A journey different from ordinary tourist itineraries: you will have the impression of going back in time, discovering castles in enchanted woods, the birthplace of Orazio, the suggestive caves of Matera and the Doric temple of Hera Lacinia. Exploring villages and secret places populated by hospitable people who have preserved ancient artistic and gastronomic traditions. You will cross the rich archaeological sites of Magna Graecia and the Byzantine architectural remains of the Ionian Coast. Following the paths of the Aspromonte you will get the Tyrrhenian Sea to admire the Riace bronzes and appreciate the secret treasures of southern Italy, hidden in majestic ancestral landscapes. This experience will be an enchantment for your eyes, but also for your palate. In the restaurants we select, you can enjoy exquisite dishes accompanied by excellent local wines.

THE CASTLE OF MELFITAN CONSTITUTIONS AND THE FAMOUS SARCOPHAGUS OF RAPOLLA. Arrival at Naples airport, meeting with our tour leader and transfer to Basilicata. Our expert in art history will guide you to visit the Castle of Melfi, where Frederick II of Swabia issued the Melfitan Constitutions, the largest secular law monument of the Middle Ages. You will discover a wonderful castle enlarged and renovated in the Swabian and Angevin times. A fortified complex on a walled top with eight towers and two large internal bodies in a striking scenography and spectacularity. Inside you will find the National Archaeological Museum with important art collection as a magnificent craftsmanship work of the II century AD: the famous Sarcophagus of Rapolla with a small temple on its chest where gods and heroes of classical inspiration appear under the arches. Dinner with traditional Lucan dishes and overnight.

THE MAJESTIC CASTLES OF LAGOPESOLE WITH VENOSA AND ACERENZA OVERVIEW. Breakfast at the hotel and meeting with our guide to explore the last and largest castle built by Federico II: the Lagopesole Castle. Even if the construction was interrupted by the untimely death of the emperor, you will explore a building that moves away from the classic Federician castles. You will not only discover a castle of grandiose monumentality, but of remarkable elegance in the ashlar motif that adorns the masonry masses. Continue to Venosa to visit the square-shaped castle and angular cylindrical towers erected by Duke Pirro del Balzo. You will also stop to admire the suggestive house of the poet Horace, an Imperial Roman Amphitheater, the Duomo and one of the most important masterpieces of Norman art in Southern Italy: the Trinity Abbey. You will be on the traces of Manfred, the Swabian emperor son of Frederick II and Bianca Lancia. Lunch in a restaurant tasting fresh and exclusive Lucanian ancient flavors accompanied by the precious Aglianico wine. Afternoon dedicated to Acerenza walking through the picturesque streets of the scenic village located on the cliff top. Our guide will lead you to his artistic Cathedral of the seventeenth century, among the most valuable monuments of Basilicata. Dinner and overnight at a charming hotel located in the Sassi di Matera. You will live an emotional experience sleeping in a fantastic place: a candle lit cave!

THE CHARM OF VULTURE AMONG SUGGESTIVE VILLAGES AND THE TEMPLE OF MEFTIS. Breakfast and excursion with a naturalistic guide to Monte Vulture, the only extinct volcano east of the Apennine ridge. You will feel its prehistoric breath from the double crater submerged by the small Monticchio lakes. Vulture will charm you with woods dominated by beeches, oaks, chestnuts, limes, maples, hornbeams, elms, ash trees, poplars, and alders. In addition to a fauna still fed with beech, weasels, badgers, skunks, hares, squirrels, foxes and many species of birds ... even if you do not meet the great bird of prey, the Vultur of the Romans, frighteningly evoked by the name of the region. Lunch in a typical restaurant with regional specialties and the discovery of Pietrapertosa, the highest municipality of Basilicata, surrounded by an original landscape of unusual shapes: the Anvil, the Great Mother and the Royal Eagle. Continue to Castelmezzano, an ancient Lombard fortress and the most characteristic village surmounted by the Lucanian Dolomites. Excursion will reach Castelmaggiore, an ancient Swabian village which rose up against the Angevins in 1268. You will explore its uninhabited historical centre in the silence of suggestive little streets among the curtain of abandoned buildings. Breaths of wind and traces of a life disappeared in 1885 for a landslide. The hiking day ends with the Scavi di Vaglio, a prehistoric settlement enclosed by a wall almost seven kilometers long. You will discover the Lucan temple of the Goddess Meftis. There you will find a large elongated altar in the middle of a parvis paved with large blocks of hard stone and a surprising archaeological treasure: geometric ceramics and fine terracottas with scenes of warrior fight. Dinner and overnight.

