Calabria (and Basilicata) - Day 8

Yesterday morning after leaving the hotel in Laghi di Sibari, we tried to find the location of the 'scavi'.
Sybaris was the first Magna Graecia settlement in Italy and grew to a city of about 100,000 people who lived such a good  life that 'sybaritic' became a byword for a life of pleasure.

The ruins don't amount to much I'm afraid, and we were just happy to cast a glance from the car, when we finally located them!  (We didn't have time for the much more interesting museum - according to the guidebook).

We travelled north-west and stopped at Civita, a wonderful village, one of many of Albanian origin.



Here they are proud of their heritage and signs are all bilingual.





The village is very well kept and a joy to wander around. The main church - in the Greek style -  is lovely with some great gold mosaic.

There's a very deep gorge nearby spanned by a 'devil's bridge'.

We just looked at it  from the village, it seemed hard work to climb back up and we didn't really have the time (or that's our excuse anyway!)





Our last stop in Calabria was the nearby town of Morano Calabro. Both Civita and Morano are on the edge of the Pollino National Park with its snow-capped mountains.





Another beautiful place. Shame that the castle at the very top was closed.



We then started our journey back to Naples on the motorway. Goodbye Calabria and hello to Basilicata, and later Campania.

Here we stopped at Lagonegro, a town at the disturbing altitude of 666 m. 
The medieval borgo is again rather steep and there are ruins of the castle destroyed by the inhabitants who had enough of feudal servitude.
Also here is the church of San Nicola which, according to a legend started by a Russian biographer of Leonardo da Vinci, is the resting place of La Gioconda aka Mona Lisa.

Sadly as the church was closed, I cannot confirm or deny such rumour.
 

Adrian stopped at the church but I climbed up to the ruins



and it was time to use the self timer on my camera.



So, now here we are in Naples having breakfast in the room (the restaurant is closed) and looking forward to going home on the 12 pm flight with some wonderful memories of our Calabrian holiday.

Arrivederci Italia!