Basilicata in October - from Pietrapertosa to Cilento

It's another cool morning as we load up to the car and leave the snug apartment at Le Dimore dell'Ofra in the direction of Pietrapertosa on the way to Agropoli. It's quite cloudy and there's no traffic around. The roads are good and empty and the last stretch to Pietrapertosa is full of bends both horizontal and vertical. 

It's 10 degrees centigrade and there's a keen breeze as we pay for parking and I'm glad our warm winter jackets were in the car too. Pietrapertosa is one of the Borghi più belli d'Italia and rightly so. Clustered around almost the tops of some dolomite peaks shaped into curious forms from elephant to dolphin, the village blends perfectly into the rock. 

The Arab quarter leads us up to the castle, 

only open Saturday and Sunday during October but there's a fine view of the rocks, the surrounding mountains, Castelmezzano and the Volo dell'Angelo zip line. Not for me!

We go down the other way to the Chiesa Madre di San Giacomo Maggiore which is fortunately still open as the bells chime midday. It's a fine church with its unadorned rock built walls and arches, some paintings and even one or two frescoes which have survived.

We regret only paying for an hour and a half of parking although the cold wind outside the centre and the generally grey day don't encourage lingering. Anyway we have time to buy some more interesting than usual focaccia and also see the Convent of San Francesco where there's a nice cloister. The church has some beautiful frescoes of scenes of the New Testament and the life of San Francesco as well as a fine polyptych, by Giovanni Luce da Eboli as well as strange tombs in the floor  but unfortunately it's so gloomy inside that it's difficult to make much out.

We get back to the car, still warm, for our picnic lunch and follow it up with a coffee in the very nice bistrot bar GVNove. First we admire the excellent view of Pietrapertosa, and then the thoughtful industrial style furnishing of the bar itself which I could call soft industrial.

There's still a two-hour drive to Agropoli, but first on a superstrada, then free motorway and then the ordinary road. The car thermometer creeps up encouragingly and it's 21° by the time we get to Agropoli. We have detailed instructions plus Google maps on how to reach our accommodation but both us and our host are taken unawares by a crucial road in the one way system closed for building work.

The apartment is small but clean and modern and our host very kind and welcoming. Plus it's ground floor and we can unload the luggage just outside.

We are just a couple of minutes walk from the harbour and from there we walk up to the centre in search of a Sfogliatella which we eventually find at the Bakery near Eurospin. Very good, with cappuccino for Andrea, boiling hot for once.

We go back through the main street and get some fish, small local stuff but it looks fresh, and take it back to the flat.  Just 6 € but it should be enough for a meal and a half.

By the time we go out again and up the wide steps towards the historical centre the sun is starting to set beyond the harbour. Unexpectedly spectacular, we stand and stare and wait as the sun dips into the sea.

Then we walk up to the castle and around the historical centre in the dusk. Back at our viewpoint the sky is deep red and even though we have things to do we stand and look, nature is too beautiful to ignore.