Near the top of Monte Croccia there is a megalithic complex called Petre de la Mola: it seems to have served as a stone calendar, to fix the solstices. A little below are stretches of arched walls left from a Lucanian town of the sixth to fourth century BC.
In the village, along via delle Grotte, open the portoni di Bacco, the cellar doors built in geometric panels by local carpenters between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On 10 August the Maggio arrives, a turkey oak trunk, and on the 12th a holly top is grafted onto it: they are the groom and the bride. There are 494 residents.
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📅 Every year, from 10 to 12 August, with the Maggio rite
Oliveto Lucano celebrates Saint Cyprian from 10 to 12 August; woven into its patronal feast is the Maggio, an ancient tree rite of pagan origin in which the trunk of a Turkey oak, the groom, is grafted with the top of a holly tree, the bride, and both are erected together in the town square.
Durum wheat semolina, thick crust, shaped as a horn or a tall loaf: Pane di Matera has held Protected Geographical Indication status since 2008.
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Outside Oliveto Lucano, but an easy day trip away.
