MelfeseVULTURE and its hinterland BASILICATA MELFESE and its hinterland a bespoke tour for explorers of beauty

Itineraries and enchantment in the secret places of a land to be discovered

2 TM BASILICATA Vulture Melfese and the surrounding area

Credits ©2016 Agenzia di Promozione Territoriale BASILICATA Via del Gallitello, 89 - 85100

Wording and Design Vincenzo Petraglia

Editorial planning and direction Maria Teresa Lotito

Graphic design and layout Vincenzo Petraglia in collaboration with Xela Art

Image search and selection Maria Teresa Lotito

English translation of the Italian original Global Voices - Milano

Photographs Basilicata Tourist Board Archive Basilicata Archaeological Heritage Department Archive

Printed by Alfagrafica Volonnio - (PZ)

Thanks to: The Basilicata Archaeological Heritage Department, all the , Associations, and Proloco organisations which provided the photographic material.

Distributed free of charge

The Tourist Board publishes the information listed herein for information purposes only. The utmost care has been taken in checking the information provided herein. Printing errors or involuntary omissions excluded. BASILICATA VULTURE Vulture Melfese and its hinterland BASILICATA

Start

VENOSA Laghi di

ATELLA GENZANO DI

Castel Lagopesole

MATERA

POTENZA

da non perdere anche...

RAPOLLA LAVELLO theitinerary

4 TM BASILICATA Vulture Melfese and its hinterland BASILICATA In the kingdom of forests and castles Frederick II was so taken by the region that he chose it as his Eden to indulge his love of falconry. This volcanic region is the home of DOCG wine, of castles and ancient abbeys where over the centuries kings and queens, popes and scholars, Knights Templars and brigands have stayed, and the most striking thing about is the deep green of the immense forests

LAGOPESOLE CASTLE One of the most beautiful and well-known Federician castles in the South of .

forest of epic proportions, dotted Aglianico DOCG, the king of Basilicata here and there with blue lakes and wines), arable crops, olive groves, and Awatercourses interspersed among orchards. This is an aerial view of Vulture the huge green expanse, which gradually Melfese in the region's north eastern area, thins out from west to east giving way to a chest of incredible, natural, and artistic more gentle, multi-coloured hills laden treasures. Treasures that provide fairy-tale with vineyards (the region is home to views of enchanted beech, turkey , 4 5 BASILICATA BASILICATA In the kingdom of forests and castles

must-see towns Melfi Palazzo San Gervasio Banzi Acerenza Filiano Atella Lavello Montemilone Barile Rionero in Vulture Maschito Ruvo del Monte horse chestnut, maple, and holm oak Rapone forests that burst into life in autumn in an explosion of red, yellow, and orange. San Fele There are pretty lakes nestled in dense Ripacandida vegetation and among ancient Forenza volcanoes such as the dormant Mount Ginestra Vulture (1326 m) around which steep, 4 5 BASILICATA Vulture Melfese and its hinterland BASILICATA Fortresses, towers, and villages cling to the impregnable heights

wooded slopes stretch across land made highly fertile by prehistoric lava flows. There are also mediaeval villages, prehistoric settlements, and extraordinarily rich archaeological sites as well as castles, monasteries, and fantastic cathedrals cloaked in an air of mystery, completed by stories about legendary figures who contributed to making this corner of Basilicata one of the most fascinating and flourishing parts of the ANCIENT SPLENDOURS region. Kings and queens, popes and hordes of the devout, Above, the city castle that Knights Templars, poets and scholars, princes and musicians as towers above the village well as knights, military commanders, and even brigands who and surrounding area, and Palazzo Pastore with its tower, one of the most interesting in the city. In the footsteps of the Knights Templar The alliance that tied the Templars in 1118) feature Normans to the Church, knighthood-related with Melfi (capital of the symbols, allegories, and Duchy of from crypts with secret rooms. 1059 and seat of various One such example is the papal councils including Cathedral of Acerenza, the council of 1089 that accessed through a small prepared the ground for walled window, which the First Crusade to the has sparked the interest Holy Land) and Venosa of those who are simply at the height of their glory curious and those who thanks to and Urban are passionate about the subject and II, concentrated a series of efforts in who would like the legendary Holy Grail Vulture Melfese, an obligatory stop for (the cup from which Jesus drank at the the material and spiritual replenishment Last Supper) to be hidden right here. "BLOOD EASTER" of crusaders for the re-conquest of Other orders of knighthood than the The fall of the then prosperous places of Christian worship. The abbeys Knights Templar left traces as they passed Melfi is to be attributed to the and cathedrals of Melfi, Venosa, Lavello, through, and are brought back to life French siege that took place at San Fele, and Forenza (where studies each year in the historical processions of Easter 1528 when it was sacked by claim it is the birthplace of Hugues Forenza, Acerenza, and Banzi in August. more than four thousand people. de Payen who founded the Order of 6 7 BASILICATA BASILICATA Fortresses, towers, and villages cling to the impregnable heights

found a safe haven in Passionate as he was about the art of MELFI Glimpses of the city the impenetrable falconry, Stupor Mundi found his Eden in with the castle in forests. This is a land of these wooded heaths populated by wild which Frederick II battles and conquest, animals and all sorts of birds of prey enacted the famous of perfect places due about which he wrote his treatise "De Constitutiones to its strategic position Arte Venandi Cum Avibus". The heaths Augustales in 1231. controlling links to the were soon studded with masserie regie ancient Apuleia and (royal farmsteads), manor houses, and the region of . In fact, trade castles. One of these is Melfi Castle was controlled using fortresses perched which was built in Norman times but on top of impregnable heights. The extended by Frederick II. It is surely one Daunians, Samnites, Romans, of the most majestic of castles with its Longobards, and the Byzantines, together eight towers that overlook the beautiful with th