Natura

Fruit of historical vicissitudes, culture is the base of social relations, which distinguishes the inhabitants of this territory.

What Carlo Levi called "Civiltà Contadina" (rural civilization) reflects in interpersonal relationships. Especially in relations with the outside world, toward which hospitality is sacred.

Among the populations of the Park, the stranger loses the connotation of a stranger and acquires that of a welcome guest.

An important moment in the social life of these communities occurs during the celebration of the patronal feasts; in these cases, sacred rituals are often associated with rituals considered pagan as arboreal cults linked to the traditions of the May feasts. A relevant aspect of these celebrations (Maggi, Campanacci, Carnivals) is linked to the role exchanges between the various social categories.

In conducting the events, the role of protagonist is not the prerogative of the privileged classes, but it is a role conquered on the field by demonstrating their skills.

The human presence in the territory of Gallipoli Cognato has very remote origins, as shown by the findings found in the area of ​​Monte Croccia (particularly in the Grotta di Pietra de la Mola) dating back to the Neolithic age (12,000 - 8,000 years BC). It is likely that even in later times there have been more or less irregular forms of human settlements, as evidenced by the findings at Tempa Cortaglia (near Accettura) of cinerary urns dating back to the Bronze Age (4000 - 2000 years BC). Between 1300-1200 B.C. the first substantial immigrations from Anatolia, now Turkey, organized into tribes, the Lykis, who gave the name to the Lucania region and who settled in the upper and middle Basento valley, are the leaders.

Database of the historical presidium of the Park
The database is available to learn about the archaeological and architectural structures surveyed by the Park..

The first stable settlements can be dated around the VI - IV century. B.C., when social groups of Oscan-Samnite origin founded the Lucanian town of Croccia Cognato. Built at 1,149 meters high and defended by an imposing city wall of more than 2 km in length, the residential area has a construction technique certainly inherited from the Greeks. In fact, the Lucanis borrowed from the Greeks the construction techniques of the defence works, made of blocks of squared stone that formed walls several kilometres long.
Starting from the 3rd century B.C. the supremacy of Rome determined the decline of both the Greek and the Lucan civilizations. Of the Lucanian town of Croccia Cognato and of the other fortified centres, the traces were gradually lost, until the whole area was used exclusively for the summer grazing of the herds of Roman farms.
In the centuries that followed the end of the Roman Empire, Basilicata was troubled by the invasions of barbarian populations coming from Northern Europe and it was only starting from the 10th century AD. that this area returned to be permanently populated. For many years, the Byzantine monks and the Saracens lived together with the local populations sheltered in what probably was the medieval village of Gallipolis, whose remains can be seen on the top of Timpa Castello near the "Palazzo". S. Guglielmo from Vercelli founded the “Palazzo”, an ancient convent, around 1100 together with the convent of S. Maria di Serracognato (now known as Cognato Chapel).

The frequent famines and plague epidemics that characterized the following centuries (in particular the 14th and 15th centuries AD), caused a considerable depopulation of many centres in the area and this situation continued throughout the seventeenth century; only starting from the 18th century it began to witness a slow recovery of the settlements. The decisive century for the territory of Gallipoli Cognato and of the Lucanian Dolomites was certainly the 800th; in this period, in fact, the whole area underwent a process of anthropization whose signs are still evident today.

Among the major initiatives, we mention the establishment of the State Forestry Corps in the former Palace convent; the construction of numerous forest barracks, nurseries and farms, the cultivation of land that until then had been of marginal importance. In fact, numerous are the Jazzi present in the territory of Accettura, bearing witness to the importance of sheep and goat breeding. Together with the inhabited centres, therefore, significant rural settlements were developed in the territories of Accettura (Valmiletta, Valdienne) of Pietrapertosa (Castagna, Casieri, Abetina) and of Castelmezzano (Calcesia), giving the landscape an entirely original aspect, which still constitutes singular and peculiar element of these places.

The Park of Gallipoli Cognato offers a unique spectacle of vegetation consisting of trees, flowers and rare and sometimes unique nature.

The vegetative coat differs according to the altitude, exposure and humidity, with the presence of oak (Quercus Cerris), which is the most widespread arboreal specimen.

There are between 800 and 1,000 meters of altitude, the wild Apple tree, the field maple, the maple fig tree that, in autumn, create the beautiful reddish spots.

Database of the flora of the Park
The flora database is available to learn about the species so far listed by the Park
In the Bosco di Montepiano, near Accettura, one can see columnar oaks and two different arboreal layers: the first, dominant, consisting of oaks and sessile oaks, overlooks the second of maples, hornbeams and lime trees. The white hornbeam and the rare holly can be seen at the highest altitudes. At these altitudes, the vegetation becomes dense and sometimes impenetrable with trees often covered with ivy with powerful stems.

Near the Lucanian Dolomites, near Pietrapertosa, woods of chestnut trees appear. We have to underline the presence of the Onosma Lucana, an exclusive endemic species discovered by Lacaita, and the Dalmatian Linaria with yellow flowers, of which the Pietrapertosa cliffs are one of the rare areas of presence in Italy currently known.
In the areas where the vegetation is more regular and less dense the woods are rich in numerous plants such as ferns, cyclamens, white and blue anemones; in clearings, the sapphire with its deep yellow flowers and the Knautia Lucana, another endemic species exclusive to the area, discovered by Lacaita, dominate.

Along the slopes of Mount Caperrino, covered by oak woods and pastures, in spring there are vast blooms of orchids, anemones and buttercups. The numerous paths traced in the Park will allow you to live an unchanged nature and never without surprises.

The Wood of MontepianoIt occupies an area of about 800 hectares, distributed along a height band ranging from 750 to 1158 m. above sea level, with prevailing exposures in the north quadrant. To the east and southeast, it overlooks the plain of Metaponto, while to the west it connects to the eastern ridge of the Lucanian Apennines.
From a geological point of view, the subsoil belongs to the Miocene and the Cretaceous Miocene, with formations of:

• Grey feldspathic slates and sandstones, with white marly limestone and flint nodules at the base;
• Quartz sandstone, with little clay binder, grey limestones in large banks, with subtle intercalations of grey and greenish slates;
• Scattered polychrome shales with small flakes, generally encompassing packs of calcirudite and grey limestones with remade foraminifers.

The soils belong to the series of non-leached Mediterranean brown lands. The watercourses are part of the river basin of the Cavone River (tributary of the Ionian Sea) and are mostly seasonal: the main ones are the Salandrella stream, with the tributaries Giovinazzo, S.Giovanni, Grottiglio, Vaddienna, Zingaro and torrent Poste with the tributaries Castria, Scazzarelli, Guallenida, Pullice, Valle Gannega.
The arboreal layer consists of oaks (Turkey oak and related hybrids) with a subordinate participation of pear and wild apple, Neapolitan alder, maples.
The shrub layer variously distributed in density and composition, depending on the characteristics of the species is mainly composed of brambles, dogwoods, hawthorns, holly, plum trees.

In the primitive forest, the population is much richer and diversified by the presence of other deciduous trees, including maples and lindens and, higher up, also by white fir, as in the not far Abetina di Laurenzana.