Basilicata is a rough triangle which touches the sea
in the south, on the Gulf of Taranto, and to the
west, where it reaches between Campania and
Calabria to claim a short swath of shoreline along
the Tyrrhenian Sea on the Gulf of Policastro. At the
northern end of this stretch lies Maratea, largely
unknown to foreigners but much prized by Italians
as a quieter and less expensive but equally
beautiful alternative to the Amalfi Coast.Maratea consists of about 30 small villages grouped
around the main town, which is shown on maps as
being called Maratea but is locally known simply as
the Centro Storico. Perched 300m/1000 feet above
sea level on the slopes of Monte San Biagio, a tenminute
drive from its coastal outlet, the Port of
Maratea, and about two hours’ drive from Naples, it
is a very pretty and compact medieval maze of
narrow streets and tiny piazzas, with a number of
good restaurants and interesting shops. Above the
town is a towering, 22m/70-foot marble statue of
Christ the Redeemer (facing inland, oddly), and
sprinkled on the slopes are twenty or so little
villages connected by roads that are never straight
or level for more than ten meters at a time. The
most historic and picturesque of these is Rivello, a
village of white houses with terracotta at the edge
of a steep gulley. The woman who posed for
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is said to be buried
at Lagonegro.
The shoreline is rocky, studded with coves and
grottos that offer terrific diving in very clean water.
To the south of Maratea is the Pollini National Park,
a massive protected area that stretches from the
Tyrrhenian to the Ionian coasts, as interesting for
its unspoiled andscapes as for the many
archeological sites within its boundaries. 
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