Italy is a country full of unique and interesting places to visit, with heritage stretching from pre-Roman times, through all of history to the modern day, ther was always something interesting going on. So let's look at one small slice of that history: the Parco dei Palmenti di Pietragalla.
The aerial view of this place brings to mind ancient fables about fairies, or the works of Tolkein and the Shire. But the reality of this park is much more mundane: it was built to create wine. Don't let the down-to-earth explaination for this landscape dissuade you though. Italy might be known for its many vinyards, but the Parco dei Palmenti is much more than that, exuding a magical atmosphere that can transport you to a now lost past. Let's explore it together.
The Palmenti, or millstones, are nothing more than stone houses built to transform grapes into must and then into wine, and to pour it into barrels. In Pietragalla, in Basilicata, a region in the south of Italy, the Palmenti are carved directly into the stone beneath your feet and covered with grass, forming a stunning park landscape; the Parco Urbano dei Palmenti, which today is open to visitors. These small buildings seem to emerge from the grass with a somewhat fantastical effect, as if one could expect to see dwarves, or hobbits, or some other enchanted creatures emerging through them, out of the ground itself.
If you visit the park you are free to walk over the roofs of these approximately two hundred houses, which are in reality just simple hollows under one's feet. But getting down, in between them, you can see the doors, and behind them stone rooms, with the right humidity to create one of the products southern Italy is most famous for.
The Palmenti date back to the sixteenth century. The idea was first imported by the French along with their invasion at that time, and actually remained in use until the early twentieth century. Some are even still used today: incredible for something that looks like it belongs in a fantasy novel. But they are very much real, in the Italian province of Potenza, and you can visit them today!
