Metaponto Golf Club
Carries the appeal of places that still sit outside the main circuits and are all the mor...
Metaponto Golf Club carries the appeal of places that still sit outside the main circuits and are all the more interesting because of it. In a southern region that rarely appears in international golf conversations, the club offers open, sunlit and readable golf that becomes more nuanced once the wind rises and the land begins to reveal its subtleties. The setting along Basilicata's Ionian coast adds genuine distinction: archaeology, sea, silence and a sense of space that is increasingly rare. The course does not depend on spectacle to feel worthwhile; instead, it works through flow, accessibility and the simple quality of time spent on the course. For curious travellers, it makes an intelligent detour, especially within a broader itinerary across mainland southern Italy. Metaponto is not yet a compulsory name on the map — and that is exactly why it remains so rewarding to discover with fresh eyes.
Consideralo come tappa laterale di un viaggio più ampio nel Sud: Metaponto rende al meglio quando lo vivi come scoperta, non come confronto con i grandi nomi del Nord.
Contesto insolito e interessante nella Basilicata ionica
Golf accessibile e piacevole per chi ama esplorare circuiti meno battuti
Meno infrastruttura premium rispetto ai resort più noti
Richiede una motivazione di viaggio più territoriale che golfistica pura
Exclusive Experiences
Secrets found in no guidebook, curated by our concierge.
Matera: i Sassi all'Alba Prima dei Turisti
The Sassi di Matera are the world's largest inhabited cave settlement: 9,000 years of continuous history in the calcarenite caves of the Gravina. UNESCO World Heritage since 1993 and European Capital of Culture 2019, the Sassi at dawn — before 8:00 AM — are completely empty. Cave guides accredited by the Municipality open rupestrian churches normally closed to the public.
“Cave guide Annamaria Stigliano leads to the Church of Madonna delle Virtù — Matera's largest rupestrian complex — at 6:00 AM before opening: 120 interconnected caves on 4 floors with 11th-century Benedictine frescoes in absolute darkness with an oil lantern.”
Elena Fucci: Aglianico del Vulture Titolo
Aglianico del Vulture grows on Monte Vulture, an extinct Basilicata volcano: the basaltic volcanic soil at 600 metres altitude produces Southern Italy's most austere wine. Elena Fucci produces the Titolo — pure Aglianico from a single vineyard — alone, 5,000 bottles per year. The private vertical from 2000 in the cellar beneath her home shows 20 years of a wine Wine Spectator called 'the Barolo of the South'.
“Elena Fucci leads to the vineyard at 5:30 AM before harvest: she explains how Vulture basalt changes colour with temperature — black at 20°C, grey at 10°C — and how that daily thermal variation is the secret of Aglianico acidity that the flat Piedmont cannot replicate.”
Metaponto: le Tavole Palatine dei Pitagorici
Metaponto was the capital of Magna Graecia and Pythagoras's city: the Tavole Palatine — 15 Doric columns from the 5th-century BC Temple of Hera still standing in the Lucanian plain — are one of the South's most evocative archaeological landscapes. At dawn before the Park opens, the caretaker accepts private groups: the local limestone columns in the morning Lucanian plain mist seem to float.
“Caretaker Rocco Lauria opens at 5:30 AM for private groups: at November dawn the Lucanian plain fog covers the columns to half their height and the rising sun illuminates them from above — one of Italian archaeology's most difficult and most beautiful photographs.”