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:<BR><BR>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!!<BR><BR>

I have an article about Basilicata coming up in the September issue of Italy With Us. <BR><BR>A lovely gentleman from the US writes about his visits to the area to discover the places his grandparents grew up in.<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>They do have a great site which gives good information about every town in English:<BR>http://www.aptbasilicata.it/modules.php?name=comuni

Basilicata:topping

Oooh, sounds wonderful, Carol. Thank you for the tip!<BR><BR>For once, a place that's completely off-the-beaten track. : )

Carol--your joy in travelling in Basilicata is infectious--we are going<BR>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...<BR><BR>http://www.unexploredworldtours.com/basilicatatour.htm<BR><BR>Is this your company?<BR>

To Mel:<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>To Bill:<BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>Let's hope Rick Steves doesn't "discover" this area, it will be ruined!<BR><BR>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?<BR><BR>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! <BR><BR>I hope you had a wonderful time in Sicily. I see Etna's still spitting fire this morning. Did you see it?<BR><BR>

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 &quot;my&quot; 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 &quot;event.&quot; 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.<BR><BR>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. <BR><BR>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. <BR><BR>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.<BR><BR>As far as the driving, on the way back to Salerno we used the &quot;red&quot;(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.<BR><BR>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:<BR><BR>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. <BR><BR>I hope we can make another trip some day.<BR><BR>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 &quot;Basilicata&quot; or &quot;Lucania.&quot; <BR>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. <BR>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/threads...p;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/bo...l?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 &quot;Basilicata.&quot; 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/threads...p;tid=34401476

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

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/threads...p;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...