The title suggests Basilicata was beyond the hand of God, a place where pagan magic still existed and thrived.

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Some of its most sophisticated tourist destinations are places like Matera in Basilicata.

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But what really haunts the survivors of the latest disaster is the Irpinia earthquake that hit Campania and Basilicata in 1980.

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Elisa Claps' decomposed body was found in 2010 in the loft of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Potenza, about 225 miles south of Rome, in the region of Basilicata.

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The short but sweet, notably chic coastline of Maratea in Basilicata is only 20km long, but has the looks of a mini-Amalfi, without the attitude, and it is all overseen by a mountaintop, Rio-style statue of Cristo.

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So the traditional outdoor Nativity scene unveiled on Christmas Eve next to a giant illuminated Christmas tree in St Peter's Square has been paid for not by the Holy See but by the taxpayers of one of Italy's poorest regions, Basilicata, in the heel of Italy.

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