TRAVERSE 57
TRAVEL - ITALY
ANTONIO FEMIA
LUCIFER AMID THE STONES
Where the South begins and the forests make way for arid lowlands , among clay hills and dolomitic sharp rocks , Basilicata is a little world to be explored by motorbike across a thousand twists and turns .
The intense heat had come , and this time was so merciless that it was to be named " Lucifer " by meteorologists . It was not the best time for a motorcycle trip across one of the hottest regions of Italy , especially on one of the stuffiest days of the last decade , but reaching the mild Calabrian coast was a good excuse to cross Basilicata , the midway region where the green woods and orchards make way for wide stretches of grain which , in August , yellow up reminding of a desert .
The first stage , that we reached , through the green province of Benevento , was just after Campania ’ s border . The Vulture area takes its name from the mount looking over it , an inactive but not extinguished volcano which makes fertile lands in this northernmost area of the region .
Along its slopes , the twin Monticchio lakes are the destination for tourists and locals coming here to take a refreshing walk and visit Badia di San Michele , a Benedictine Monastery from the tenth century whose church was built in front of a large grotto . Not only saints , but folk heroes too , not so far from the monastery there ’ s another cave which was the shelter for Carmine Crocco , the legendary Vulture ’ s brigand .
Italy ’ s unification was really a military occupation , acted by Piedmontese , provoking the rebellion of rural masses who organised partisan bands . They were called “ Brigands ” by official history and Basilicata , with fortyseven active bands , was among the hardest regions to subjugate . The
TRAVERSE 57