Robert Mallet described his journey through the earthquake-stricken areas as a “kind of nomadic adventure” undertaken in an inaccessible and unknown territory. To find his way and understand the geomorphological nature of the area, he used the maps by Zannoni and Bacler d’Albe, as well as the first geological map of Italy by Collegno.
During his journey through the Province of Basilicata, he inspected Potenza, the municipalities of the Agri Valley (Moliterno, Sarconi, Grumento Nova, Montemurro, Marsicovetere, Tramutola, Paterno), the Vulture-Melfese area (Atella, Rionero, the monastery of San Michele a Monticchio, Barile, Rapolla and Melfi) and the Marmo-Platano-Melandro area (Vietri di Potenza, Picerno, Tito, Muro Lucano and Bella). He observed a great many villages from a distance, glimpsed the traces of ancient ‘ruined civilisations’ and gathered accounts from the inhabitants, recording the dialectal variations of place names.
This travel account offers a unique insight into the geo-historical landscape of nineteenth-century Basilicata and the social, economic and cultural aspects of the Kingdom of Naples.
In his diary, technical and scientific observations are interwoven with more descriptive and literary elements, providing a snapshot of the villages “almost all perched on hilltops and along the steep slopes of rugged hills […] rounded cones of limestone” or perched on rocks with houses overlooking “right to the edge of the precipice”.
