs, and there may be new options available that I'm not aware of.

Dear Carol,
Thanks for your information on hotels in Basilica. I will keep searching. I am a little concerned about safety and reported road work along A3 south of Naples. Should I be? Thanks again.

Carol,

I enjoyed reading your post and all of the responses. I'm pretty excited about this area as I recently purchased a book called "Southern Italy" which is an Insight Guide that talks about this area, it's history, food, culture, etc.

Unfortunately I'll only be as far south as the Amalfi Coast this fall but I'd like to plan 2 more trips to Italy soon, one focusing on the southern end on one on the northern end. It seems there is SO MUCH to see it's overwhelming. I've never been to Europe and wonder if I'm just reacting this way because this will be our first time and our first country.

DJ, some of us are just always excited. It's mostly a good thing. That's how we can tell for sure we're not dead yet! When you do your southern Italy trip, don't forget Sicily. And yes there IS an enormous amount to see in Italy (and in most countries), and we'll never see it all.

Janice, I have no personal experience with driving south of Naples, and in fact on this trip I did not travel along the coast south of Naples. However, 29 years ago, when my firend and I were taking a public bus to some place along the Amalfi coast, the bus was unable to proceed at one point because of some huge construction site in the middle of the road that the bus co, apparently hadn't heard of (???!).

If anyone ins interested, an excellent book set in this region is the classic, Christ Stopped at Eboli, by Carlo Levi. It is the true story of Levi's "house arrest" there in 1935-36 for his opposition to Mussolini. Fasinating.

I agree that Christ Stopped at Eboli is very much worth reading. I read it in the 1960's, and it made such a strong impression on me that I was very pleasantly surprised when I visited the region last month that so much of the land in Lucania is so green and fertile --either productive farmland or lush woods-- and though still quite poor and underappreciated, the region is not DESPERATELY poor or TOTALLY neglected. The town called "Gagliano" in the book is Aliano in real life. It is set in a strange landscape of dry, infertile, clay(?) cliffs. If you visit there you can see some of the houses mentioned in the book and can see paintings by Levi of some of the real characters in the book. Also, I was very interested in some of the discussionms of the local dialect (see p. 209 and 186 of book), especially re the words for layers of tomorrow. I learned during my visit to the region about a month ago that these unusual dialect words are still used in everyday speech in some nearby towns (e.g., Cirigliano and Accettura). They're probably still used in Aliano, too, but I didn't happen to get a chance to ask anyone.

If you'd like to get some idea what Basilicata looks like, you can see a few of my photos on the part of Sally Fowler's website for Fodorite photos:
http://geocities.com/dhfsbf/fodorite/fodor.htm

There are very recent photos from the following places in Basilicata (Lucania): Muro Lucano, Pietrapertosa, Accettura, and Potenza. (The other pictures of mine are from Sicily last year.)

still shamelessly topping

(At least I admit it!)

Carol,
Thanks for directing me to this site. Sounds like a listing of people that Luisa would be interested in reading about.

Mauro

In case anyone's interested, I think you can send away for free tourist info about this region and its attractions by writing to this e-mail address:
APT@powernet.it (This is the tourism promotion ofice for Basilicata.) Some of the free guidebooks are very good, with beautiful photos. (Some of the materials are available in English, French, German, Greek, etc., but I'm not sure whether the people reading the e-mail inquiries will necessarily be multilingual.)

Carol,

Thanks again for this newest bit of information. I keep an eye out each day for any new posts from you. Loved your photos.

Thanks, Marly. As much as I'd love to attract some attention to this beautiful and forgotten region, I'm going to run out of new things to say if someone else doesn't start asking questions or adding comments.

Why can't I find this thread when I do a simple search for either "lucania" or "basilicata"? Even the search function is neglecting this underappreciated region!

It's "Dances with Luigi"by Paul Paolicelli, I'm in the middle of it. It's wonderful in 2 ways for me, His adventures in Italy and he's from my hometown , Pittsburgh and mentins so many things I remember. A real delight and makes you want to do what he did.

I'm curious about those of us who are interested in the Basilicata region, since it doesn't seem to draw many tourists (at least not yet). Do you have grandparents or other relatives who migrated to the U.S. in the late 1800's to the early 1900's who came from that region? My grandmother arrived at Ellis Island in 1905. She was only nineteen, and was leaving her homeland and much of her family forever. She told me many stories of her poverty-stricken life in Brindisi di Montagna, and I regret that I didn't ask more questions. I might be wrong, but I think that most of the immigrants from the Basilicata region settled in the eastern U.S. My grandmother eventually moved to eastern Pennsylvania, where I grew up. Are there any good stories that some of you would like to share?

