The name Basilicata takes its name from the Latin Basileus, meaning land of kings. The poets however, have always called it something different - Lucania - a more musical sounding word, evoking the memory of the now vanished Lucania people, whose dialect has lived on in many Basilicatan villages. Irrespective of whatever name this Italian province deserves, this area represents the essence of southern Italy: Breathtakingly rugged, the geography of the region makes your heart stop. In this region you will find towns, which topple down hills and long rolling valleys, where truffles, mushrooms, wild strawberries and rivers run through sharp geological terrain. The province stretches from the Ionian to the Tyrrhenian and offers visitors a chance to see the interior of Italy, where ancient settlements of human kind can be traced to the times of Homo Sapiens.