Maratea

People have lived around Maratea since the Palaeolithic. In the 15th and 14th centuries BC a trading village grew up on the La Timpa headland beside today's harbour, and it is documented until the Roman conquest of Lucania in the 2nd century BC. Dozens of ancient anchors found off Santo Janni show the coast's role in Roman trade. The name probably comes from the Greek word for fennel.

From the 7th century Saracen raids drove the people up Monte San Biagio, where they built a fortified town known as the Castello. In 732 a ship fleeing the religious persecution of the emperor Leo III brought the relics of Saint Blaise, who became the patron. As the population grew, a new town, the Borgo, was founded in the 11th or 12th century behind the mountain, out of sight of the sea. During the War of the Sicilian Vespers between Angevins and Aragonese, Maratea resisted many attacks; watchtowers were built along the coast in 1566–95, and the 18th century brought prosperity, the first hospital in Basilicata in 1734 and many of the town's churches.

Maratea refused to accept Joseph Bonaparte, and in 1806 its mayor Alessandro Mandarini held the castle with about 1,000 men for three days before surrendering; the French spared the defenders but had the walls torn down. After unification poverty drove many to the United States and Venezuela, and their money helped bring the railway in 1894, an aqueduct in 1902 and electricity in 1924. In the 1950s the industrialist Stefano Rivetti opened factories and hotels, and in 1965 the Redeemer statue was completed on the summit.

Maratea calls itself the town of 44 churches, for its many churches and chapels, and its religious year turns on Saint Blaise. The feast of the translation of his relics lasts a week, from the first Saturday of May to the second Sunday, under a protocol set in 1695: processions carry the saint's silver statue from the basilica on the summit down to Santa Maria Maggiore and through the Borgo. A religious feast is also held on 3 February, and a votive column to him has stood in the main square since 1758.

The Redeemer statue on Monte San Biagio, about 22 metres high and completed in 1965 by Bruno Innocenti on Rivetti's initiative, shows Christ after the Resurrection in an unusual pose and has become the town's emblem. The town is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia and is known as the "Pearl of the Tyrrhenian".

Summer is the season of culture as well as beaches. Since 2011 the summer programme has been gathered under the name Maratea Scena, with literary, music, theatre and film events and talks on the area's natural heritage; the Premio Maratea dates from 1983 and the Marateale film festival from 2009. In 2015 the town put itself forward as a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage list.

About 4,500 people live in the comune, which is spread between the Borgo, the summit and a string of hamlets: Acquafredda and Cersuta on the northern coast, Fiumicello and Porto in the middle, Marina and Castrocucco to the south, and Massa, Santa Caterina and Brefaro on the hillsides.

Tourism is the mainstay. Maratea was already a seaside resort before the world wars and became a well-known destination after 1945, and the hotels and factories opened by Stefano Rivetti in the 1950s lifted the local economy. Porto is the centre of the fishing industry, around a harbour for up to 200 boats, and Massa is known for its wine. The local produce includes the cheeses of Massa, salted capers and anchovies and a ribbed tomato.

Life follows the seasons. In summer the coastal hamlets fill with visitors and events; in winter, which is mild but very wet, the Borgo and the hill villages return to a quieter local rhythm built around the churches, the squares and family life.

Maratea's cooking mixes land and sea. Unlike the traditional cooking of inland Basilicata, where fish is little used, it makes wide use of seafood. Many old recipes were tied to a particular time of year or occasion, and some have disappeared. Lagàne, strips of a dough of flour, oil, salt and eggs about 2.5 cm wide, are said to descend directly from the lagani of the ancient Romans.

Vermicelli con le patelle are dressed with a sauce of limpets. Alici alla scapece are fried anchovies marinated in oil, garlic, oregano and pepper, a dish traditionally eaten during the feasts of Saint Blaise. Spigola alla malvasia cooks sea bass with malvasia wine, grapes, orange and lemon peel, thyme, rosemary and garlic, and nocetti are sweets of eggs, sugar and walnuts with a lemon glaze.

Nine of the town's products are on Italy's list of traditional foods: the caciocavallo and treccia cheeses of Massa, salted capers, the carob of Maratea, gilò, the ribbed costoluto tomato, salted anchovies and aliciocculi, and the garum of Maratea. Seafood restaurants gather around the harbour, and trattorias serve local dishes in the Borgo.