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Basilicata lies in southern Italy. It faces the Gulf of Taranto (Ionian Sea) to the southeast and the Gulf of Policastro (Tyrrhenian Sea) to the southwest and borders with Campania to the west, Puglia to the north and to the northeast and Calabria to the south: its borders, largely conventional, are the result of complex historical events. Comparatively small, it exceeds only Molise and Val d'Aosta in number of inhabitants: also the population density is very low and corresponds only to a third of the national average.

History. If we exclude the narrow coastal plains facing the Gulf of Taranto, Basilicata is completely mountainous, with mountains which rise to over 2,000 m. (the Pollino Massif, 2,248 m., on the Calabrian border; Mount Sirino, 2,005 m. near the border with Campania). The Fossa Bradanica, a deep tectonic valley furrowed by the Basentello-Bradano and partly filled with river sediments, sharply separates the Preapennine tablelands of the Murge from the higher and larger mountains of the Lucanian Apennines, which cover most of the region from the volcanic Vulture Massif (1,321 m.) to the Pollino group.

Most Basilicata rivers flow into the Ionian Sea; the Bradano, Basento, Cavone, Agri and Sinni flow into the Gulf of Taranto with a course generally oriented from northwest to southeast; they are fast-flowing with very wide beds, covered by large quantities of coarse detritus, swept downstream during the violent and sudden floods. The Ofanto river, which crosses the north of Basilicata, flows into the Adriatic Sea, while the western part of the region channels all its waters to the Platano and Noce rivers, which flow into the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Of the natural lakes, it is worth mentioning the two picturesque, though very small, Monticchio, crater lakes in the Vulture area and Lake Sirino, on the western border of the Sirino mountain. Basilicata also has many artificial basins, such as the Lake of San Giuliano (on the Bradano River), Gannano (on the Agri River) and Pertusillo, in the high Agri valley.

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