Carpe diem, seize the day, was written by Horace, the Lucanian poet born in Venosa. The phrase still suits the region, if not always the pace. Each of these days opens a different part of Basilicata: its food and wine, its old crafts, its landscapes, its history.
Activities
In the kitchen, the Palazzo’s cooks show you how to roll and cut pasta by hand and how the pizza goes into the wood-fired oven. Then you eat what you made at a long table in the courtyard, under the pomegranate tree. The days of food and wine continue from there, with afternoon tastings of the region’s Aglianico and a morning at a working masseria, where the cheese is made and the oil is poured.
Another day, you follow a trained dog into the oak woods to hunt truffles, then taste them shaved over eggs in a medieval cave. In town, Bernalda keeps its old trades alive, and we can arrange time with local artisans, from the ceramic workshops of Grottaglie to crafts handed down for generations. None of it is hurried.
Adventures
When you do go out, the region opens quickly. Matera is under an hour away, its Sassi carved into the rock and inhabited for thousands of years. Nearby Craco stands abandoned on its hillside, its medieval streets and buildings left largely empty. On the coast at Metaponto, the remains of the ancient Greek city offer a glimpse into the region’s history as part of Magna Graecia. Cross into Puglia for the trulli of Alberobello, the Baroque architecture of Lecce, and the white streets of Ostuni, or follow the coast to the cliffs and coves of Polignano a Mare and the harbor at Monopoli. Gravina in Puglia lies about an hour away, its old town divided by a deep ravine and crossed by a seventeenth-century aqueduct bridge featured in No Time to Die.
Nature & Outdoors near Palazzo Margherita
Beyond Bernalda, Basilicata offers a landscape of mountains, forests, rivers, and coast. The Lucanian Dolomites rise above the villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa, with hiking trails and the seasonal Angel’s Flight connecting the two peaks. Farther north, the Monticchio Lakes sit within an ancient volcanic landscape on the slopes of Monte Vulture, surrounded by forest and walking paths. Near Matera, the Murgia’s limestone plateau is marked by caves, ravines, and rock-hewn churches, while Pollino National Park stretches across the mountains of southern Basilicata and Calabria. And the Ionian coast is just minutes from Palazzo Margherita, with wide sandy beaches and clear water for swimming, walking, and a day by the sea. Whether you head into the mountains, explore the countryside, or follow the coast, the region offers plenty of ways to spend a day outdoors.
