A land inhabited by the sacred

Among mountains, forests, springs and valleys, Basilicata preserves one of the most dense and layered spiritual geographies in Southern Italy. Since ancient times, the religious sentiment of the communities located in the Lucanian Apennines has been expressed through a dense network of sacred places: temples, votive shrines, springs and consecrated woods, often located in highly evocative natural settings.

With the advent of Christianity, this ancient 'culture of the sacred' did not disappear, but was transformed. In the Middle Ages, this territory was structured as a constellation of sanctuaries, rural churches, monasteries and hermitages, distinct from the places of everyday life but deeply intertwined with it. In many centres of the Park, the presence of these places has helped to shape the landscape, communication routes, festive calendars and local identities. Many Christian shrines arose where ancient pagan cults already existed, especially those linked to water, fertility and female deities. It is no coincidence that Marian devotion is clearly prevalent: the figure of the Virgin, often represented as Mother and Queen, has inherited symbols, gestures and iconography that have their roots in the distant past.

Monasticism contributed decisively to strengthening this spiritual network. Benedictines, Italo-Greeks, Cistercians and, later, Franciscans and other religious orders often chose isolated places steeped in tradition, encouraging the establishment or revival of shrines and monasteries. These communities were not only centres of prayer but also cultural and social hubs, points of reference for rural populations and travellers who travelled along the ancient Apennine roads.

In Abriola, faith was structured around a system of churches and shrines that interacted with the harsh mountain landscape and found the fulcrum of local spirituality in the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Monteforte. Here, Marian worship and that linked to patron saints are grafted onto an ancient tradition of sacralisation of the heights. Not far away, in Anzi, the mountain becomes a veritable threshold to the sacred: the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Seta, for example, bears witness to a religiosity that bridges the gap between earth and heaven.

In Calvello, as in Marsico Nuovo, Marsicovetere, Moliterno and Montemurro and in the other villages of the Park, the presence of medieval monasteries and churches testifies to the central role of monastic communities and the Church in the formation of settlements and the management of communities, while Pignola, with its ancient convents and rural sanctuaries, is part of a territory that historically represented a crossing point between Potenza and the inland valleys.

However, all these places find an ideal point of convergence in Viggiano, the symbolic and spiritual heart of the entire Basilicata region. Here, Marian worship reaches its highest expression in the Sanctuary of the Black Madonna - proclaimed Protector of Basilicata by Pope John Paul II in 1991 - which stands on the Sacred Mountain at an altitude of 1,725 metres. The great paths of devotion, which once started from the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Ionian Sea and the great centres of Magna Graecia such as Paestum, Velia and Sibari, seem to lead ideally to Viggiano, the mystical place par excellence of this sacred geography.

Throughout the Lucanian Apennine Park, Marian worship is the common thread linking shrines, hermitages and rural churches. The Virgin is invoked as mother, protector of harvests, healer and guide in moments of transition in life.

The shrines of Lucania were never static places. Pilgrimages, fairs, trade and moments of strong social aggregation developed around them. The ancient roads that still connect many centres in the Park today bear witness to centuries of devotional journeys, often made on foot, in penitential form, through climbs to 'sacred mountains' or stops at springs believed to be miraculous.

Alongside their spiritual dimension, these places also took on a therapeutic and propitiatory function: waters, oils, powders and relics were used to invoke healing, protection and fertility, in a continuous intertwining of Christian faith and popular traditions. The ex-votos, now partly dispersed, tell stories of illnesses overcome, dangers escaped and graces received.

Even today, visiting the sanctuaries and monasteries of the Lucanian Apennines means travelling through the heart of Basilicata, where faith has continued to shape the landscape and give meaning to the space.

It is a slow journey, made up of climbs, stops and silences, which leads not only to places of worship, but also into a thousand-year-old history in which nature and spirituality walk hand in hand.