The London Times named the region of Basilicata – south of Campania – as one of its 100 best summer destinations of 2008 and I have to agree. I’ve always thought that this region is one of Italy’s best-kept secrets. The Times points to one town in particular – “Matera…looks like any other pretty town in southern Italy, a collection of brick and stone buildings tumbling down a hillside. Thing is, many of those are just facades: behind them lies the Sassi, a network of man-made caves hewn deep into the rock 9,000 years ago and inhabited ever since. One of these has been converted into the simple but elegant Hotel Sant’Angelo, which has just 16 beautiful rooms.” I visted Matera just as it was gaining exposure after Mel Gibson filmed The Passion of Christ there. Paid subscribers can read my article here.
On that same trip, I visited Maratea, a beach resort that lies on the small amount of land Basilicata has on the coast. It was love at first sight. If all the throngs of tourists that visit the Amalfi Coast only knew about Maratea (2.5 hours south). Shh!! Don’t tell them. Click here to read my fr*ee article about this magical place.
