Melfi and Venosa are about 30 km apart. With a car you can see both in a long day.
1 Melfi castle and museum
The Norman castle dominates Melfi with its towers and moat. Inside, the National Archaeological Museum of the Melfese displays finds from the area, including the Roman sarcophagus of Rapolla.
Practical: Ticketed; closed one day a week.
2 Venosa castle
The Aragonese castle, built in the fifteenth century with round corner towers and a moat, houses the town’s archaeological museum.
Practical: Ticketed; check current hours.
3 Santissima Trinità and the Incompiuta
At the edge of Venosa, the abbey complex includes an older church still in use and, behind it, the enormous unfinished church begun in the eleventh or twelfth century, open to the sky.
Practical: Visits sometimes guided; check times.
4 Roman Venosa and Horace
Venusia was a Roman colony, and its archaeological park shows baths, houses and an amphitheatre area. The poet Horace was born here in 65 BC, and the town remembers him in its squares.
Practical: Archaeological park ticketed; ask about combined tickets.
5 Laghi di Monticchio
Two lakes in the crater of the Vulture, surrounded by forest. The abbey of San Michele Arcangelo clings to the slope above the smaller lake.
Practical: Free to walk; the abbey has its own hours. Busy on summer Sundays.
6 Aglianico wine country
Around Rionero in Vulture, Barile and Venosa, wineries produce Aglianico del Vulture. In Barile, old cellars are dug into the volcanic rock.
Practical: Book winery visits ahead.
