The morning was quite dreary but the rain held off as we left Alberobello. We are now leaving the region of Puglia heading westward to the region of Basilicata located in the instep of Italy’s boot. This is Italy’s poorest region- predominantly farmland and mountains and most certainly not on the radar for the majority of Italy’s visitors. It is the region with the highest percentage of emigration and probably the lowest per capita income. During the Fascist era, political dissidents were exiled here, the most famous Carlo Levi who wrote “Christ Stopped at Eboli”, documenting his year-long exile in a small Basilicata village. Our final destination for the last three days of the “organized tour” portion of our Italian journey is Matera, the most famous city in the region.
We walked a short way to our bus pickup point (big buses can’t get close to the trulli district), but apparently the bus driver got signals crossed on the time so we stood there for a while, hoping the rain would hold off. The bus finally showed up and our bags were loaded up. Our first stop was the small town of Gioia del Colle, with its 12th century hunting lodge/castle of Frederico II. There is a legend he had a wife who was pregnant by another man and had her locked up there. In protest, she threw all her jewelry out the window, thereby giving the town its name (Gioia – derived from gioielleria-jewelry in Italian). Our driver (the third one we’ve had), forthwith to be referred to as Mr. Congeniality, was a curmudgeon the entire day, refused to drive into the town center. We were definitely the only tourists and the only Americans in this typical southern Italian town, drawing quizzical looks from the citizens.
The next stop was nearby, albeit located down a narrow one lane road- the Polvanera Winery where we enjoyed a tour of the wine cellar and a tasting of 7 of their wines, accompanied by some munchies. Our guide, a curly haired redhead (rare to see in southern Italy) looked like the actor in the Harry Potter movies.
Mr. Congeniality (bus driver) was especially unhappy as he had to retrace the ride back out along the narrow road. If didn’t help to encounter truck!
The road to Matera was a two lane winding one as we climbed up to this hilltop town. It started to rain when we finally reached our drop off point in the new part of the city. We had to wait for some taxis to transport us and our bags to our sassi (caves), our homes during our stay. Traveling the labyrinth of cobblestone streets we reached Le Dodici Lune Homestay , a series of 10 renovated caves that previously had been homes for the poorest of the poor in this town. They are now quite luxurious, with romantic lighting and even a jacuzzi!
This albergo diffuso is spread out over different levels up of down series of cobblestone steps. The views are amazing, even with the miserable weather.
We relaxed a bit before dinner, which took place in their restaurant.
The dinner was a selection of antipasti, orecchiette with cima di rape and peperoni cruschi di senise (dried and then crisp fried sweet red peppers-a specialty), and veal.
Tomorrow we will have a walking tour, so stay tuned for more interesting tidbits!
Camino Musings 