THE POETIC ATMOSPHERE OF THE PREHISTORIC CAVERNS OF MATERA. Breakfast and guided tour of the spectacular Sassi di Matera, one of the first human settlements in Italy. You will explore extraordinary houses, carved into the limestone cliff. Homes that include the domestic life and the stables in a single room. After a description of the historical roots at the Ridola Museum, you will admire the spectacular and unusual landscape of the place walking across narrow, winding sloping streets, through a maze of houses crammed into picturesque clutter with loggias and balconies supported by ornate corbels. Lunch inspired by Lucanian cuisine with gastronomic dishes: cavatelli with turnip tops, cimmaruchedde, strascinati with sauce, characterized by very strong aromas such as rosemary, mint, rue, wild cumin. Afternoon visit to rock churches where cultures of Western and Eastern influence have merged over the centuries. Our guide will showyou inaccessible places: Santa Barbara, a true Byzantine church-basilica, Santa Maria della Valle, the most magnificent and fascinating for the wealth of frescoes, the church of the Madonna of Virtue, one of the few restored. The life stories described by our guide will prove how the values of the ancient Greek and Latin communities intertwined among Matera ravines. Evening return to the hotel. Dinner and overnight.

THE SYBARIS LEGENDARY AND THE CODEX PURPUREUS ROSSANENSIS. Breakfast and departure for Sybaris, the most flourishing city of Magna Graecia. You will explore the archaeological park of the ancient city, dominated by the lifestyle of its women: idleness, lust and sensuality characterized the luxurious existential pleasure of Sibaritide people. Historians talk about summer banquets during which the women gathered in the boxes to learn the techniques of seduction with an instructor. At the archaeological museum, you will discover a high level of culture and artistic ability in pectorals of gold plates, sculptures, terracotta decorations and other interesting finds. Lunch in a typical restaurant and continuation to Rossano, founded in the XI century a.C. Under the reign of Emperor Hadrian, the city became an important Roman port capable of accommodating over three hundred ships. You will discover the artistic splendor that reached the apogee in the Byzantine era and visit the Diocesan Museum which preserves the Codex Purpureus, miniated manuscript on purple parchment in gold greek writingm, an extraordinary work saved by the monks who fled from the Middle East, a treasure hidden for centuries. The Southern Ravenna, a name gained from the Byzantine town, still preserves the ancient image of the Madonna Acheropita that, according to legend, would not have been painted by the hand of man and mysteriously appeared, towards the seventh century, in the middle of the main nave of the cathedral. Dinner and overnight.

CROTONE, THE CITY OF PITAGORA AND THE SANTA SEVERINA MONUMENTAL. Breakfast and visit to the archaeological site of the ancient city founded by the Achaeans, famous for its healthy climate, the beauty of women and the physicality of its athletes. At Capo Colonna, you will live a unique emotion among the ruins of the sanctuary of Hera Lacinia. Mythical figures like Enea, the painter Zeuxis, the athlete Milon, the poet Nossis, Hannibal and the historian Titus Livius offered gifts to the temple. But Crotone was also famous for his prestigious school of medicine, science, mathematics and music founded by Pythagoras and his medical friend Democedes. Your visit will continue with the fortress of Castella and the castle of Charles V. Lunch in a typical restaurant overlooking the sea. Afternoon dedicated to Santa Severina, an impregnable castle built on top of an imposing rock. Visit of the Norman manor, built by Robert de Hauteville (Il Guiscardo), one of the most important military fortifications in Italy. From the top of its cylindrical towers, you will enjoy a spectacular view of the valley. Excursion ends in a sacred place, the XIII century Cathedral dedicated to St. Anastasia and built in the shape of a Latin cross with three naves. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

SCOLACIUM AND STYLE, FROM ROMANS TO BIZANTAS. Breakfast and excursion along the Ionian coast to Roccelletta di Borgia. You will visit the Archaeological Park of Minervia Scolacium, Roman colony and town of Cassiodoro, an ancient settlement founded by Ulysses and known in the Greek era as Skylletion. Lots of archaeological finds in the excavations of the theater that could accommodate up to five thousand spectators. Among the ancient paved streets, you will find aqueducts, mausoleums, the basilica and the baths. In the museum, votive statuettes and architectural elements. Lunch in a restaurant and continuation to Stilo, set on a hill among forests of white firs and beeches inhabited by numerous species of woodpeckers. Visiting la La Cattolica, the precious Byzantine church with frescoes and pictorial decorations you will be amazed by the beams of light inside bringing out the architectural spaces in a mysterious symbolism. Dinner and overnight in Gerace.

MEDIEVAL CHARM OF GERACE AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL TESTIMONIES OF LOCRI. Breakfast and walk to discover Gerace with its monumental churches, buildings and craft shops. From its dominant position, you will enjoy a wide and panoramic view of the Locride, up to the sea. Stone-worked portals, windows and striking pointed arches will tell you its long and rich history. Lunch in a restaurant and afternoon excursion to Locri, the city of Magna Grecia loyal to Sparta. You will explore an interesting archaeological site and the museum to better understand the maritime and road control function of the ancient Ionian city. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

FROM ASPROMONTE WILD LANDSCAPES TO TYRRENIAN COAST. Breakfast and transfer to Reggio Calabria across the impenetrable and mysterious Aspromonte. You will pass by the road that cuts the mountain from the Ionian to the Tyrrenian Coast to get to Scilla. Lunch in the mythical village of fishermen with its houses aligned on the sea. Afternoon visit to the Riace Bronzes, unearthed at sea and dating back to the 5th century BC.Walk on the beautiful promenade of Reggio with an aperitif at Caffè Matteotti. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

LEISURE AND DEPARTURE. Breakfast, free time and transfer to the airport.

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