Ideas for your Basilicata food and wine tour
Tastings, cookery lessons, culinary tours, even tailor-made ones
Basilicata is not visited by chance: you choose this region to enjoy a unique experience, immersing yourself in places where silence, colours, scents and flavours take you away from the noise and stress of everyday life. The woods and forests that cover the mountains are dotted with small, picturesque villages up to 1000 metres above sea level, where the clean air, genuine Basilicata food and the beauty of nature combine with historical evidence to satisfy every desire for knowledge.
If you want to visit Basilicata and appreciate its uncontaminated nature, the area of the Monticchio Lakes is beautiful and still little explored. Matera, the city of the Sassi, is a unique and evocative place, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993, along with its many cave churches. Matera is so unique that it has been chosen as the setting for several films, including Mel Gibson’s “The Passion”.
In Basilicata food means local products of peasant origin, skilfully used in dishes of ancient tradition. The protagonist of Lucanian gastronomy is durum wheat pasta, still made by hand using ancient tools, the Peperone di Senise PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), and Ferrandina olives, which are eaten dried and baked or in brine. If we are talking about Basilicata cuisine, this region also means a long history of bread, and it is interesting to witness its preparation if you are looking for a truly memorable Basilicata food tour. The Acerenza durum wheat bread, which keeps its fragrance for up to 15 days, and the Pane di Matera PGI are both prized. Travelling in Basilicata also means venturing on a food and wine tour to discover one of the most prestigious Italian red wines, Aglianico del Vulture. In Basilicata wine for wine connoisseurs!