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I drive my vehicle through the Italian provinces of Basilicata and Campania north using the A3 motorway, sometimes called the shame of Italy because of the time it has taken to complete it but it is an engineering marvel as can be seen.

On my drive south in December 2012 I was not very impressed but the weather was bad. In much nicer driving weather I find the going much more pleasant.

Lauria is found at the northern end of the Pollino Mountains in the Italian province of Basilicata. You see very little of Lauria in this film and maybe I should have stopped there - I certainly will do next time. It is a walled city that is over 1,000 years old. It's castle was built by the Saracens. In the 12th century Lauria was the seat of a Norman fief, which was held by Gibel and then by his son Richard of Lauria, who died in the battle of Benevento on 1266. In 1806 the city was destroyed and the population massacred by Napoleonic troops under general André Masséna, following the way in which the Kingdom of Naples had defied the French although after the Battle of Austerlitz and the defeat of the Austrians and Russians, Naples was unable to defend itself. The battle of Campotenese was fought to the south of Lauria in the Pollino Mountains.

Lauria has wonderful views of the Pollino mountains. I particularly like this range of mountains, I comment a couple of times that I find the views and drive even better than those in the Alps! This is the border of Calabria and Basilicata in southern Italy and in 1992 it was included in the Pollino National Park which I believe is the largest national park in Europe (I may be wrong about that). The range and park is named after Monte Pollino 2,248 m but the highest point is Serra Dolcedorme at 2,267 m which overlooks the plain of Sibari. Despite the height of these mountains, have a look at a map and see how close it is to the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas. The Pollino is home to a large number of interesting species including wolves and I very much hope that I will get the chance to see more of it!

North from Lauria the motorway follows the valley floor but there is high ground on both sides. Sala Consilina is the largest town in the Diano Valley through which the Tanagro river flows.

This is part of a very long journey in May and June 2013 from Brucoli in Sicily to Bełżec on the Polish - Ukrainian border. From there I travelled to the UK - so the journey was much longer but I did not film the part from eastern Poland to Norwich (UK).