The Metapontum plantations around the Temple of Pythagoras

The temple of the Tavole Palatine is fragrant. The fifteen fluted columns and Doric order capitals in this place of worship devoted to the goddess Athena, erected on the remains of an ancient Neolithic village, along the prehistoric road from Siris-Heraclea, are completely immersed in the orange plantations of the Metapontum Plain near the right bank of the Bradano river. Around these vestiges, one can discover the remains of ancient Metapontum in the Archaeological Park of the urban area built in the 7th century B.C., consisting of the road network, the agora, the ekklesiasterion-theatre, the ceramic quarter and the castrum, and visit the Archaeological Museum rich in amphorae and vases. You can also penetrate among the trees full of golden apples at the farm run by Pasquale Stigliani on the plains lapped by the Adriatic Sea in Scanzano Jonico: the more than five-hectare property contains thousands of citrus trees, you can walk around, buy crates full of fruit and jams in a Macedonian setting. Not far away, you will come across the lictorian architecture of Marconia, a village that winds around Piazza Elettra and also boasts that vintage gem of the Cineteatro Rinascente. In nearby Bernalda, you can also stay at Palazzo Margherita, a late 20th-century mansion belonging to Francis Ford Coppola and his film family, while the next day in Pisticci you may be expected to trek the ring-shaped badlands.