Cristo Redentore di Maratea

Well what a road trip today. I can’t believe how narrow some of the so-called dual lane roads are over here. It was certainly a bit daunting at times.

The changes in the landscape today have also been quite dramatic, from rolling hills of fields, either recently harvested or ready to be plowed, to mountains covered in trees and bush with a rainforest like feel. I am loving the southern end of Italy.

We finally arrived at our location in Maratea for the night and while it was a confronting drive the view when we got here was amazing. Maratea is approximately 32 km of rocky coastline with 20 beaches but as this was just an overnight stop we were staying closer to town and not on the shoreline. Maratea is also known as the town of churches as it has 44 of them!! Shock, surprise we didn’t visit any of them today.

Our only tourist stop today was the Cristo Redentore di Maratea, the Statue of Christ the Redeemer, at the top of Mount San Biagio. After the drive we had I didn’t think anything could be worse but I was mistaken! Not only did we drive down narrow laneways through town, we then had the treacherous windy drive up the mountain. And not only was the road windy, the drop from the edge of the road was daunting and the guard rails minimal. Definitely an experience but not a drive I want to repeat.

The statue of Christ the Redeemer was erected in 1965 and is the tallest statue in Italy, the second tallest in the world. Created by Florentine sculptor, Bruno Innocenti, it is 21 metres tall and 19 metres wide. Made from reinforced concrete covered with a mixture of white cement and marble from Carrara, it makes a striking figure on the mountain top.

I had read there was a car park towards the top of the mountain and then a shuttle bus would take us the rest of the way, however there was no mention about it not operating in October. Thankfully (or unfortunately) we were unable to drive past the carpark due to it being a traffic limit zone and while I was disappointed we couldn’t get to the top the road to be travelled would have been the scariest by far.

I was very relieved and surprised we made it back to our accommodation for the night.Read more