The name says mountain, but getting there from Salandra means going downhill: the chapel of the Madonna del Monte stands seven kilometres from the town, on the road that leads to the railway station and the Basentana, while Salandra itself stays up at 598 metres, above the valley of the Salandrella. Behind it all is a story about farm work: a shepherd was felling a tree and saw the image of the Madonna inside the trunk. The little church was built on that exact spot.
What to see
The building is small, and what stands today is not what stood at the beginning: the chapel was enlarged at the end of the nineteenth century, and the interior you walk into is the result of that work. Everything converges on a single point, the niche of the altar, where the image of the Virgin is kept. It is the reason the church exists and the first thing to look at, before any question of architecture. That it was widened precisely then says something about the place: by the close of the century devotion was enough to make the original chapel too small.
Visiting
You get there by car, taking the station road out of town: seven kilometres downhill towards the valley floor, with the Basentana as the final landmark. It is the same road that reaches the Salandra-Grottole station, on the Battipaglia-Potenza-Metaponto line. This is a country church and outside feast days it keeps no guaranteed hours, so it is worth asking in town before setting off. The one day it is certainly open is the last Sunday in May, when the feast of the Madonna del Monte is celebrated.
Our editors' tip
Go on that last Sunday in May, but drive out from the town rather than up from the Basentana: taking the road downhill, from the 598 metres of the hilltop to the chapel, is the only way to measure the distance between the church and the town that celebrates it.