Basilicata

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

Before: documents, housing, school. First week: codice fiscale, SIM, bank account. First month: residence permit if non-EU, residence, SSN registration, then the driving licence within a year. Household goods duty-free for arrivals from outside the EU, car to be re-registered.

No airport (Bari is the closest, about an hour from Matera); Potenza on the Battipaglia–Metaponto railway, Matera reachable by train only on the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane from Bari. Coaches to Naples, Salerno, Rome and Bari. Basentana and Potenza–Melfi state roads, A2 in the Lagonegro area. A car is indispensable.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

Two local health authorities (ASP Basilicata based in Potenza, ASM Matera), the San Carlo regional hospital trust in Potenza and the IRCCS CROB in Rionero in Vulture for oncology. Never under a recovery plan, but non-compliant in the 2023 LEA monitoring. High outbound mobility to Apulia, Campania and Lazio; long distances in inland areas.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

Small labour market: Stellantis Melfi and suppliers, oil in the Val d'Agri, public employment, agriculture in the Metapontino, tourism in Matera and Maratea. Unemployment lower than in other southern regions, partly because of emigration. Job centres run by ARLAB; ZES unica incentives.

A single state university, the Università degli Studi della Basilicata, with the Macchia Romana campus in Potenza and the Matera campus, plus the Potenza and Matera conservatories. Grants, housing and canteens are run by ARDSU Basilicata.

Two provinces: Potenza and Matera. Ordinary statute. Arbëreshë minority (law 482/1999) in five municipalities of the Vulture and Pollino: Barile, Ginestra, Maschito, San Costantino Albanese and San Paolo Albanese. Festivals: San Gerardo and the Parata dei Turchi in Potenza (29–30 May), Madonna della Bruna in Matera (2 July), Maggio di Accettura.

Potenza has cold, snowy winters; the Metaponto and Maratea coasts have a Mediterranean climate. Most of the province of Potenza is in seismic zone 1 (earthquakes of 1857 and 1980). Widespread landslides and badlands, water crisis in Potenza in 2024 due to the Camastra reservoir, summer fires on the Pollino and in the Metapontino.

Sassi of Matera (UNESCO since 1993), Pollino National Park with its ancient beech forests, Via Appia. Lucanian Dolomites with the Volo dell'Angelo, Maratea, Metaponto and Policoro, Craco, Venosa and the Vulture. Matera draws visitors all year; the coasts only in July–August. Tourist tax in Matera and a few other municipalities.