Bitter delight: hidden Basilicata in San Francisco

Of Italy’s twenty regions, Basilicata, often known with its ancient name of Lucania, is probably the least known. Sprawling along the arch of the Italian boot, embracing both the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian Seas, this region is still undiscovered by the most avid, off-the-beaten-track, world's traveller. Even Italians struggle with its location!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Basilicata_in_Italy.svg

Small towns dot its wild mountainous landscape, combining nature’s beauty with vestiges of a rich past.

Basilicata was once at the center of busy trade routes in the Mediterranean. It was invaded by the Longobards, Byzantines and Normans; and became the residence of the German emperor Frederick II in the Middle Ages.

Spared by the frenzy tourism that affects most of Italy, Basilicata’s two unrivaled gems, Maratea and Matera, have only recently started attracting a flock of international visitors.

Maratea sits on the Tyrrhenian Sea, perched on the slopes of Mount San Biagio. Its pristine black-sand beaches, lush Mediterranean vegetation, and turquoise waters have gained it the name of “Mediterranean’s Pearl”.



Home to stone-dwellings which have became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993, Matera, instead is the oldest continuously-inhabited settlement in Europe.

Maratea's port. Courtesy of  Viaggiare nel Pollino

Maratea coastline. Courtesy of  Viaggiare nel Pollino

La Secca - Maratea. Courtesy of  Viaggiare nel Pollino

Maratea's old town. Courtesy of  Viaggiare nel Pollino

So, you can imagine my surprise, after years of “Where is Basilicata?”, when last Friday, I spotted a bottle of Amaro Lucano at my local grocery in San Francisco. There it was, in bella vista, with a few other Italian amari (amari, the plural of amaro, literally translated as bitter are a type of liquor, usually derived from herbs, which is often served as a digestif after lunch or dinner).

Lucano is what Lucanians (the inhabitants of Basilicata) would have after a Sunday meal, in the afternoon as a pre-dinner aperitivo or most often as an after-dinner digestif. Its recipe is jealously guarded by the fourth generation of the Vena family, who started its production in Pisticci, Basilicata, in 1894.

Bottles of Amaro Lucano

Served neat, at room temperature, or with ice, Lucano remains a well-kept little secret. Few, outside Basilicata, would have heard of it.

What then was Amaro Lucano doing in a little shop in the Mission District in San Francisco? I swear, it wasn't there until recently. I am a regular at Bi-rite and I never saw it before. Someone must have discovered Lucania and Lucano!

So, the little secret has been revealed on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Now Americans and the many fellow Europeans shopping at Bi-Rite might wonder, after buying a bottle of Amaro Lucano, where Lucania is.

In a way, I feel annoyed that this is no longer a secret. Perhaps the time has come that this unspoilt, remote region got some publicity.