Montescaglioso - San Michele Arcangelo Abbey Walking through the city you’ll see various churches and historical monuments. Montescaglioso is the site of one of the most important Benedictine monasteries in Basilicata. The town was initially developed around the Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo (1079), situated at the top of the town and surrounded by 15th-century walls. The Abbey is filled with beautiful frescos dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries and has a 12th century Abbey Church dedicated to St. Michael with a notable portal and a Norman-style bell tower with mullioned windows.
Distance 400 m(1300 ft) (5 minute walk)
Matera Matera is a unique and fascinating town steeped in history. Thought to be one of the world’s oldest towns dating back as far as the Palaeolithic times, Matera is now a popular tourist spot boasting hundreds of ancient caves, rock churches, delicious local cuisine and luxurious boutique hotels. The most famous part of Matera is the Sassi district, now designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and the 2019 European Capital of Culture . Here you can see hundreds of troglodyte dwellings and churches dug out of the rock. Explore. The cave dwellings were lived in until the 1950’s and are the most extensive example of their kind in the Mediterranean.
Distance 15 km(9.3 miles) (15 min. by car/20 min. bus)
Metaponto
The seaside town of Metaponto is located on the Ionian coast, situated on a plain between the rivers of Bradano and Basento. Metaponto offers beautiful, clean beaches and an azure sea making it perfect for family holidays. The variety of restaurants, cafes and hotels make Metaponto popular with tourists during the summer months. As well as the beautiful coastline, it is possible to visit Greek columns and amphitheatres surrounded by lush vineyards. Founded by the Greeks in the seventh century BC, Metaponto formed part of the ancient civilisation of Magna Graecia, which once stretched across the bottom of Italy’s boot. The town has a rich archaeological history and has many attractions for tourists including the Archaeological Park where you can see impressive remains of the Palatine tables where knights gathered before heading off to the Crusades. The countryside surrounding the town contains many archaeological sites, and there is another archaeological park further north that has four temples dedicated to the Greek gods Hera and Athena.
