I’m beginning to learn that I know Jack about Italy. Sure, I know Rome, and Venice, and Florence and a couple of other famous tourist locations, but there is so much more of Italy out there I know nothing about.
Take, for example, Basilicata. Isn’t that where basil comes from? Er, no. Not exactly. Basilicata is a small region of Italy which I had never heard of until I picked up a recent issue of Travel & Leisure. And now, of course, I want to go.
Journalist Helene Stapinski traveled here in search of her family tree and discovered a land rich in so much else. To get to her destination, she “drove east on the empty and pristine Basento Valley highway…passed through vineyards, white hilltop villages, and the craggy Lucanian Dolomite mountains.” Her goal was Matera, “a city the color of old bones” in which Mel Gibson filmed The Passion of the Christ. Just check out that photo above!
Take a moment to follow Stapinski’s adventure tracking down relatives, eating local food, and living in the region’s famous cave dwellings. It ain’t Venice, but it sure seems to have a charm all its own.