A Flight among Sassi, Castles and Flavours

The tour A Flight among Sassi, Castles and Flavours starts in Metaponto, on the coasts of Basilicata washed by the Ionian Sea. Once it was one of the most powerful colonies in Magna Graecia, where Pythagoras lived. We begin our visit from the Torremare Castle, built in 1060 on a pre-existing Roman castrum, which defended the coastline. We visit the Archaeological Site and the Metaponto National Archaeological Museum to admire the findings found in this area, dating from prehistoric to Roman times. Walking through the ruins of its temples, the agora and a Roman castrum we will understand the importance of this Magno-Greek colony.

We move towards the interior of the region, precisely in Bernalda (hometown of the family of the director Francis Ford Coppola, his sister Talia Shire and his nephew Nicolas Cage). If we are there on the opening day we visit the castle, otherwise we admire it from the outside and we stop here for lunch.

Once we arrive in Matera we walk in the streets and alleys among its wonderful Sassi, named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993. Its nickname is the Second Bethlehem for its conformation and as a background to the scenes of The Passion by Mel Gibson and The Gospel according to St. Matthew by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

We climb a hill to admire the Tramontano Castle, built to defend the city, and then descend into the Palombaro Lungo, the largest cistern of Matera, a valuable engineering work to convey rainwater. We check-in and we meet for dinner.

We start the second day of the tour A Flight among Sassi, Castles and Flavours visiting the National Archaeological Museum Domenico Ridola, that offers us evidence of the prehistoric era in the former convent of Santa Chiara. We pass by the Palazzo Lanfranchi, former State Gymnasium, where Giovanni Pascoli taught between 1882 and 1884.

Just outside Matera is the Murgia Materana Park, where we make an excursion to discover also the natural beauties of this city.

In the late afternoon we head to Genzano di Lucania. We stop first at the Castle of Monteserico, example of medieval architecture of 11th century in Basilicata and then we check-in and, finally, a wine tasting, to sip the fruit of the typical vines of this region, the Aglianico del Vulture.

On the third day of the tour A Flight among Sassi, Castles and Flavours the program will be decided according to the booking time of the Angel Flight. This experience gives us the opportunity to visit the villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa, both in the list The Most Beautiful villages in Italy. The two towns offer hideouts and have a thick vegetation, which for years gave refuge to brigands. At the end of the 19th century many of their inhabitants have emigrated overseas to seek their fortune.

The last destination of the tour A Flight among Sassi, Castles and Flavours is Albano di Lucania, where we visit either esoteric and mysterious places, such as Rocca del Cappello (Hat Rock), The Chair of the Devil and some millstones, or local producers of caciocavallo podolico, a long-matured cheese, produced from a high quality milk with a rustic character.

The tour A Flight among Sassi, Castles and Flavours ends here, where you are free to choose whether head back to the starting place or carry on with another tour.

A tour to visit the famous Sassi of Matera and the castles that tell us the history of these places, the experience of being able to fly suspended alone or in pairs and the chance to taste local products, such as caciocavallo podolico and the Aglianico del Vulture wine.