Basilicata Geography

Basilicata occupies the instep of Italy's boot, bordered by Campania, Puglia, and Calabria, and is unusual among Italian regions for having coastlines on two separate seas: a short, cliff-lined stretch of the Tyrrhenian Sea around Maratea, and a longer, flatter Ionian Sea coast around Metaponto.

Between the two coasts, the region is dominated by mountains and hills -- the Appennino Lucano runs through the interior, while Monte Vulture, an extinct volcano in the north, gives its name to the region's best-known wine country. To the south, Pollino National Park, Italy's largest, straddles the border with Calabria. The Dolomiti Lucane, a cluster of steep sandstone towers around Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa, form one of the region's most distinctive landscapes despite sharing a name with the much larger Dolomites in the north.