Fenix Tours
A substantial part of the province of Matera is characterized by the presence of extensive erosive phenomena: the badlands. These are slopes sometimes completely devoid of vegetation that take very varied forms depending on the erosive phase.
Several million years ago, during the geological period of the Pliocene, between 2 and 5 million years ago, the territory between the Apulian Murgia and the Lucanian Apennines was at great sea depths, between 2000 and 3000 meters below the sea forming a gulf that in the present time we call the Bradanic Trough (Fossa Bradanica). With the push of the African continent against the Euro-Asian mass, several lands emerged and the ancient seabed of the sea arm that existed between the emerging Apennine mountains and the plateau of the Murge, fragmented and piled up giving rise to many pieces of clay rock with two sides with unequal characteristics. The side facing north-east, often has a gentle slope and has a decent fertility, while the one facing south-west, is steep, very erodible and subject to landslide, and poorly suited to be cultivated as well as sterile.
The friability of this pedological and geological formation has often led farmers of all historical epochs to believe that it was sufficient to plough them to make them productive. Once the fertile part of the slope exposed to the north-east is eroded, what remains is a sterile soil suitable only for extensive grazing.
I am aware that probably what I wrote will not interest many people, but I think that those who want to visit the Badlands, maybe might be interested in understanding their origin.
My passion for the Badlands, began some time ago listening to a phrase on the radio that impressed me a lot: "feeling the presence in the absence". A Milanese poet said this about his land: the Po plain. I was 20 years old and for some time I was already wandering far and wide the lands of Southern Italy walking through the countryside and the woods. A few years later I chose the study of Badlands for my Bachelor’s thesis in Agricultural Sciences. I felt that presence too and later again while studying the desert soils of Nevada during my PhD in U.S.A.
The presence in the absence! The fog that doesn't let you see the landscape as in the case of the Milanese poet doesn't last long during the cold and humid winter days. Instead here it is the apparent absence of vegetation, the glow of clay that can sometimes blinds, life that seems to be absent and instead is there...
The flocks of sheep and goats leave traces of their passage along the badlands slopes, and the shepherds sometimes set fire to the bushes to prevent them from taking back possession of the places. So an almost desertic landscape presents itself to the eyes of the traveller. And to make the landscape even more dramatic there are the ghost town of Craco, the ruins of the castle of Uggiano, the solitary Tempa Petrolla, the magic handed down by Carlo Levi about the charming village of Aliano... A landscape that penetrates deeply into the soul!
Please do not forget to read the Terms and Conditions before booking. The reservation is valid after the payment of the advance or the full amount.
For the same tour there are two prices based on the number of people: 1 to 3 and 4 to 7 people. For groups of 8 or more people, please contact us.
After deciding which excursion you want to do, click on the booking button that will open a partially pre-filled e-mail. You must indicate the date, the number of participants and your special requests. Probably it will take more than one e-mail to define the excursion but as soon as you receive our confirmation email, you can make the payment (in advance or in full).
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The two most representative places of this excursion are the ghost town of Craco and Aliano, place where the famous book "Christ stopped at Eboli" was set by the writer Carlo Levi. The nearby Regional Reserve of the Badlands with the peculiar Tempa Petrolla as well as Craco dominate the valley of the river Cavone and from their peaks the landscape is absolutely spectacular. You cannot put aside in order to enter the soul of these places (genius loci) the ruins of the Castle of Uggiano near the pretty Ferrandina or even Moltalbano whose gullies show the geological evolution of the last 5 million years of the history of the area.
| 1-3 people | 4-7 people | ||||
| Full Price | Down Payment | Balance | Full Price | Down Payment | Balance |
| 700 € | 210 € | 490 € | 980 € | 294 € | 686 € |
The badlands of Lucania find their best expression in the heart of the province of Matera. The hydrogeological instability of the area is well represented by Craco, a town abandoned a few decades ago following a landslide and for its drama and spectacularity is often used as a setting for films just like the Sassi of Matera. The first visual approach is equally impressive from the beautiful and majestic ruins of the castle of Uggiano that stretch out towards the Cavone valley. Even Uggiano as Craco was a town that according to historical chronicles was abandoned towards the end of the fifteenth century following an earthquake but historians believe that it was a landslide.
The Badlands Regional Reserve is another jewel and very representative of these geological formations. The park flanks the city of Montalbano and walking along the edge of the Ionian town that flanks the badlands, the show is magnificent. The stratigraphy of the geological deposits that have formed in the last 5 million years are all readable and interpretable in this reserve.
Finally moving to Aliano, village in which is set the famous book "Christ stopped at Eboli" in addition to being able to discover other spectacular events of badlands, you enter the magical and ancestral world described by the Turin writer Carlo Levi during his confinement in Aliano in the fascist period.
| 1-3 people | 4-7 people | ||||
| Full Price | Down Payment | Balance | Full Price | Down Payment | Balance |
| 1120 € | 336 € | 784 € | 1568 € | 470 € | 1098 € |
