The food of Basilicata is simple.

They rely on using a lot of grilled and baked product and trying to make the most of the local ingredients. Typical Basilicata dishes include lamb with chicory or lamb with carrot, sausage, breadcrumbs and cheese and cooked in an earthenware pot. In the Potenza region, pasta with luntruppc a kind of sausage sauce and pupazzella, small, vinegar-drenched hot peppers stuffed with parsley and anchovies is popular. Pig farming plays a big role in Basilicata's food culture. Pork from this region is decidedly leaner than in other parts of Italy, due in large part to the mountainous terrain. Many of the pigs are set to graze in the hills alongside goats and sheep, and so they tend to have less fat, more lean muscle mass and a wilder flavor than one would expect from most pork products. Sausage making is predominant in the area, and is linked inextricably with the region's growing of spicy peperoncini. Local favorites include lucanica (a spicy sausage), pezzente ("beggar's" salami) and pancetta. Chickpeas, fava beans, lentils, durum wheat, artichokes, broccoli and rapini, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, carrots, olives and wine grapes are staple crops, and provide the hearty basis for countless dishes made in the simple Basilicata tradition. While the region's people admire and cherish humble dishes, they have developed wide variety in their simplicity. Basilicata is home to countless types of durum wheat pastas, some incorporating lentil flour or other bean flours. Orechiette ("little ears"), lagane (lasagna), minuich (hand rolled tubes), firricieddi (twists), manate (tagliatelle), minuiddi (shaped like small quills), tapparelle (like orechiette but larger), rascatielli (corkscrew shaped), and lacane chiappute (a

wide tagliatelle) are just a few of the pasta cuts popular in Basilicata. Most are perfect with a simply prepared tomato sauce. Equally as diverse are the different types of breads and cheeses made in the region, rounding out the rustic country fare that seems to pair so well with dishes made from the fresh vegetables and lean meats of the area. Stealing the show on the Basilicatan table are without doubt the delightful array of local cheeses such as cacioricotta Lucano (a sheep and goat milk cheese particularly good grated over orecchiette pasta), Lucania mozzarella, Casieddu di Moliterno (a sheep's milk cheese wrapped in leaves), and pecorino Lucano. Names of Basilicata wine may not spring immediately to mind, and the region is relatively modest producer. But what Basilicata lacks in volume it makes up for in quality, making one of the finest reds in Italy Aglianico del Vulture (DOC). Produced from grapes grown on the slopes of the extinct Monte Vulture volcano. This robust, complex wine is sometimes referred to as the Barolo of the south. The Aglianico grape in Greek in origin and the named changed from Hellenico to Hellanico to finally during the 15th century when they settled with Aglianico. Non-DOC wines made from it and are popular in Basilicata, particularly around Matera. Among white wines, the best-known wines are called Asprinio, Malvasia di Basilicata and Moscato.