cmt

I don't remember whether I posted somewhere above theat there are many Basilicata photos posted on the following site.

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

Most are mine, but there are also othr people's photos there.

cmt

For anyone who's interested: The weekend coming up will be the one for the festa del maggio in the town of Accettura in the region of Basilicata. (It is always seven weeks after Easter.) I described this festival earlier in this thread as a traditional celebration with very strong elements of ancient pagan tree worship. The celebration ends next Tuesday (June 10) will be the actual patron saint's day, la festa di San Giuliano. So if you're a real jet setter who can travel on short notice and you have an interest in traditional folkways, Accettura is the place to go next weekend!

MichelleY

Dear CMT:

I recently got an e-mail from Luisa: they are trying to plan a trip to Basilicata in September. Hopefully they can get this one filled up. Not a great time of year for us on the farm!!

MichelleY

cmt

Michelle: I hope her tour does go this time, too. I'd had to see the region overrun by huge groups and ruined by too much commercialism, but it would be nice if it could have the economic benefit of SOME tourism. Many people--not just ones with roots in the region--would love the small traditional towns and the rugged landscape and the pageantry of the festivals.

cmt

Today is the big last day of the festa del maggio in Accettura, when the pagan and Christian elements of the festival meet. (since description of the festival earlier in this thread for details of what happens each day, if interested.) Actually, since it's 3:30 p.m. there now, I guess it has already happened.

Michelle: I heard that the next tour may be in October.

I'm curious whether anyone is aware of any other English-speaking tours of Basilicata besides the one I took and tht Michelle has been mentioning. I am aware of two Basilicata tours offered by ATG (Alternative Travel Group)-Oxford, a British walking tour company. One is a hiking tour in the Pollino park, and the other is a hiking and mushroon hunting tour in an area of Basilicata. I've never taken a tour with ATG, but I've heard from someone who has taken several that the Pollino trip is wonderful and beautiful, but extremely strenuous (difficult hiking and at high altitudes besides). There used to be a very small group tour mainly in Puglia, which also went to a little bit of Basilicata, which was offered by Italian Connection, a small company owned by an American (USA) and an Italian. (This is VERY good company--I took a Sicily tour with them.) But the publia/Basilicata tour is not listed among the offerings in their current catalogue, although I know that Italian Connection does do custom tours. I did a search on Google and found several Italian-speaking tours in Basilicata. For people who are not daring drivers, and who do not want to miss little hill towns perched high up on the rocks like Pietrapertosa, tours are a good option.

cmt

I thought it might be a good time to top this thread.

russ_i

Thanks Carol! I've been to 17 other regions in Italy, but not Basilicata or Calabria. Planning my first trip to both for next May. I remembered this thread but was having difficulty finding it. Apprecicate all your original info and your recent cut and paste effort.

cmt

That sounds like a great plan. I haven't been to Calabria (except passing through, with one night in Paola, when I was 16) and would love to go. If you are going to be in Basilicata in the 7th week after Easter (don' know when it falls in 2004), you should try to go to Acccettura to see the festa del maggio.

cmt

Here are some photos of the 2003 festa del maggio: http://www.sangiuliano-accettura.org/foto2003/index.htm

cmt

Russ: I think it will take place at the end of May next year. Maybe you can see it. May 29 should be the cutting of the trees. Sunday, May 30 should be when the men drag the holly to town and the 50 pairs of oxen, in relay, drag the oak all the way from the forest to the town, with crowds watching and eating and musicians playing music all day along the path. If I'm right about the dates, then May 31 the townspeople will work on the trees, peeling them, carving them to join them together, hooking up the ropes, and Tusday, June should be the saint's day (SanGiuliano) when there is a procession with the saint, and just when the saint statue arrives in the square, the joined trees, now one (married) are raised to an upright postion with pulleys. Then after that there are contests: climbing the pole, shooting at targets in the tree for prizes (in the old days they were live game animals hung from the tree !). The Sunday is really interesting to see: very pagan feeling and unusual.

cmt

Has anyone else traveled to Basilicata recently?

mmr41

Try slowtrav.com for Bob the Navigator's report of his trip through this area

cmt

I don't think Bob the Nav did a trip report on Basilicata. (It would be odd if he went there and NEVER posted on this long running thread.) Possibly you're confusing it with other parts of southern Italy that he DID definitely visit. But if there IS some trip report on Basilicata that you think is of interest, if you'd like to direct our attention to it, why not post a link to the specific web location of the report here on this thread?

By the way, I find the SlowTrav site extremely difficult to navigate. I don't know whether it's the way the topics are organized or the thread headings or the tedious way of plodding through the threads, or the sparseness of topics but it is just not very easy to use. A friend was steering toward that site when I was planning my recent trip to northern Italy, but I just found it very frustrating and slow to use. (So THAT's why it's called SLOWtrav maybe.)

cmt

mmr: I just checked. Bob Nav's report is partly about Puglia, not Basilicata. Puglia is the region to the east of Basilicata.

mmr41

After rereading it you are so right. he skirted the area on his trip.
You can always read Carlos Levy's book, " Christ Stopped at Eboli" for a little local viewpoint. It may be a little dated, however.

cmt

It's Carlo Levi. Quite a few of the earlier posts on this thread discuss it, and some of us have visited Aliano, which is called "Gagliano" in the book.

cmt

Was someone looking for this?

cmt

Here's the original thread that Fodors dropped from its indexing system: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1300139

cmt

Topping for someone (sfarah?) who posted an unanswered question recently re a trip to parts of Basilicata. I'm not sure that her planned destinations are covered in this thread, but they might be.

cmt

The original thread fell out of the indexing system, and apparently the Fodors people didn't know how to fix the problem. I finally reposted almost the enetire thread, resulting in this thread. Now THIS thread has also fallen out of the indexing and does not come up in a search.