My grandmother came to NYC as a teenager from the little town of Accettura in the province of Matera (in the Basilicata region) in the early years of the 20th century. She married another immigrant from the Calabria region. Neither of my grandparents told me much about the places where they had grown up. My grandmother sometimes sang songs or recited sayings she'd learned as a child, and her wonderful cooking and skillful needlework certainly reflected the culture of her childhood, as did the grape vine and the back and white figs trees in the tiny back yard. So what I learned about Lucania was mostly non-verbal. Though my Sicilian grandparents were never alive during my lifetime, I had far more solid knowledge about Sicily, from my father, who grew up there. I had such a great time visiting "my" little town in Sicily last year that I was determined to visit Basilicata as well. I was very fortunate to find a tour that went there, since I'm afraid to drive alone in the mountains in a foreign country, and it would've been difficult to visit more than just a few towns in the region if I had to rely on infrequent bus and train service, usually beginning and ending in Potenza.

I think many emigrants also settled in suth america, particularly Argentina but also brazil and some other countries. I know that relatives of mine from both Sicily and Basilicata settled in Argentina around the time that my grandparents came to the USA. I also notice on the "guestbook" of the www.basilicata.com website that there are a lot of postings from Argentinians,and to a lesser extent, from Brazilians, who are exploring their ancestry or interested in visitng the region that their ancestors came from.

Continuing the above….

Some of the Lucanian immigrants to the USA may have migrated to this country indirectly, after first living a while in some other American countries. This may have been because of the USA’s quota laws. The % limits did not apply to Latin Americans, so Italians might’ve circumvented the quotas by first going to another country, e.g., Argentina, and then attempting the move to the USA. Of course many also remained permanently in Latin America.

A major cause of the biggest waves of emigration from Lucania was, I think, the system of land ownership and economic exploitation there, as in other parts of southern Italy at the turn of the century. Estates were owned by absentee landlords who lived far away. A lot of them were very political, controlled the peasants’ votes, and influenced taxation and legislation in favor of their own interests. Many of them sided with northern politicians to promote industry in the north, in exchange for leaving the south’s medieval-like economy (which benefited them) untouched by reform. The absentee landlords rented their land to intermediaries, who sublet it to peasants to cultivate, under contract terms that were unfavorable to the peasants. The intermediaries were out to make a profit, so they favored land use practices that exhausted what little fertility the land had, with no concern for conservation or improvement.

Calling Marly....

to the top

Hello again,

I'm posting this info because i got some e-mails asking me for contact info re the tour I took and for info on other tours.

For info on the tour I took and enjoyed in May-June 2001, and which is being offered in Oct. 2001 and May 2002, write to the organizer at this address: luisa@fnol.net. Or look up this website: www.unexploredworldtours.com

I know of one other company that offers tours in Basilicata, but they are much more specialized and cover a small portion of the southern part of Basilicata. The company is ATG-Oxford, a British walking tour company which I've heard is outstanding. However, I haven't taken one of their tours yet. ATG's website is: www.alternative-travel.co.uk/ ATG offers the following tours to Lucania:

Southern Lucano Trail (Journeys series)
May, June, Sept, Oct
11 days- $2395
mainly hiking in Pollino national park in southern Lucania near Calabria

Southern Lucano Trail (Week Away series)
June, July, Aug
8 days- $1110
I think this is an "economy" version of the "Journeys" trip

Mushrooms of the Lucano (Walking And series)
Oct.
8 days $1760
walking, mushroom hunting, cooking

Thank you for your interesting and enlightening report. I had thought this to be an almost invisible and desperately poor area. You have opened my eyes.

My husbands great grandmother Lucia Lacovara was born in Accetura and moved to Cirigliano as a young child.

We hope to visit someday.

Would like to find a tour that would allow us time in both those places.

Elizabeth, it is very unlikely (impossible maybe???) that you'll find a tour that actually goes to both Cirigliano and Accettura. They are not "important" towns.

The tour I took, as far as I know the only American tour to Basilicata, went to the tiny town of Cirigliano so we could have a glimpse of a traditional "dying" town, which we could then compare with Pignola, a larger small town near Potenza, where we had lunch with a group of young educated men who explained their various projects: organizing interregional and international folkdance and folkmusic exchanges, promoting computer use in Lucania, developing educational shows re Lucanian history, etc. Pignola is not "dying" because its educated young are remaining and many people are able to commute to jobs in Potenza. In Cirigliano, which is in a more remote mountainous area, there is no hope of much work, so one day it will probably be a ghost town. The tour's itinerary changes somewhat with the seasons and through trial and error, and I guess it's possible that some day the May tour may visit Accettura in order to include the festa, which is quite unusual.

