Tourism has been my passion and my profession since 1990. I began in La Plata, Argentina, at Euromar Turismo, the agency owned by my beloved father, Orazio Filippo Greco, before continuing in Italy with Andina Viaggi. Merlintravel grows from that experience and the desire to keep exploring and sharing the world. The journey continues…
Let’s see where it takes us.
Tourism has been my passion and my profession since 1990. I began in La Plata, Argentina, at Euromar Turismo, the agency owned by my beloved father, Orazio Filippo Greco, before continuing in Italy with Andina Viaggi. Merlintravel grows from that experience and the desire to keep exploring and sharing the world. The journey continues…
Let’s see where it takes us.
Rock-cut Matera, Greek shores, Norman castles, inland mountains and two very different seas.
Basilicata’s apparent silence contains very long human histories.
Ancient Lucania, Basilicata today spans the ravines of Matera, Greek Metapontum, Vulture’s volcanic landscape, Norman-Swabian towns, the Lucanian Dolomites, Pollino communities and the short Tyrrhenian coast of Maratea.
Prehistoric settlement, Oenotrian and Lucanian cultures, Greek colonies, Rome, Byzantine and Lombard frontiers, Norman power and modern land struggles give the region unusual depth.
Caves, villages and plateau sites document very long occupation around Matera and other valleys.
Indigenous communities and colonies such as Metapontum created interacting Ionian cultural worlds.
Roads, farms, towns and changing rural systems tied Lucania to imperial and post-imperial networks.
Frontier conflict and eastern monastic traditions marked caves, valleys and fortified settlements.
Melfi, castles and church networks reveal Basilicata’s role in medieval monarchy.
Landholding, brigandage, emigration, reform and the recovery of Matera shaped modern identity.
The atlas links Matera and Metaponto to Potenza, Vulture, the Basento valley, Pollino and Maratea, showing the distance between Ionian and Tyrrhenian worlds.
Map markers identify the main places covered by the guides.
The routes pair internationally known Matera with archaeological coasts, castle landscapes and mountain interiors.
Rock-cut neighbourhoods, plateau churches, water systems and deep ravines form one cultural landscape.
Greek temples, archaeology, wetlands and an agricultural coastal plain open the ancient east.
Melfi, Venosa, volcanic lakes, abbeys and wine country shape the north.
Mountain villages and a short dramatic Tyrrhenian shore reveal contrasting southern landscapes.
Every gateway now leads to a complete ten-chapter guide, with one distinct image for every chapter.
The Sassi, water systems, museums and plateau churches form one inhabited limestone landscape.
Open Matera and the MurgiaA mountain capital, Roman routes and the upper Agri valley reveal Basilicata’s central spine.
Open Potenza and the ApenninesGreek cities, museums, calanchi and hill towns cross a broad agricultural plain to the Ionian shore.
Open Metaponto and the Ionian coastCastle, cathedral, volcanic lakes, abbey and wine towns connect medieval power to a living landscape.
Open Melfi and the VultureRoman Venusia, Jewish and Christian sites, castles and cultivated plateaux open the region’s north-east.
Open Venosa and the Upper BradanoRock villages, forest paths, ancient walls and living tree rituals define the Basento interior.
Open the Lucanian DolomitesA short western coast joins historic Maratea, working harbour, caves, beaches and inland towns.
Open Maratea and the Tyrrhenian coastHigh plateaux, Bosnian pines and Albanian-speaking communities share the southern mountain border.
Open Pollino and the Arbëreshë villagesMonuments matter, but so do languages, crafts, routes, rituals and working landscapes.
Matera’s heritage joins architecture to water, agriculture, social policy and human adaptation.
Metaponto, Policoro and inland museums reveal interaction rather than isolated colonial monuments.
Albanian-language communities preserve religious, linguistic and ritual traditions in the Pollino area.
Museums, festivals, bread, ceramics and weaving document lives often excluded from monumental histories.
Land, water and ecological systems are read together with the communities that have learned to inhabit them.
Bosnian pines, high grasslands and river valleys cross the boundary with Calabria.
An extinct volcano, crater lakes, forests and cultivated slopes distinguish northern Basilicata.
Limestone ravines, caves and plateau habitats are inseparable from human settlement.
A broad sandy east and a short rocky west create two very different maritime landscapes.
The Sassi are described as a long-lived urban and rural system marked by displacement, policy and restoration, not as caves discovered for tourism.
The journey continues.
Return to the Italy regional atlas