June 12, 2019
In Maratea: a photo gallery
We have stayed over in so many exceptional small towns on this tour, each with a unique character reflecting its particular history and especially the bit of rock or high ground it has been built up around. I have a long list of favorites now, places it feels like I could never forget or mistake for anywhere else on earth. Morano Calabro, Scilla, Petralia Sottana, Rocca Imperiale come to mind immediately, but the list is long by now.
Add Maratea to that list. At its heart, the old town is quite small - not much more than a short, arched main commercial street and lanes branching steeply up one side and steeply down the other. The longer I look though, the more I find of interest. It was a good place for Rachael and I to go separate ways for awhile today so I didn’t drive her mad by stopping every ten feet to look again at the wall or alley I just passed.
So much to appreciate here. Part of it is the exceptional location in this bowl-shaped depression between a ring of mountains, opening up to the sea to the west. It takes your breath away to look at a colorful roofline and then look up at the radiant green ridge soaring behind it.
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Part of it too is the use of color. It’s such a multi-hued little place, without being gaudy or feeling staged. It feels both natural and like a work of modern art at the same time.
Another quality I really like is the quiet, relaxed street life. Maybe it’s because it’s a hot, but every time I pass through it the streets are peopled with folks just sitting in the shade on benches or stoops, chatting with the person next to them or across the street or up above on a balcony.
Or maybe it’s the colorfully arranged flora and fauna you’ll see if you’re paying attention.
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As much as anything though, I think I was drawn by the combination of color and soft decay - faded or peeling paint, moldy walls, rotting wood, mildewed and patched plaster.
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5 years ago
Finally, let’s do the numbers. I wish I’d thought to look for this sooner, but here’s a reasonable set:
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