Local Area
Local Town
The area is untouched by modern development, and therefore totally un-spoilt. It has its own unique foods, wines and speciality produce such as local sausages and peppered salami, the heat of which has to be tasted to be believed!
The local town offers a full range of shopping with small supermarkets and fresh produce shops and stalls, with four local street markets every month (gorgeous Italian shoes are VERY inexpensive here ladies!!). There is also a much larger Interspar supermarket within ten minutes drive of the farmhouse, with all usual facilities.
There are also many local historical sites, with Roman, Greek and Etruscan remains, museums and the historical centre of the old town itself that has Masonic links and THE most panoramic mountain views that you can imagine...
Eating Out.
There are many local restaurants, hotels and cafe bars in which to eat, all within 20 minutes drive of the local town, Montalbano.
Beaches
Amendolara.
A lovely stoney beach with good fishing, and nice clear water. Lovely place to cool off in the heat of summer, and also to chill out in the summer evenings.
Scanzano.
Just down the road from Montalbano, and what awaits you is an untouched and huge stretch of almost endless soft sandy beach. Calm water, good fishing, and safe for little ones. Lovely. Small range of food stalls and beach bars in the summer.
Policoro.
Same as the above but with a marble walkway to walk along for the Italian ritual of the (see and be seen) passigionata.
Places to see
There are just so many places to see and to explore, here are a few...
Alberabello.
It is a beautiful old hilltop town, full of the most beautiful old buildings called Trulli. These are small round houses with little conical stone roofs. It is reputed that when the tax man came calling in times gone by a central stick was pulled, and the roof collapsed in, thereby avoiding any tax being due on the building! Well worth a visit.
Matera.
The Stassi of Materea have recently been designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site because of the existence of an entire community of cave dwellers dating back to 5000 years BC. It is one of Europe's oldest known human settlements, and was still inhabited up until the 1950's.
Cracco
A beautiful and haunted place, deserted after a landslide. You should not miss this one.
Metaponto.
Another very historical site, this time linked to the Roman Empire and Spartucus the slave who trained there. There are ruins and archeological sites to see, and links to other sites within the local area.
Pisticci.
Visible from Montalbano, a nice old hilltop town, ticking over as it probably has done for thousands of years. Worth a look at.
Mount Pollino National Park.
Head up into the mountains (the tallest, Mount Pollino is 2,600 ft+) Deciduous woods of oak and beech and Chestnut. Cold streams, cool glades, and shade in the summer. In the winter you can ski there too.
