Pollino is the biggest national park in Italy, a high limestone massif on the border between Calabria and Basilicata, where the southern Apennines make their last great stand before the toe of the peninsula. The summits reach over two thousand metres, with Serra Dolcedorme at 2,267, and on the exposed ridges grow the pino loricato, the Bosnian pine, a tree of extraordinary age, twisted by wind into sculptural shapes, with some individuals said to be a thousand years old. Griffon vultures and eagles patrol the cliffs, and the wolf has returned to the forests.
Cozzo Ferriero lies in this high country, near Rotonda and Viggianello, on the Basilicata side, and the name, which means something like iron hill, is typical of the region. The villages are small, with stone houses and steep lanes, and the local culture mixes Italian and ancient traditions, with some communities nearby speaking Arbëreshë, a form of Albanian brought by refugees in the fifteenth century.
Roads in the Pollino are rewarding, with curves, forests and long views over the valleys, and few other riders. The surface is mixed, with good main roads and rough minor ones, and rock fall and landslides happen after storms. Spring brings wildflowers and meltwater, summer is warm but breezy at height, and autumn colours the beech woods. Snow can close the high roads from late autumn to spring, and the weather can change fast, with fog on the ridges.
Rotonda has about seventeen hundred people and Viggianello fewer than five hundred, so services are limited. Fill the tank at Lauria or Castrovillari, the bigger towns, before you climb, and carry some food. Local specialities include sausages flavoured with the sweet pepper of the region, cheeses, and the peperoni cruschi, crisp dried peppers. The ride goes on toward the Cilento and the Vallo di Diano, another great park, so the day is long and the scenery rich.