Basilicata is an extraordinary land, capable of fasci­nating ancient Greeks and modern man; it has had a unique destiny: opening onto two seas, crossed by essential natural communication routes and witness to all the major Mediterranean civilisations, until recent times it suffered isolation, poverty and emi­gration. Nature has blessed it with splendid and always sur­prisingly different settings, from the severe Tyrrhe­nian coasts to the gentler Ionian shores, from the Apennine mountains covered with forests to the lunar landscapes of hills impressed with erosion furrows; yet, nature has also inflicted harsh blows, with recur­rent earthquakes that have repeatedly devastated the appearance of the territory. The roads of Basilicata have seen the passage of peaceful populations and violent mobs, the audacious Liky and refined Greeks, proud Samnites and astute Romans, as too the Barbarians, Byzantines, Nor­mans, Angevins, Saracens and Albanians.

Traces remain in the archaeological sites of Metaponto and Siris, Serra di Vaglio and Grumentum, in the historic towns and in the museums of Venosa, Melfi, Matera and many more. During this coming and going of peoples, the inhabi­tants of Basilicata (or Lucania, as the region was known in ancient times) have learnt to accept exiles and refugees (Albanians found refuge here as early as the late Middle Ages) and at the same time to defend their freedom against whoever should threaten it. With equal pride they have kept alive traditions based on ancient rites, although the love for their roots has not made them a closed people; the inhabitants of Basilicata, with their intellectuals and artists, have always learnt from every cultural stimulus, as is shown by the paintings, architecture and abundance of crafts. This creative spirit is also manifested in the traditional cuisine, which turns the humble ingredi­ents of a rural world into masterpieces that delight the palate.

Aglianico, the famous Vulture wine, is the result of the interaction over the centuries of nature and man: on the one hand, the unusual qualities of the volcanic soil, on the other the cultural contributions made by Greeks and Romans, who perfected the cultivation of grapes, and the Albanians, who brought their vines. The stubborn attachment to this sometimes generous, sometimes ungrateful land and the interest in the new without forgetting the past are visible in the capital, Potenza, and in the towns and villages obstinately reconstructed after the last earthquake in 1980, and at Matera where projects for brand new districts are flanked by those for the recovery of the ancient Sassi, as too in a sensible approach to the territory with the creation of numerous parks and nature reserves, the prized Pollino Park in particular. Although they build hotel amenities, open industries and drill oil wells (as in the Agri valley), they do not neglect a small rare moth, the Bramea europea, and have created a protected reserve for it - the only example of its kind in Europe.