Basilicata nature: two national parks and the Murgia

Basilicata has two national parks, Pollino, which it shares with Calabria, and the Appennino Lucano, Val d'Agri, Lagonegrese, the only one lying entirely within the region, plus the regional Murgia Materana park around Matera.

Pollino: 171,132 hectares, or 192,500

The Pollino national park was established in 1993, and its size depends on the source: 171,132¹ hectares on the environment ministry's official list of protected areas, 192,500² on UNESCO's record for the Pollino Global Geopark, designated in 2015.

The ministry figure is an old one that hasn't been updated. On it, Pollino is Italy's second largest national park after Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni at 178,172¹ hectares; on UNESCO's, it is the largest.

The ranking belongs to the source. The park's own site didn't resolve on September 1, 2026, so it couldn't settle the question.

The park spans 55 comuni. On the Basilicata side there are 22 in the province of Potenza and two in Matera, San Giorgio Lucano and Valsinni, and the seat is at Rotonda, in the Santa Maria della Consolazione complex.

Appennino Lucano: the only park wholly in the region

The Appennino Lucano, Val d'Agri, Lagonegrese national park was set up in 2007 and covers 68,996³ hectares in 29 comuni, all in the province of Potenza. It is the only national park that lies entirely inside Basilicata, and its seat is at Marsico Nuovo.

It is also the younger of the region's two national parks by fourteen years.

A national park and an oil concession in one valley

Basilicata produced 84.8%⁵ of Italy's crude oil in 2025 and 30.4%⁵ of its natural gas, from two oil concessions, Eni's Val d'Agri and TotalEnergies' Gorgoglione, plus four gas concessions.

The Val d'Agri concession sits in the valley that also names the national park. Both facts are official, and neither cancels the other. The longer account is in Basilicata pumps Italy's oil.

The Murgia Materana: 8,056 hectares around Matera

The Parco archeologico storico naturale delle Chiese rupestri del Materano, known as the Murgia Materana park, was created by regional law 11 of 1990 and covers 8,056⁴ hectares in the comuni of Matera and Montescaglioso. The regional council approved its park plan on February 15, 2005.

A count of the rock churches inside it circulates widely but doesn't appear on the park authority's page, so none is given here. For the town, see Matera and the Sassi.

Two regions, one Pollino

Pollino is shared: 31 of its 55 comuni are in the province of Cosenza, in Calabria. For that side, see nature and parks in Calabria.

For the region, see Basilicata, food in Basilicata and seven days in Calabria and Basilicata.

↑ Contents