Woke up to a beautiful morning in Matera.  Took a walk and a few photos and had the lovely breakfast at Corte San Pietro.  Had our can delivered from the garage in town and took off for, what we had come to call, Valerie’s place. La Foresteria di San Leo in Trivigno.  Well it’s not actually in Trivigno, which is just a tiny dot on the map but up a hill, through the forest in a peaceful spot.  We are west of Matera, close to Potenza in Basilicata.  It is absolutely lovely and quiet and welcoming.

Valerie is an old friend from Slow Travel who moved here (well actually to the town of Trivigno) with her husband.   She met us here at the Agritorismo and helped us get settled then rode with us to the town of Castelmezzano, about 10 minutes down the hill.  The town, as I understood it, was a home to a Norman (11th century) defensive castle set into these mountains.

There is some legend about the Templar Knights being here, too.

 

We parked at the bottom of the town, walked through it and up to the site of the old castle.  There are still stairs carved into the side of the huge rocks at the top.  The town is well known for its enormous zip line system which goes from one mountain to the next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came back to our room and read and took naps.  Walked around the grounds here to find our hostess picking the lettuce for the dinner salad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valerie joined us for dinner in the stunning, stone, dining room.  We ate antipasti, including the local dark red peppers which are very sweet with a very thin wall.  They were served warm in delicious local olive oil.  The pasta course was shells, stuffed with ground veal and vegetables in a very sweet tomato sauce and then we had lamb, which was raised here,  braised in white wine and herbs.  I put some of the salad on my plate, using the lamb jus for dressing–a great discovery.  We drank Aglianico which was perfect.  No room for dessert but we did finally move to the bar and had digestivi there.  Said good bye to Valerie and “thanks” for helping us book this special place and for her company today.