There are also Italian tours (i.e. for italian tourists) that go to Accettura for the festa, and if your Italian is fluent enough you might try hooking up with one of those tours from some city in Italy. When I was in Accettura I saw two busloads of Italian daytrippers. I did not ask them what part of Italy they were from. (I did, however, talk to independent Italian tourists traveling solo and staying the the hotel, who were visiting Accettura to see the famous pagan festa. They were from the Emiglia Romagnna region, and from Bernalda, which is in Basilicata near Metaponto.)

Anyway, I think it's highly unlikely that you'll find a tour that goes to "your" two towns; there are just so many little towns (and so few tours!). However, it is very easy to find people to give you a ride to the little towns that interest you if you want to skip a day of the scheduled tour or simply remain in the region a few days after the tour is over, as I did.

I, too, have roots in Basilicata, in the towns of Tito and Picerno. In 1999 I took a trip there with 2 cousins, and kept a little journal of the trip. It was an incredible journey, and I returned again for Easter 2000. The journal is online at http://www.comunesofitaly.org/Stories/Grace.htm if anyone is interested in reading it. Pages 9, 10, and 11 are from Basilicata. The rest of the southern portion of the trip was through Bari Province and the Amalfi Coast/Sorrento. As long as I live, I will never forget the astonihing beauty of Basilicata - the incredible views from those mountaintops are indelibly etched in my brain.

Grace, thank you for the link to the website where your trip reports are saved. I enjoyed your spirited account of your experiences. I'm starting to feel like travelers to Lucania are a special breed: what we lack in numbers we make up for in enthusiasm and loyalty to the region.
Carol

I'm another with roots in Basilicata. I have been there twice once on a tour. During this tour I visited both of home towns of my mother, (Accettura) and my paternal grandfather, (San Mauro Forte). We even stopped in Cirigliano. Spent about a half of a day in each place. Not enough time...But enough to know I wanted to go back. The following year I went back with my sons and nephew. We drove from Napoli to Accettua. We stayed at their one and only hotel. There were two major highlights of or trip. In Accettura We met with the parish priest, who I had met the previous year. Since I was into genealogy I had written him to research my ancestors. I told him our day of arrival and the information I was looking for. He had the same surname as my mother but he did not know if we were related but assumed we were. Well when I arrived he had gotton so engrossed in the research documents that he so engrossed in his documents, went back to 1692. He researched back to my great great great grandfather. Well, my ggggrandfather was also his. We were 4th cousins. I have most of this on video. The next day we went to San Mauro Forte. Here We had relative of a relative act as our tour guide. He brought us to our familys "Cantina". has a little boy watching my father and his paesani make wine in the basement of our home. They would mention the "Cantina" back home. Well I could never imagine what it looked like. Now I was being brought to see it. What I found was a very large cave in the side of the mountain. There was a cobblestone road in front of it as well as a stone barrier between the catina and the side of the road. This was to keep the car from going over the side of the mountain into the valley below. The road had many other caves/catinas along the way, each one with it's own door and padlock. The cantina was about the size of tunnel for one subway car in NYC.
Inside was the place they made their wine, cheese, dried their peppers, and placed their, before refrigerators. There was an overhead beam with the year 1804 carved into it.
As well as my father's initial. WOW...this place was in our family for over 200 years. The aroma of the place brought me back to our basement in Corona, Queens....Now understood who they were...and who I am.
If are like me and have wondered about your roots. Go and visit...and have the time of your life.

I just want to let you know that while most of us posting about trips to Lucania have some roots in this region, it is a truly scenic area, rich in history and traditions, that would be likely to appeal to anyone with real interest in unspoiled areas of Europe or the Mediterranean, especially Italy. More than half of the people on my tour had no Lucanian ancestry at all and they also seemed to fall in love with the region.

Here's an internet dialogue site for Qs & As and discussions and stories about Basilicata, especially all aspects of its culture, and, of course, travel:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Basilicata_culture

You need to get youself a Yahoo ID and password in order to use it.

Correction: Apparently some people are able to use the above group site without getting a yahoo ID, if I "invited" them directly by some process that I don't quite understand. I KNOW you can access it if you join it and use a Yahoo ID, and I think if you go there on your own, without some computerized "invitation" you will need to get a Yahoo ID (not hard, and free).

“Il Maggio,” also called “la festa di Sangiuliano,” is an ancient agrarian festival of pagan origins. It was originally a peasant tree-cult ceremony, which, over the years, was joined by workers and students from the town.

