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city becomes a mirror of the starry sky alone in the deep dark of the Gravina .
Temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius cause the city to become a gigantic oven for slow cooking . It was time to get to a cooler environment , so we reached the park of Dolomiti Lucane , so called for their resemblance to the larger alpine mountains . Lucania was the Roman name of this land .
The small towns of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa are perched at an altitude of around one thousand metres beneath the grey sharp peaks standing out from a green carpet of oaks . These villages are now connected by the Angel ’ s Flight , a zip line where tourists and locals can fly at 100 km / h over the impressive landscape . Tourists from everywhere animate the streets of these small
hamlets whose villagers love chatting , happy to share everyday life moments .
At the time of the Saracen incursions , the Arab captain Bomar built the military block named Arabata on the higher side of Pietrapertosa , it has been inhabited since the eighth century BC . You can still recognise the Arabata for the regular layout of the houses and the set-in-stone stairways .
To get away from the overseas invaders , the legendary shepherd Paolino founded the town of Castelmezzano , called Castrum Medianum by the Normans who built the castle some years later . Today only a few traces of the basement remain .
The serpentine road linking the two villages was closed for a landslide , so we had to lose ourselves in the sweet countryside amongst lonely farms and herds of cow , as we enjoyed the hundreds of turns of the broken road .
The Acettura Woods , in the heart of the park , gave us shelter from Lucifer ’ s hot grip for a couple of hours , while the few rays of sun that broke through the dense foliage gave a sense of magic to the winding road that crossed the forest .
The sun dazzled us again up over Stigliano , riding on the SP103 showing us the border of two contrasting landscapes . On the right , the green of woods and orchards extended to the south , in the direction of Mount Pollino , and on the left the barren , blasted countryside , a grey clay carpet faded to the pale sky at the horizon .
We kept moving forward into this yellow landscape , among mud
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