Set in the earth of Pollino National Park, Frido Valley is covered by a rich and varied vegetation and the Frido's and its affluents' crystalline water goes across it all along.

Smooth slopes and verdant valleys wind up from its springs down to the valley among typical and picturesque villages. Behind it, there are the five giants of Pollino chain that draw the boundary line between Calabria and Lucania. Wide and uncontaminated spaces where the eyes get lost because of the contact with the enchanting environments and landscapes.

Going up the valley, after having crossed Magnano Wood, you get to San Severino Lucano, a tourist centre at an altitude of 900 m.a.s.l., characterized by a wonderful central and scenic position.

San Severino's history.
The territory belonged to the feud of San Severino, from which it beared the name. The first living unit was built around XV century, and it is linked to the agricultural colonization's spread promoted by the Sagittarius Abbey. In the 1806, San Severino, which belonged to the territory of Chiaromonte until that moment, after the new Napoleonic's organization, was established as a Municipality and in the 1820 it was add the specific detail of Lucano. After the Unity of Italy (1860) the Brigandage was very active in the municipal territory; it was facilitated, just like the whole Pollino's area, by the inaccesible mountains, the lack of facilities and streets. There are a lot of toponyms that remind of this phenomenon (as the Brigand Ditch), but above all it is remembered the figure of Captain Iannarelli who slaughtered and committed also civil executions. Several memories of him are preserved: his home and the sawmill in the locality of Mezzana. Regarding its recent history, San Severino centre has not important architectural buildings, except for the Sagittarius Abbey in the countryside of Chiaromonte. The urban fabric of the old town centre, that developed spountaneously, favours the arrangement in a row, in line with the main road axis. In the middle of the town it stands the Mother-church, in devotion to St. Mary of Angels - “Maria SS: degli Angeli” - (currently closed because of restoration), that probably dates back to the first living unit and it has been preserving the eighteenth-century shell until now. In the high part of the town, it stands San Vincenzo church, which has been recently opened to the cult after the restoration.

This holy place preserves the original shell, above all in the front, and inside there is a wooden Crucifix of the Sixteenth century. Walking in the old town centre there are nice stone portals of the second half of the XIX century, and palaces of the same period, as well as the alleys of the mountain centres. It is also suggested the visit to the three fountains, in the lower part of the town, which have been recently reopened and well restored. The territoy offers naturalistic attractions, but also the industrial archeology ones, as the mills. For those who arrive from Sinni Valley, the views of Magnano Wood and the courses of Peschiera's and Frido's torrents are extraordinary. Crossing the town and going towards the south, you arrive to the hamlet of Mezzana, divided into four small villages; going on, you get to the Madonna del Pollino Sanctuary, which raises on a rocky spur, on a position with a scenic view on the Frido valley. Smog and large centres' lack allows the observation, from the municipal territory, of celestial bodies in optimum conditions, insomuch that the municipality of San Severino Lucano has been defined as “the town of the stars” by the astrophiles.

Round routes: playing, memory, places.
Pollino National Park is rich of fascinating places, where your glance get lost in the evocative horizons and the memory goes back to the distant times.

The route that is intended to be developed, starts from the swirling of the “millstone” of a mill, the resort and place for entertainment in the old times, to get to the circular motion of the scenic “merry-go-round” created by the artist Carsten Holler, that recalls in memory resort and playing moments.

The work of art has a particular attractiveness because it was unawarely and unconsciously put in a geographical place that is a very fond memory for the inhabitants, because it is linked to a sad event that happened to some children in the '40s, which is still stamped in the memory of the people from there.

So, the breathtaking view of this place, linked to the memory strenght and the power of emotions, will be the “natural adventure playground” for the work by Holler, and they will offer new impressions to the visitors every time. The route actually associates the work to the physical places, hence it becomes its transposition into an illustrated tale (tables, symbols, etc.) and it would be the bond among the people, the places and the installation of Contemporary Art. The senses linked to this route are the playing, the lightness, the joy and the movement.

The aim is to share with the artist the idea that the expected installation could have a link to the history preserved in that place, offering the chance to experiment with modified perceptions' forms of everything that seemingly is in contrast (dark, light, sky, ground, joy, pain).

The route starts near Cropani, a little hamlet of San Severino Lucano; eyes are addressed to the

Fasanelli Mill, located in the point where Frido river flows into the Peschiera torrent, in the Sagittario's valley of ruins, an ancient monastery that was found by the Cistercian monks in the 1270.
The trip continues with the visit to the Cornalonga Mill, that once was also used as a fulling- and a spilling-mill, and to the Magnacane Mill, which belongs to the Municipality of Viggianello. The most salient feature of the route is the circularity that calls to mind the movement of the mill wheel and the contrast (closed-open) between the spaces at the sight of the traveller who is about to enter the enchanting scenery of Magnano Wood, one of the mysterious natural monuments that has been hollowed out in the rocks by the water. The wood is a place where your visions about sky and earth, dark and light, silence and noise can be blurred; here it has always been living the quiet and invisible otter.

The splendour and the charm of nature give place to the beauty of a different view: we are in the municipality of San Severino lucano, a town that once belonged to the feud of San Severino family, from which it beared the name; the first living unit of the town was built in the XV century, when the Sagittarius Abbey had a great agricultural growth. Walking across the narrow streets of the old town centre you reach the centre of the town, where there is the Mother-church, in devotion to the S. Mary of Angels - Maria Santissima degli Angeli- which probably dates back to the first living unit and it has been preserving the eighteenth-century shell until now.

Instead, in the high part of the town it raises the San Vincenzo Church.
The ending of this wonderful trip in the nature and in the memory of Pollino Park is represented by the visit to the Timpa della Guardia, the site of the installation.

Our route starts in the locality of Visciglie, in the high and panoramic view of San Severino Lucano, in a well-tended oak-trees wood. The path starts uphill, only a few metres from the fountain, then crossing a reforestation zone, and it leads to the Timpa della Guardia (1169m.), an appropriate name for a plateau that allows you, yet from the incoming way, to admire different views from the Frido Valley to the Mount Pollino (2248m.), until the Dam of Senise. Not infrequently, in the final part of the path you can meet, among ancient coniferae, the southern squirrel with its black coat and white-breasted.
This route leads the traveller into a surreal dimension, which is dominated by the Circularity of the glance: the circular and slow motion typical of the merry-go-round, located in a place that offers opposite views (thick woods and lookouts), suggests an alternation of contrasting moods, from joy and wonder (merry-go-round) to introspective reflection's moments (history).