Much later this archaic tree spring tree festival became combined with a traditional patron saint celebration that took place at roughly the same time. The actual saint’s day festival takes place on the fifty first day after Easter (Tuesday). Therefore, “il maggio” does not always take place in May, despite its name.

First, an oak tree and a holly tree are selected and cut from the woods around Accettura. On Sunday, men carry the holly to town, while the oak is dragged by 50 pairs of oxen, working in relay. Waiting for the procession of oxen becomes part of the festivities: crowds of people from town and country line the rural wooded route to town to watch the oxen pass, folk musicians entertain, and farmers share their food with passing visitors.

Once the oak arrives in town early on Sunday evening, there’s a lot of raucous celebration. Then on Monday men begin their work on the trees and on the simple, but skillfully engineered, tools that will eventually lift the “maggio” securely into its traditional spot. Young, old, and middle-aged men work together, the novices and the relatively unskilled led and trained by the experienced and the acknowledged experts. If necessary, they repair or replace the wooden pulley post and the hand-made wooden wheel that will operate the pulleys that raise the “maggio” on Tuesday. Using traditional wood-joining techniques, the men join the oak and the holly in a “marriage” that, according to the ancient tree cult, was intended to ensure a good growing season.

On Tuesday, the “maggio” (the two trees, now united as one) is dragged into position, then dragged down toward the pulley post, and using a wheel, pulley and guide ropes, it is partly raised into position into its pre-dug spot in the concrete. This spot is surrounded by stone and concrete bleachers, just below one of the town squares. Later in the day, the holiday suddenly turns into a fairly traditional small-town Catholic saint’s festival, as a statue of San Giuliano is carried around town, followed by a crowd demonstrating religious devotion. At the moment when San Giuliano arrives in the square above the site where the “maggio” is securely held in a strange diagonal position, the “maggio” is raised to its full erect position. At that moment this festa combines the pagan and Christian elements.

Later in the day there are contests centering on the tree. In years past, live game animals used to be hung from the top of the tree where “hunters” shot at them. Today this is no longer allowed! Instead shooters aim at small painted metal tags symbolizing various animals. After the shooting, athletes and daredevils climb the “maggio” and retrieve any metal tags that remain. Each colored tag is linked to a specific prize, e.g., a chicken, a bottle of liquor.

Every day of the festa the main street in the new part of town is lined with vendors’ stands. Marching bands and small groups of folk musicians play throughout the day, and there’s a concert every night. On the last night there are fireworks. Emigrants who work elsewhere often return to their hometown for the festa, and there are also tourists from other parts of Italy. However, I did not notice any other foreign tourists during the four days I was in the town and did not hear any foreign languages spoken at all.

topping for Jenny who has a question about travel in the heel and toe of Italy

Basilicata is the arch of the foot.

Shamelessly topping AGAIN, for that group of people who just heard about Basilicata for the first time today at out GTG.

CMT,

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed your site and the pictures of Basilicata. It really makes one want to go there and we will seriously be cinsidering it for 2002 trip. After reading 'dancing with Luigi" i developed a great interest in this aea even though I have no roots there

JD, If you do go, you will have a chance to see a lovely scenic area, with a culture that has not yet lost all of its old traditions. You probably won't hear any English spoken except by the people you happen to travel with.

You might be interested in the free guidegooks I mentioned in one of the previous threads. If you would like one and need help ordering it from the tourism office by e-mail, let me know.

when is Il Maggio held ?

It's usually in May. This year it started June 2. it starts on a Sat. with cutting the two trees, Sunday the trees are carried to town (the oak dragged by 50 pairs of ozen), Mon. the trees are worked on, and Tues. the joined trees are raised and that's the official saint's day. La festa di San Giuliano is the 51st day after Easter, and it coincides with the last day of the 4-day festa del maggio. (The most interesting day to see is definitely Sunday when 100 oxen drag the tree to town form the woods and everyone comes out to watch.)

I may have posted a full, long description of the entire festa in one of the previous posts. I'll check, and if not, I'll post it now.

Dem, see post on Aug. 21 at 9:33.

I realize this area is basically an unspoiled small rural town, but does it have the modern "niceties" of a big city like Rome such as buses, trains, shopping and hotels?

