13 Facts About Basilicata

Basilicata, known by its ancient name Lucania, is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south.

Basilicata covers an extensive part of the southern Apennine Mountains, between the Ofanto river in the north and the Pollino massif in the south.

In common with many another Mediterranean region, Basilicata was once rich in forests, but they were largely felled and made barren during the time of Roman rule.

Since then, Basilicata began to lose importance and was marked by an irreversible socio-political decline.

In 1485, Basilicata was the seat of plotters against King Ferdinand I of Naples, the so-called conspiracy of the Barons, which included the Sanseverino of Tricarico, the Caracciolo of Melfi, the Gesualdo of Caggiano, the Orsini Del Balzo of Altamura and Venosa and other anti-Aragonese families.

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The revolt in Basilicata was led by Carmine Crocco was the most important chief in the region and the most impressive band leader in southern Italy.

In 1952, the inhabitants of the Sassi di Matera were rehoused by the State, but many of Basilicata's population had emigrated or were in the process of emigrating, which led to a demographic crisis from which it is still recovering.

Basilicata has a variety of archeological sites containing traces of Prehistoric, Greek, Roman and Jewish heritage:.

Basilicata has many small and picturesque villages, seven of them have been selected by the association I Borghi piu belli d'Italia .

Around the 7th century, basilian monks settled in Basilicata, leaving a high concentration of rupestrian churches, in Matera, Pollino and the Agri and Sinni Valleys.

Later Basilicata saw the imported and imitated art phenomenon with artists such as Giovanni Bellini and Cima da Conegliano, and Flemish painting by Dirck Hendricksz, Guglielmo Borremans, Aert Mijtens among the others.

Since the post–World War II era, Basilicata has become a set for many national and international film productions.

Basilicata is best known for the Lucanica di Picerno pork sausage that derives from lucanica, an ancient recipe originated before the Roman empire.