Italy rebooted: why the south is the place to be

Venice, Rome and Tuscany are the familiar crowd-pleasers, but for an authentic Italian escape, head to Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria or Campania, says Tim Jepson

Every country has its forgotten corners, the regions ignored by visitors, the backwaters often blighted by poverty, history and geographical bad luck. Even Italy, among the most blessed of destinations, has such outposts, places which until recently were often seen only by wellinformed pioneers.

Few of these long-lost lands deserve their obscurity, and certainly not in

Italy, where some of the most overlooked regions make up the most southerly parts of the famous cartographic boot – Puglia, the heel and spur; Basilicata, the instep; and Calabria, the toe. A fourth, Campania, is barely known beyond Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi coast.

Reputational reboots, of course, are slow in coming. In central Italy, for example, Umbria took decades to emerge from Tuscany’s shadow. Stars need to align: the word needs to spread, hotels need to improve, low-cost flights need airports.

Puglia has taken the lead in southern Italy. The raw materials were always there – the towns, the food, the landscapes, the coastline, and the ancient masserie, or fortified manor houses, ripe for conversion to luxury hotels.

From Puglia the ripples are spreading

Fall head over heel for Puglia, with its ancient towns and spectacular coastline

to neighbouring Basilicata, where the emergence of Matera, a European Capital of Culture in 2019, has drawn visitors and is encouraging the exploration of the majestic mountains, ancient Greek sites and coastal enclaves elsewhere in the region.

Calabria, too, is on the up, spurred by the arrival of Ryanair and charter flights to the airport at Lamezia. Tailormade specialists now have a handful of fine hotels on their books in the region, and big tour operators such as Tui and First Choice are dipping a tentative toe in the waters of several coastal resorts.

In time, these coastal footholds should provide a springboard for exploration deeper into the interior, where the landscapes of the Sila and

Aspromonte mountains are the equal of any in Italy.

This said, none of these regions will ever be a Tuscany, but if you wish to broaden your horizons, you could do worse than take a tentative step into the Italian boot. Read on for a summary of the regions’ highlights, along with ideas on how to see and enjoy them.