Ponte alla Luna – Ph. rino56/flickr
Not only culture but also adrenaline. This year Basilicata not only holds the honor of having Matera as the European Capital of Culture, but also the title of the most adrenaline region in Italy. Those who love walking in the void, with 120 meters of “nothing” more total under the sole of their shoes, cannot help but walk on the rickety Ponte alla Luna of Sasso di Castalda, in the province of Potenza, on the Lucanian Apennines. There is also a crystal skywalk overlooking the valley.
Those who do not suffer from vertigo, on the other hand, can try the Angel’s Flight, a 400-meter-high slip between the Lucanian Dolomites, attached with a hook to a steel cable. The flight takes a minute but you travel at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour. And for many it may seem like an eternity! At your feet, the ancient villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa. And then there is the Volo dell’Aquila, in San Costantino Albanese (Potrnza), in the Pollino National Park, aboard a four-seater vehicle. The cable of the plant (984 meters long, the longest flyer in the world) transports the Eagle to the top of the mountain station at 850 meters: there begins the fall towards the valley at 80 kilometers per hour.
But the adventures don’t end there. There are the Via Ferrata in the Lucan Dolomites, routes that allow you to reach otherwise inaccessible points. The Via Ferrata Salemm is located on the slope of Castelmezzano and has a height difference of 249 meters, while the Ferrata Marcirosa on the Pietrapertosa slope has a vertical drop of 331 meters. And then climbing, horseback riding, mountain biking, paragliding, trekking, rafting and canoeing along the Lao river or in the Raganello Gorges, between waterfalls and rocky walls. In short, the Balisicata is pure adrenaline. To train your culture, instead, there is Matera.
And much more…
