South of Potenza and the expressway to the Ionian coastline, thickly wooded high mountains rear up, frequented by the local people but little known to foreigners. Further of Pignola and the Sellata pass, the road slopes down to the medieval borough of Abriola, on a hill at 957m. altitude. The settlement probably dates back to ancient times, but the town as it is now was built by the Saracens, same as the nearby Pietrapertosa and Brienza. In later times, it was property of the Orange, Di Sangro, Caracciolo and Federici families. In 1809, it was the scene of the slaughtering of the Federici family by the brigands led by Giovanni Rizzo, nicknamed Taccone. Memory of this crime is kept on an inscription in the town’s castle; among the castel’s scarce remains, a portal surmounted by a crest. The Chiesa Madre di Santa Maria Maggiore, a church built in medieval times, has been renovated many times.Inside the church, the shrine of San Valentino Martire, the patron saint. On the 1998 bronze portal the Saint’s life and miracles are illustrated. A road goes down from the Sella pass to the sanctuary Madonna di Monteforte, originally an hermitage, renovated in the XVI Century and adorned with frescoes by Giovanni and Girolamo Todisco. Westward, the road up to the Sellata ski resort with lifting facilities and ski runs passing through the woods of Mount Pierfaone and Mount Arioso. On summer, the district offers very pleasant walking trips.