Basilicata in October - Irsina and Miglionico

We are tired of walking and rain is forecast so it's time for the Jazz to do something. We drive to Irsina through the countryside of Basilicata, wide empty roads and ochre fields on either side.

Irsina is really quiet and it's easy to park just outside the castle walls. 

The first place we come to as we walk into the historical centre is the Chiesa Madre. We are just observing that it's closed when a friendly man appears with the keys. He's not just the custodian, he treats us to a detailed guided visit helping us to appreciate the enormous Verona pink marble baptism font, the paintings, the ancient embroidered paraments, the church-like crypt and especially the superb statue of Saint Euphemia by Andrea Mantegna whose carved hair reaches all down the back of the statue and whose eyes seem to follow you. 

 

The other statue by Mantegna, the Madonna, is equally beautiful. His descriptions and anecdotes bring everything to life and we appreciate this guided visit very much.

He sends us on to the church of Saint Frances where another guide is waiting for us. The church has a fine vaulted stone roof but its real treasure is the frescoed crypt which is splendid, especially the ceiling with the Byzantine image of God. 

The frescoes are of the school of Giotto and are superb. We wander around Irsina 

in search of sustenance but the bakery has no focaccia. So we arrive back at the main square where there are three restaurants. Trattoria Nugent catches the eye and TripAdvisor confirms it's worth a try. We look inside. Nice. A vaulted stone ceiling, green wood panelling and a menu with prices. But it's still a little early so we have another look around the village and thanks to directions from the postwoman also find the Casa delle Conchiglie. 

At 12.30 we are back at Trattoria Nugent. We choose antipasti del chef and two pasta dishes. The antipasti are excellent: ricotta and mozzarella with fig jam, crostini with capocollo and stracciatella, jacket potato with cruschi, baked onion, eggs scrambled with sausage, puré of broad beans, salsiccia lucana, spicy peppers and crostini, taralli with fennel seeds.

The home made pasta is equally good - wild boar Ragu for Andrea and an alchemical suace with yellow tomatoes, pezzenta suino nero lucano, broad bean purè, caciocavallo di podolica for me.

With water, half a litre of red wine and two coffees we spend 46 euros. Excellent! (And was I fed up of chewy bread-based picnics......)

We stop to fill up with petrol which is much cheaper than anywhere else we've seen in the area and then drive to the Parco Urbano delle Palmenti of Pietragalla. The drive is delightful, rolling hills, open countryside, as far as the eye can see, ochre and light beige. Instead the Palmenti are a little disappointing..... the famous picture taken in the spring fails to show the blocks of flats right behind them, and the road right in front of them.

The Palmenti may have been used for winemaking but most are now closed or empty or filled with rubbish. It's interesting to peer inside those that are open but they're not as fascinating as we expected. 

In many places around here local people seem inordinately and justifiably proud of their heritage but not so in Pietragalla apparently.

Never mind, the views of the countryside of Basilicata made it worth the trip. On the way back we stop at Miglionico, where a rainbow which has been taunting us the whole way back dives into the San Giuliano lake below.

The castle is fine and we can go into the inner courtyard and walk up to look at the view.

Miglionico tends toward pale pink and pastels in some of the houses and is a clean and pleasant village. The church is open but they're reciting the rosary and although we can still go in to look we feel a little conspicuous. When I finally find a euro for the illumination the polytryptic is stunning. Once again a local man takes care of us as we come out of the church and explains about his quiet village, what to see, the smell of crushed grapes coming up from the cellars, arches with a view.....

We drive home through the darkening countryside with lightning in the distance. A splendid day.