Montescaglioso rewards a slow half-day wander. The Abbazia di San Michele Arcangelo is the obvious destination — a millennium-old Benedictine monastery with two cloisters, a frescoed refectory, and views over the Bradano valley from the loggia. The rest of the centro storico is a tight maze of stone alleys, sotani (underground vaults carved into the soft tufa), and small churches.
The town sits high above the valley and most of its edges are belvederes — on a clear day you can see all the way to the Ionian coast at Metaponto.