Potenza's real value is as a base for excursions into Basilicata. The cave city of Matera (about 100 km east) is the obvious target — UNESCO-listed and one of the most extraordinary places in Italy. The Greek temples at Metaponto lie an hour south on the Ionian coast. The hilltop villages of the Lucan Apennines — Pietrapertosa and Castelmezzano, joined by a flying-fox zipline, are 40 minutes east. And the wild Pollino National Park, Italy's largest, begins an hour south of the city.
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