Cammino Materano Via Peuceta Day 7: Masseria Santa Maria - Masseria La Fiorita

Franco and Grazia, our hosts at Masseria Santa Maria, prepared us giant cups of cappuccino and piping hot croissants for breakfast, then we took a selfie outside the Masseria all together before starting the day's walk. 

About an hour later, we left behind the detour for Masseria Santa Maria and rejoined the main trail of the Cammino Materano where it emerges out of the Bosco della Difesa forest. 

My favourite road sign

Another admirable road sign

The protagonist of today's stage was definitely the sky. Though we are not in the plains, the sky felt particularly big! 

Or rather, we felt very small beneath it. 

We finally crossed from Puglia into Basilicata! There were no signs on our dirt road in the middle of the fields, but I noted the moment on Google maps. 😁

We passed a small village that went under the odd name of "Borgo Picciano B" and began the long climb up to the Sanctuary of Picciano, where we stamped our pilgrim passports and made a picnic lunch out of the fruit, nuts and biscuits we were carrying in our backpacks. 

Picciano has hosted a monastic community since 1219. The Knights of Malta eventually took over from the Benedictines, but were evicted in 1809; the site was then abandoned until the Benedictines returned and rebuilt the monastery in 1966. The shrine is traditionally frequented by shepherds from Abruzzo taking their sheep up and down from the mountain pastures in their annual transhumance. 

We left the Sanctuary and descended a steep paved road to the valley floor on the other side, where we came to the intersection of three different ways: the longer and more scenic 30 km route to Matera, a 17 km shortcut passing through the city's industrial zone, and the road to Masseria La Fiorita. We took the third option and walked for another hour on a paved road that took us gradually uphill, then steeply up the last 500 metres or so along Masseria La Fiorita's private drive. 

The word masseria means farmhouse, and Masseria La Fiorita is a working farm. Our hostess Marialaura explained to us that she was away working in the industrial northern city of Turin when her father announced that he was going to sell the family farm and retire. She couldn't let this happen, so she came back to take over the running of the farm. All the crops are grown using natural organic methods, with small numbers of animals roaming free in plenty of space on the farmland (five cows and one bull, as well as chickens and sheep). The buildings are heated by a boiler that burns waste from the farm such as olive pits and trimmings. Upstairs are a number of private rooms available for rent on a bed & breakfast basis, while downstairs is a hostel, and there are camping sites on the farm too! 

Marialaura's partner Pasquale showed us to our beds in the hostel and we showered and rested before gathering for dinner with the other guests: four more walkers - all women - and a French couple on holiday. We all sat together on homemade wooden chairs at a very long table and enjoyed some of the farm's fantastic organic produce. 

Masseria Santa Maria - Santuario di Picciano - Masseria La Fiorita 20.5 km