Photo courtesy of Comune di Maratea
Two hours south of busy Naples lies Italy’s best kept secret–the quiet town of Maratea.
Virtually unknown outside Italy, the area has become popular for weddings, and with the Italian elite, many of whom own villas there.
Maratea sits on the Tyrrhenian sea, the only coastal port in the otherwise landlocked region of Basilicata. In ancient times the Etruscans, called Tyhrennians by the Greeks, settled on Italy’s western coast north of modern Rome in the area known today as Tuscany.
Thus, the Mediterranean that washes Italy’s western shores came to be known as the “Sea of the Estruscans,” the Tyhrennian Sea.
Maratea was first settled by another ancient people, the Oscans, who established a village here around 450 B.C. The modern country name, Italy (Italian: Italia) is derived from an Oscan word, “Vitalieu,” meaning “land of the life giving calf.”
Above the town on a craggy mountain cliff known as Mount St. Blaise hovers Maratea’s guardian angel, “Il Redentore” a 72 foot tall white marble statue of Christ, second only in size to “Cristo Redentor” the 98 foot statute standing guard over Rio de Janeiro.
Maratea’s “Redeemer” was commissioned by Count Stefano Rivetti as a gift to his adopted hometown, and carved by Florentine sculptor Bruno Innocenti.
Count Rivetti also built Maratea’s 5-star Santavenere Hotel on a picturesque promontory near the town, where, in the late 50s, it became a refuge for international stars like Frank Sinatra and Richard Burton.
This town of 5,000 boasts 44 churches, which amounts to one for every 114 inhabitants.
In Maratea’s historic old town, some 2000 feet above the sea, steep cobblestone streets wind past shops where locals sell their quality wares at attractive prices.
To tourists lucky enough to stumble on this gem, Maratea is known to be friendly, unspoiled and inexpensive.
REFERENCES:
In the map at this site the region of Basilicata is outlined in red:Basilicata
Here’s a site about seaside weddings in Italy with a section on Maratea that includes some great photos: Maratea seaside scenes
Check out the photo gallery of the town of Maratea: Maratea town photos
To access the photos, click on “La Cittá” in the navigation panel on the upper left hand side, then click on “fotogallery”. (How about that, after all the words we borrowed from Latin and Italian, some words are now being borrowed from us!)
There is a great article on Maratea at Dream of Italy, The Insider’s guide to Undiscovered Italy: Maratea article
BYLINE:
Article provided by Rex Bush, webmaster of this blog’s affiliated website: Utah-Personal-Injury-Attorney.com. Click here Utah Injury Attorney to access relevant articles on injury law.
Mr. Bush spent two years in Italy back in the 70s (that’s right I said the 70s) and continues to explore his love for that land by returning often, continuing to study Italian to maintain fluency and by reading and writing about Lo Stivale (the boot).
