Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
four hours, three daily), take the
Ferrovie Appulo-Lucane
(
0971 41 15 61; ferrovieappulolucane.it)
train at Potenza Superiore station.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Appennino Lucano
The Appenino Lucano (Lucanian Apennines) bite Basilicata in half like a row of jagged
teeth. Sharply rearing up south of Potenza, they protect the lush Tyrrhenian coast and
leave the Ionian shores gasping in the semiarid heat. Careering along its hair-raising roads
through the broken spine of mountains can be arduous, but if you're looking for drama,
the drive could be the highlight of your trip.
Aliano
The fascists exiled writer and political activist Carlo Levi to this isolated region in 1935.
He lived, and is buried, in the tiny hilltop town of Aliano. Remarkably little seems to have
changed since he wrote his dazzling
Christ Stopped at Eboli
, which laid bare the bore-
dom, poverty and hypocrisy of village life. The
Pinacoteca Carlo Levi
( 0835 56 83 15; admission
€3; 10am-1pm & 4-7.30pm summer, 10am-12.30pm & 3.30-6.30pm Thu-Tue winter)
also houses the
Museo
Storico di Carlo Levi
, featuring his papers, documents and paintings. Admission to the pin-
acoteca (art gallery) includes a tour of Levi's house and entry to the museum.
Aliano is accessible by SITA bus (€5.50) from Potenza.
Castelmezzano & Pietrapertosa
The two mountaintop villages of Castelmezzano (elevation 985m) and Pietrapertosa (elev-
ation 1088m), ringed by the Lucanian Dolomites are spectacular. They are Basilicata's
highest villages and are often swathed in cloud, making you wonder why anyone would
build here - in territory best suited to goats.
Castelmezzano is surely one of Italy's most theatrical villages; the houses huddle along
an impossibly narrow ledge that falls away in gorges to the Caperrino river. Pietrapertosa
is even more amazing: the Saracen fortress at its pinnacle is difficult to spot as it is carved
out of the mountain. You can now 'fly' between these two dramatic settlements courtesy
of
Il Volo dell'Angelo
(The Angel Flight;
Pietrapertosa 0971 98 31 10, Castelmezzano 0971 98 60 42;
