Madrelingua Italiana

Basilicata, also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia (Puglia) to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It also has two coastlines, one on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania and Calabria, and a longer coastline along the Gulf of Taranto between Calabria and Apulia. The region can be thought of as the "instep" of Italy, with Calabria functioning as the "toe" and Apulia the "heel". The protected areas of the national territory are the Pollino National Park and the Lucanian Small Dolomites Natural Park. The former shared with the Calabria region and the latter located in the area of the upper Basento valley. In Basilicata the cultivation of durum wheat clearly prevails and there are also woody crops (olive trees, vines, citrus fruit, etc.). Among the D.O.C. wines the Aglianico del Vùlture stands out. The capital of the region is Potenza which, with Matera, are the only two provinces of the region. Basilicata has conventional borders almost everywhere, which are common to vary over the centuries. The borders marked by morphology in a more significant way are those with Puglia, with the rivers Ofanto and Bradano and those with some massifs of the Apennines of Lucania, including the massif of the Pollino – mountains of the southern Apennines - divided with Calabria. Between the 13th and 12th centuries BCE, in the south of the river Ofanto settled the lyky, who named the region Lucania, which means "land of lyki". From the eighth century BCE on the coasts arose the first Greek colonies such as Metaponto, Heraclea, Siris on the Ionian; Posidonia, Elea, Laos sul Tirreno. Later followed periods of invasions and dominations. First the dominion of the Roman Empire, then the invasions of the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths and the raids of the Saracens, who devastated the region; until a period of recovery had been brought by the Norman domination. The ancient name of Lucania fell into disuse in the Norman-Swabian period (XII-XIII century), thus attributing the name of Basilicata to the new administrative division. At the beginning of 1993, UNESCO declared Sassi di Matera a World Heritage Site. In the same year the Pollino National Park was established.