Maryann: Basilicata is one of the regions of Italy. It's not just a town. It has only two provinces: Potenza and Matera. The two provincial capitals are the only large cities in the region, but even they are not very large, and are as different from Rome as Trenton is from NYC (but much much much nicer than Trenton). Both Matera and Potenza have good shopping, public transportation to other parts of the region, hotels and plenty of restaurants. There is some public transportation throughout much of Basilicata, but it is not easy getting from place to place by train or bus. In most cases, it's necessary to go to Potenza to take a bus that goes elsewhere, and service might be very infrequent. Many small towns have their own little hotel, sometimes more than one, and every place has SOME good place where a stranger can eat. The restaurants, for the most part, serve excellent food, made with fresh local produce and seasoned in a very tasty way. At its best it is a high quality version of good, robust peasant food. The hotels are fine. Even in Accettura, which is just a little "unimportant" town, I was surprised that the hotel was very comfortable, with good bedding, excellent plumbing, and a good restaurant. So yes, at the moment, except for public transportation, which is too limited to be practical, the region has all the amenities that the average traveler needs, and at the same time, it still has a very traditional feel about it and some really remote areas where the old ways are still practiced.

Just a reminder that some of Carol's photos are on the unofficial "fodorite" page. Go to http://traveurope.net/fodorite/fodor.htm and click on pictures

ttt

Topping for mar...

Joanne, there are some other books mentioned here, and also a few others topics that might interest you.

Carol: I had read parts of this thread previously because of our interest in Basilicata, but have now bookmarked it for future reference. Will check out the books when I have some time to really enjoy it!

Thanks again.

j

topping for year 2002

Some people who e-mailed me seemed very much interested in the pagan tree festival that I saw last May. It is possible that a revised version of the tour I took last year, which will probably be repeated this May, will include the festa del maggio in Accettura. Some of you who are not totally opposed to tours may want to consider it. However, the itinerary isn't definite yet.

ttt

topping

Just thought I'd add a little to this dialogue about the forgotten but beautiful Southern Italy region. I went with my mother, her sister and husband, a brother and a cousin in 1997 to discover our roots. My grandfather was from San Giovanni di Gerace in Calabria. (My grandmother was from Brusciano outside of Naples, which we also visited, a sad area now.) We met up with a distant cousin from the neighboring and larger Gerace, and he was our "guide" for a couple of days. We stayed in Siderno, located on the gorgeous Ionian Sea, and could see the acropolis of Gerace in the evenings. It was a fascinating trip, no official tour needed. We did our own exploring. We also found the people of this region to be exceedingly helpful and friendly, wanting desperately to promote their area which was "stinking" with Greek ruins, as my aunt liked to put it. And beautiful.

There is more information about this familial trip on a website my brother created at www.traveljack.net. He felt compelled to actually write a book about our journey, and it's a pretty fascinating(and well-written) account of the feelings Italy conjured up for him. Unfortunately it's not all posted on the site, but you can email him from it if you're interested.

He went again a year or two later and got deeper into the region, wrote another account, but has yet to post it.

But, as Carol says, GO!! It's a real "feel" for the country you will be left with, visiting this long, but no longer, neglected part of Italy. I cannot wait to go back someday.

I love Italy.

ttt

topping for Gigi

Shamelessly topping again, because I would like people to know about this underappreciated area. There will be a tour going there again this May. If anyone is interested, I can pass the info along to you. It's a little different from the tour I took last year (in some ways improved, e.g., Metaponto added to the itinerary), but in most ways pretty similar.

I think the person mentioned in Jan's post above wrote an article for the latest issue of Italy with Us, the internet newsletter about Italy.

Topping for Ino who wants to go to the south

Thank you Topper. What a great post!!!!

For Ursis, who asked about Calabria, where I have NOT been: you may find that some of the people who posted on this thread mentioned visiting Calabria as well, so maybe you'll find some people whom you can contact.

Has anyone been to this part of Italy recently?

Carol, thanks for your committed posts about Basilicata; I've just discovered them. I'll be going to a meeting in Maratea in early July. Alas, I don't speak Italian, but I'd love to use some of my free time to explore more of the region. Any local guides? Suggested itineraries? Sorry to miss the recent festas [I'm an anthropologist], but am interested in all things cultural. Thanks!

Deborah: I replied by e-mail in more detail. Maratea is possibly the most touristy spot in Basilicata. There should be many Italian and foreign vacationers there in summer. I'd guess that there will probazbly be tours, drivers for hire, and othe services that toruists tend to want. If you have time to go to the more areas of the region, you may find that you're the only foreigner around for miles. as I said in my e-mail, you might want to access thre Yahoo Basilicata culture group site and look up the list of links to websites that I listed under the "bookmarks" file. You can also read the old messages and possibly e-mail some of the posteers who sound like they might have helpful info for you.

