Buy real estate in Basilicata

The chances are you know little about Basilicata and even less about Italian property for sale in the region — if that’s so you’re with most of Italy as well. It labours under a reputation formed by Carlo Levi’s seminal Christ Stopped at Eboli, the book he penned while exiled here under Mussolini’s Fascist regime in the 1930s. The Basilicata Levi described was a dirt-poor region, racked with poverty and malaria, isolated from the communications infrastructure of modern Italy, its people immobilised by apathy, inertia and despair.

That this stereotype persists owes a little to the continuing problems of the Mezzogiorno, and to the disparities of wealth between a comfortable northern Italy and an underdeveloped south. But it owes a lot more to the laziness and lack of imagination of observers who write off the region without taking a closer look. One person’s ‘harsh conditions’ are another’s ‘unspoiled Italy’, and for the imaginative seeker after Italian property, Basilicata offers Italy real estate bargains aplenty.

Italy property in Basilicata — the geography

Basilicata occupies a rough triangle in southern Italy, with Campania to the west, Puglia (the heel of Italy) to the east and Calabria (forming the toe of Italy) to the south. Basilicata thus has little coastline, though it does have beaches on both the Tyrrhenian (west) and Ionian (southern) coasts. Its aspect onto the Gulf of Taranto looks across the Ioanian Sea to Greece. Buy property in Basilicata and you are geographically closer to Greece than Milan. Real estate in Basilicata is for those who love the blazing sun of the southern Mediterranean and the Greek Islands — the cuisine and lifestyle certainly owe more to Greece than to northern Italy (and some dialects reflect ancient Greek and Albanian influences).

If some of the terrain can be scorched and bleak, there are also superb mountain ranges (such as the Vulture), with rivers carving deep gorges into the soft stone. Eagles, kestrels and kites abound, as do wolves. There is skiing at Viggieno and Monte Volturino, and the Lucanian Apennines is the most sparsely populated corner of Italy. In places at least, Basilicata is an unspoiled paradise, and one where Italy real estate is to be had for a song.

One reason is the steady depopulation of this impoverished region. The censuses show that Basilicata’s population increased by a paltry 342 during the 1980s, but more relevant is the fact that numbers have been dropping for generations. Just as there are more Irish in New York than Dublin, there are more natives of Basilicata in the New World than in the home region. Hunters for Basilicata real estate should look for abandoned farms, even whole villages for sale.

Buy real estate in Basilicata capital Potenza

There are no major cities in Basilicata, but there are some lovely little towns — this is after all one of the least populated regions in Italy, with a mere 60 souls per square kilometre: only deserted mountainous Valle d’Aosta is less crowded.

The regional capital is Potenza, sitting some 819 above sea level, and brutally battered by both earthquakes and action in World War II. But regeneration money is pouring into Potenza, and it offers an excellent base for exploring the collection of medieval towns to the north. Buy Italy real estate here and you will be living in the highest regional capital in Italy and one that is surprisingly well connected. It’s also a good transport hub, with three rail stations and good connections to Naples to the north, and Puglia to the south. Head into the countryside to explore Norman towns such as Acerenza, Melfi and Venosa.

Head east toward the Ionian Sea and you come across one of the most curious towns in Italy. Matera, more than most, suffers the legacy of Levi’s observations on Basilicata, and in the past it was a byword for appalling poverty. The sassi are layer upon layer of caves dug from the soft rock around the town, and home to thousands of local people until the 1960s. Levi’s sister compared the scene in the 1930s to something from Dante’s Inferno, with lice-ridden, malaria-infected children begging for quinine. The 15,000 cave dwellers were forced out and into new housing in the fifties and sixties, and the sassi are now a picturesque tourist site.

But would you look at Italy real estate in Matera? Well this vision of hell is now a surprisingly cultural, elegant and pretty town by the standards of the South (where things tend to be a little more rough hewn) and you could buy a property in this part of Italy from around €1000 per square metre.

Or head over to the west coast and the ‘town’ of Maratea. We paranthesise because those looking at Italian property in this part of Basilicata need to know that Maratea is rather a collection of villages, clustered around the main port. Even more curious, the port actually sits some 1000ft above sea level — its pretty maze of mediaeval streets and little piazzas some ten minutes drive from the seafront. With good restaurants and shops, Maratea is an affordable alternative to the Amalfi Coast to the north. With its hidden beaches, sheltered caves and craggy cliffs, the resort is yet almost deserted out of season. Maratea is only going to become more popular, yet property for sale in this part of Basilicata costs a fraction of its Campanian neighbour.

Real estate for sale in Basilicata — getting there

Basilicata doesn’t have an airport, though the coastal A1 highway runs through the west of the region. From here, it’s a 100mile drives up to Naples and its airport. You probably wouldn’t buy a weekend property in Basilicata, but relocators with a sense of adventure could buy the home of their dreams in Italy for less than the price of a London apartment. You'll find some Basilicata hotels featured on ahotelinitaly.com.

Anyone who knows Italy will know that describing a local cuisine as ‘frugal’ or ‘peasant’ is far from an insult. Italians are at their best when making the most of basic local ingredients. Anyone buying property in Basilicata will enjoy a healthy, simple and surprisingly spicy menu. Chillies feature strongly, you’ll see huge red festoons of dried peppers hanging outside village houses. Caciocavallo is a strong, hard cheese. Meat is rare — it’s largely lamb or mutton and sometimes free-range pork (truly free range, these are wild pigs picked off in the mountains by hunters), or game birds. Meat stews are mixed up with fresh vegetables, pecorino and salami — accompanied by rock-hard bread and red Aglianico wine or ice-cold white Aglianico. Fish tends to be grouper or hake in chilli sauces, or sardines steeped in vinegar.

Carbohydrate takes the place of meat of course, and there are dozens of different pastas. Buy real estate in Basilicata and you’ll enjoy a cornucopia of fresh vegetables at market or on your restaurant table: cardoons, cherry tomatoes exploding with sweetness and flavour, aubergines, beans, sweet peppers, wild mushrooms and chicory to name but a few.