Ancient Natural & Cultural Wonders
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The coast of Basilicata offers a unique experience, that of being immersed in the atmospheres of more than two millennia ago: the architectural heritage is complemented by an area that, although on flat land along the shoreline, has remained unchanged by mankind in all that time. |
| Metaponto |
 At the city limits of Bernalda, we find the ruins of Metaponto. The 15 doric columns of the Tavole Palatine (IV secolo a.C.) are what remain of a Pythagoran school. Towards the shoreline, in the Apollo Licio archeological park are remains of sacred structures, a theater, orthogonally-patterned roads and a paelochristian basilica. Of equal interest is an area where ceramics were produced and the Museum-Antiquarium which is replete of local production of both indigineous and greek civilisations. |
| Policoro |
 Due south lies one of the richer Greek colonies, Siris, which went to war with its neighbour Metaponto. Little remains of the ancient city, however there are many evocative objects in the Siritide Museum. This location was also home to Eraclea, a colony founded by Taranto and Thurli. The urban fabric of the residential sections is clearly visible but the museum's didactic experience is of great value, spanning epochs from prehistory to the Middle Ages.
Interesting curiosities in this area include the fortified masserie (agricultural concerns), the most important of which are those of Policoro and S. Basilio. |
| Bosco Pantano di Policoro |
 At the southernmost portion of Basilica's coast, this area of nearly 500 hectares offers unblemished natural surroundings: in the fourth century B.C. rules governing Eraclea protected this luscious area. Certainly it was appreciated as a forest in which one could escape from the heat. Human activity subsequently receded into mountain areas and this forest - a type which has since disappeared in Italy - remained untouched in following epochs. It survived until the 1950s, when the State-sponsored riforma fondiaria ridistributed over 1000 hectares of this land which were subsequently torn up and transformed. |
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