Deborah;
You're posting mentioned that you'll be in Matera in early July
Hopefully, you will be there on July 2nd for the Festa de Bruna
Sagra di Santa Bruna a most strange
and unforgettable Festa.
See my posting from last June

Tony, alas I won't arrive till July 8! I enjoyed, and envied, your earlier post. Next time I'll have to check the saint's day calendar first!

here it is--topping for the person interested in Basilcata, Apulia and Calabria

Deborah, I didn't realize you would be going to Matera as well as Maratea. You don't plan to do it as a day trip from Maratea, do you? (Or do you?) I was there for only part of a day on a tour, but felt it was worth a lot more time and attention.

topping for mid summer

Yes, that was my brother mentioned in an April post who has now had 2 articles on the "Italy with Us" website. Definitely worth your time to check out if you're interested in this region. His name is Jack Renshaw. Check it out. And go to Calabria! You'll never regret it.

Dear Carol & others:

Thank you for your info on Basilicata. I too have grandparents from that region: the town of Moliterno in Potenza. There is very little information here in the US, but a few years back the APT in Potenza sent me tons of touring booklet, maps etc. I am taking the plunge this October and taking my 80 year old mother to Moliterno. So we are really excited!!! We are starting in Venice and working our way south, so wish luck!!

I have an article about Basilicata coming up in the September issue of Italy With Us.

A lovely gentleman from the US writes about his visits to the area to discover the places his grandparents grew up in.

I have also been persuading the tourist office in the region to give me more information about events there to put into the events section of the IWU site.

They do have a great site which gives good information about every town in English:
http://www.aptbasilicata.it/modules.php?name=comuni

Basilicata:topping

Oooh, sounds wonderful, Carol. Thank you for the tip!

For once, a place that's completely off-the-beaten track. : )

Carol--your joy in travelling in Basilicata is infectious--we are going
in Oct.and going on to Apulia--cannot wait

Your trip to Basilicata sounds great! I have to confess I had no prior knowledge of this part of Italy before reading your posts. I have a trip that I am planning for April 5-12, 2003 and I don't have a location yet. The festas you all describe sound wonderful. How can I find out if there are any local fesivals happening in April??

Another trip planned for October, I see with the link on "your" website, Carol...

http://www.unexploredworldtours.com/basilicatatour.htm

Is this your company?

To Mel:

Check the previous post -- about 4 or 5 up for the aptbasilicata.it web site. They have lots of info and events listed for all the towns.

To Bill:

No, I don't think Carol is involved with that tour company--she did take one of their tours to the area. I'm on their mailing list and the October tour has been cancelled due to lack of interest. But hopefully there will be something in 2003.

Let's hope Rick Steves doesn't "discover" this area, it will be ruined!

Regards, Michelle

topping

Hey, I just saw another Connolly! Kate?? Hello!!

Just checking. This thread is not coming up under a search for "Basilicata." Indexing glitch?

Will be leaving this Wednesday for Italy and Basilicata is on our agenda. Will let you know how it goes!!!

Has anyone been there recently? If you went alone, how did you find driving to samll hilltop towns on rugged mountain roads? If with a tour, what company?

In answer to a previous post, no, I'm not involved with ANY tour company, but I did take a tour to Basilicata as I described, and I think the tour will be offered again next May. I am not aware of too many tours to the region. Besides the one that I took, there is a hiking tour in Pollino park/nature preserve in southern Basilicata that is offered by a British tour company, ATG-Oxford, which has a very good reputation. I've heard that this Pollino tour is beautiful but extremely strenuous. There used to be a short (5 days, I think) tour mainly to Puglia, which also went to one or two places in Basilicata, but it doesn't seem to be offered for 2003. It was offered by Italian Connection, a company based in Canada, which gives OUTSTANDING, very intelligently planned small-group tours in Sicily (I just took one and spoke to people who've taken others). (And no, that's not my company either--I'm not in the travel business at all, unfortunately, and must just scrape by on my limited vacation days each year.)

Hi Carol - Ben tornata!

I hope you had a wonderful time in Sicily. I see Etna's still spitting fire this morning. Did you see it?

Yes, I had a great time. I was on my own for a week, then took an excellent 7-person tour for the second week. I managed to get to "my" town again and spent two nights at an agriturismo on the outskirts of the little mountain town in the Nebrodi Mts. where half my ancestors lived. The variety (in terms of history, geography, types of towns and accommodations, cooking styles, varying sounds of the dialect, even climate) I experienced in just two weeks on a single island was incredible. I thought November might not be such a great time to visit, but I got there just in time to see the olive harvest in several places and also saw two olive mills in action, where waiting for the family's or the farm's oil is quite an "event." Will e-mail later.

