Amici Della Natura

Beach first? Adventure park first? Decisions, decisions… As the kids might make the decision for you, you might be at the adventure park first… Torremattoni is a splendid place for a family day, with treetop routes at varying levels to suit ages from toddler to adult; there are 13 routes in all, along with over 100 games along a one-kilometre route. Beach next, and then out and about around Apulia and the region… options include the famed and fab troglodyte settlement of Matera 50 minutes' drive away, home to an ancient hamlet thought to represent one of the first human settlements in the country. Matera’s old centre of Sassi makes up part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site: go see. It’s worth making the drive to Pollino National Park, Italy’s biggest at 1,925.65 square kilometres and covering swathes of beech and pine forest, rivers and streams and the Pollino and Orsomarso massifs making up some of the southern Apennine mountains. Once there, there are wildlife and birds including deer, otters, wolves and golden eagles to spot, towns to potter around and many archaeological sites such as Chiaromonte and the Castrovillari castle to see. The closest visitor centre for the park is at Morano Calabro, an hour and 45 minutes’ drive from Amici Della Natura.