Melandro Valley, the most painted valley in Italy

Our tour between Italian villages continues… this week we’ll go in the south of the peninsula, in a special place in Basilicata… In fact, as in other regions about which we already spoken in previous articles, here there are some characteristic villages with an interesting combination of tourism and art: the Melandro Valley.

Basilicata is a small region, it has just over half a million inhabitants. Its regional capital is Potenza, which is also the most populated municipality with a population of about 68 thousand inhabitants. Its medieval nucleus rises on a hill over 800 meters above sea level, so it is second only to Sicilian Enna as the highest capital of Italy.

The Melandro Valley, crossed by the homonymous river, is located in the province of Potenza; it  is known as ” the most painted valley in Italy” thanks to some villages that are characterized by beautiful murals on the walls of the homes.

A really open-air museum, managed and promoted by the artistic association ” Art for the Valley”. For many years this association has been combining the three neighboring municipalities of Satriano di Lucania, Sant’Angelo Le Fratte and Savoia di Lucania where it is possible admire the over 400 works created over time by different artists.

The main feature of these works is represented by their large dimensions… these three nice villages have become an unique cultural center which is enriched year after year with new works.

Satriano di Lucania, the most populous of the three countries with over 2,400 inhabitants, is indicated since 1983 as the capital of the murales of southern Italy and, as you can imagine, a visit to the village is enough to understand why this honorary title…

Every year new techniques and new materials are studied for the realization of the works with the aim of preserving them against the passage of time and adverse weather conditions, in particular during the winter.

Moreover, from year to year, some conservation and restoration interventions are scrupulously carried out on older works. Above all because the “most painted valley in Italy” houses works that keep alive the historical memory, traditions and the popular and religious culture of the Melandro Valley.

T H E   V I D E O

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