In October, my mother, sister and I rented a car in Salerno, spent one night near Paestum, then headed to Basilicata to find our roots. My mother's parents came from a small town in Potenza called Moliterno. I had an excellent map from the Basilicata tourist board which shows every village, road and donkey trail. However, we still screwed up and missed our exit off the Autostrada. So I decided to take the next exit, down about 10 miles and take a yellow(smaller)road to Moliterno. It probably added an extra 45 minutes to our trek. The road winded through the rugged hills and was basically one lane. It was in fair shape with washed out areas. We stopped a shepard with his sheep and goats and got an idea that we still had a long way to go.

We finally reached Moliterno. It was a real thrill for my mother to see the town she had always heard so much about from her mother. Mom is 81 and her parents left there in 1913, never to return.

We found a hotel, wandered and drove up to the old town. There is a ruin of a Norman castle plus the old churches dating to the 1600s and 1700s. We asked about our relatives, but everyone we spoke to had only lived in the town less than 5 years. Finally, at the cemetary, we asked two old ladies in black if they knew our family. We had to use the family nickname, Famiglia de Sette and Amaride(?) for them to figure it out. Sure enough, they knew my grandmothers neices and nephews.

To make a long story short. We met our cousins the next day and had lunch with them. They own the butcher shop so we had great sausage. They could not believe an American, my mother, could speak their dialect, Moliternese. We said out good byes and hope to keep in touch.

As far as the driving, on the way back to Salerno we used the "red"(bigger)road on the map. Much better and quicker. I think it would have been hard to do this by myself. My sister drove and I navigated. I hope we can do it again an spend more time in the area. We barely got an intro to the region.

Michelle

Topping!!!!!!

Michelle, I'm glad you were able to get a quick taste of this region including your ancestors' town. I also thought that some of the materials given out free by the Basilicata tourist office were excellent. I just looked up Moliterno on my Italy map. It looks like it is fairly near some lakes that looked very beautiful and unspoiled as I was passing through. I'm very surprised that you found all those people who'd only lived in Moliterno a few years. I didn't think people usually moved TO these towns. so many move away to the large cities, especially in the north, or other countries. Is there some inmdustry in the town that is making the town a magnet for newcomers seeking jobs?

Dear Carol:

Moliterno is somewhat of a summer vacation resort. They have a very large sports center. I believe it is cooler there in the summer, thus the vacation draw. One man had moved there from Calabria and ran a cell phone and computer store. The others were running the newest and largest hotel in town. They were from either Calabria or Naples. We were able to gather that the old time locals, like our cousins, thought this new hotel was not good and had lousy food. The town is also a business center: banks, shopping, etc. for the smaller villages nearby.

I hope we can make another trip some day.

Michelle

That's interesting. while the town may lose some of its traditional look, at least it may survive economically, and it will be a very good thing if there's enough different kinds of work in town so that many people can stay and make a living there. some of the old towns remain very pretty and traditional in appearance, but there's nothing to keep people there, and they are becoming ghost towns.

Here it is, but does anyone know why this doesn't come up in a search for Basilicata?

Since this thread still hasn't been indexed by Fodors, I will top it now and then.

This is still not indexed.

It would be nice if Fodors would index this thread so that it can be retrieved via a word search for "Basilicata" or "Lucania."
This is a beautiful, rugged, relatively unspoiled part of Italy where many of the old folkways and ancient celebrations are still very much alive. it's probably not a destination for a first or second or even third trip to Italy, but people who have seem many of the more famous spots in Italy might find a trip to this less known region very rewarding.
That's why I am topping this thread now and then, and I see that others are also helping me by topping it occasionally. It seems that quite a few of the people who have traveled to Basilicata or who are considering going there have posted on this thread, so it may be a helpful one, if only it would come up in a normal search for the name of the region.

Still not indexed and no one can find this via normal search.

I stumbled upon this thread and wanted to refresh it. What a hidden gem!

ttt

Carol,

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34544628 in reference to the appearance of a book on Basilicata in today's www.nytimes.com

Or just go directly to http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/books/review/05TRAVELR.html?pagewanted=3

Thanks for alerting me regarding the book. I didn't read at the book section yet this weekend, but I'll look for the book about Basilicata.

Has anyone else gone to this region recently?

This thread was lost to the indexing system for a long time, so I reposted almost the entire thread. The new thread was findable via search for the term "Basilicata." Now the new thread has also fallen out of the indexing system and doesn't turn up in a search. Does anyone have the link?

Here it is: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34401476

Well, carol... even with the search "engine" newly "fixed"... this beloved thread of yours STILL cannot be retrieved by searching "Basilicata"...

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose!

There is a book called Seasons In Basilicata by David Yeadon who is a travel writer. He and his wife lived in the region for a year. My husband started it, I stole it, then my daughter stole it from me. It is richly written and embraces the people as well as the countryside. It is a slow read. I intend to steal it back before our trip next month!
Yolanda

See http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34701022

Hi everyone
We just returned from a too short trip to many locations in Italy including Basilicata.
We stayed just outside the town of Montemurro where my grandmother was from and also visited for a day trip San Chirico Reparo where my grandfather was born.
The people were welcoming although quite surprized to see Americans.We made several efforts to reach relatives but we did not get to meet them after all. But we have made contact and now have emails along with good memories of our host and his friendliness. I feel we could go back again and have friends to drop in on!
The countryside has changed little from my 20 yr memories but there is more growth in the town of Montemurro. San Chirico remains the same with steep stone winding stairs throughout the village and a piazza at the bottom where eveyone shows up for vino or caffe.
Our 3 teenaged children came away with quite a new way of seeing their ancestors and the rugged lives they led in a community where everyone knows everyone else. It was good and grounding. I'd go back again in a heartbeat.

Dear Yolanda:

Thank you for the update on your trip. Please post a full trip report when you get the chance.

MY

Lanz: That was such a special experience for your teenaged children--just the right age to appreciate this. I think Montemurro was the twon where one of the people in my mall group was dropped off and met by his cousins. I think I remember that we passed a very beautiful lake on the way to the town, not too far from it. I didn't see a single person on or near the lake, which looked like the sort of place that would ordinarily be a major tourist atraction if it were in a better known region.

I will get around to a longer report. Suddenly we are home and it is Christmas time!
My son is setting up a photo account and some of the photos are beautiful I must say!
Carol...I remember that lake as we had to drive by it to get from Montemurro to San Chirico. My husband thinks it is a reservoir (a lake behind a huge dam). So it is probably not used for a swimming area. But very big and lovely, and would be nice to sit and have a picnic at in the summer. I have a photo of me from our honeymoon washing my hair at a water trough with a sprout just across from that dam. (We were camping) Wow was it cold! Thank God it was June!
The kids really loved the twisting winding STEEP stairs in San Chirico and the little grandma who smiled and nodded and mentioned the weather change. (A cold snap)And also the nice young woman who let us eat our picnic lunch at the Jolly Cafe(in the piazza) table and brought us good vino for very little cost. We fed a couple stray cats our leftover cheese and enjoyed an exchange with a middle aged lady about how wonderful and lovely felines are. My oldest(19) fell in love with a young man's blue jeans (they had a red zipper)and I think he really enjoyed the attention...it was a charming place with lots of different types of folk of all ages and we wished we could stay a bit longer. The views from the top were amazing. We also filled our water bottles with ice cold delicious water from a beautiful stone and bronze fountain which was one of several lining the winding streets.
All for now. More later...

Carol:

We will be spending a week beginning of July in Campania. We'd then llike to stop in Basilicata before we head down to Sicily and fly out of Palermo. Any suggestions of where we could stay for 2 days around the 8-9 of July that would be great with our three kids (ages 13, 11, 10 -- they love sight seeing as long as we can stop for a nice meal and some gelati..ha!). Thanks!!

Hello Carol,
I came across your entry and decided to register.I am planning a trip to the Basilicata/Puglia region. I'm interested in an escorted tour and any information you might have.
Thank you

Dear mhead:

Here is an e-mail address:

luisa@fnol.net

Several years back, Luisa had tours to Basilicata. I am not sure if you will get any info, but it may help.

Good luck,

MY

Thank you. I just e-mailed and will get back to you.

Hello Michelle,
That e-mail came back as undeliverable.

Thank you,
mhead

I just happened to do a search for threads that I've posted on as "cmt" and was very surprised to find activity on this thread. This thread was somehow "lost" years ago and wasn't coming up in searches for any of the key words in the Fodors search box, so I don't know how you found it. But anyway, if you're trying to contact Luisa Potenza, try this address: lupot11796@aol.com I don't know whether it's is a still a good address, but I think it is. I don't know whether she has a tour this year.

Other tour providers that have tours that include a small portion of Basilicata:
Italian Connection (Puglia tour includes Metera, which is in Basilicata)
ATG-Oxford (hiking in Pollino park, which straddles Basilicata and Calabria)
There may be other tours that focus on Puglia but also go to Matera in Basilicata, but I don't remember them at the moment.

In the post above, I obviously meant Matera (not "Metera").