Discover Basilicata 2026-27

Melfi

The Castle, built by William of Hauteville in the eleventh century on the ruins of an earlier castle, is without doubt the best known in the region. To this day it dominates the city’s skyline with its imposing bulk. In later years the Castle was refurbished and enlarged by Frederick II, who in 1231 promulgated here the “Constitutiones Augustales”, the first organic body of written laws of the Middle Ages, covering both criminal and civil matters. From the sixteenth century the Castle became the residence of the Doria family and was also the seat of several Councils. During the Council convened by Pope Urban II in 1089, the pontiff proclaimed the First Crusade to the Holy Land against the infidels and instituted compulsory celibacy for the clergy. Originally consisting of a central part surrounded by a circuit of walls, it presents the visitor with a polygonal plan and no fewer than eight towers, three polygonal and five square in plan. The west tower, known as the “Lion’s Bastion”, has a nest-shaped projection which, according to legend, was the nest of the imperial eagle of Frederick II of Swabia. Today the Castle houses the National Museum of the Melfi Area.

Craco, the ghost village

Craco is a splendid ghost town in Basilicata. In the 1960s the village was abandoned following a landslide, but today it can be visited. The sight of Craco is that of a medieval village where time seems to have stood still. Despite the landslide and being uninhabited, Craco remains an enchanting place to visit, so much so that it has often attracted the attention of the world of cinema. For its particular beauty, Craco is on the list of the World Monuments Fund. Seen from the outside, it recalls the typical settings of a western. Not by chance, directors of national and international renown have chosen it as the setting for their films. Among the many, we might mention Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” (2004). Destroyed in 1963 by a landslide that forced the local population to abandon the village and take refuge in the new municipality of Craco Peschiera, what remains of the old village are the stone houses clinging to the rock, among which the Norman tower stands out. To visit Craco you must follow a guided route, along a secured itinerary and wearing a helmet (some of the structures are still crumbling). You walk along the village’s main street until you reach what remains of the old square and enter the central core.

The Lucanian Dolomites lie in the territory of the municipalities of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa, a place with a particularly captivating landscape whichever way you travel along the roads leading to the two villages, set close to the peaks and facing one another. It is precisely this particular position that makes possible an incredible flight across the space separating the two villages: the “Flight of the Angel”. Close to the peaks of the Lucanian Dolomites are the municipalities of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa, at 870 and 1,090 metres above sea level respectively. From these villages you can admire the incredible landscape of the Dolomites and follow the many paths leading to the most evocative spots. The Lucanian Dolomites are mountains whose origins date back to the Middle Miocene, around 15 million years ago, when the sandstones that today form their rocks were laid down on the sea bed. The highest group of mountains is the Costa di San Martino, known as the Little Dolomites because it recalls the features of the famous Pale of Trentino. Equally important are the peaks of the Murge di Castelmezzano and the pinnacles of Monte Carrozze. In the most inaccessible crevices, splendid specimens of black stork, red kite, kestrel and peregrine falcon make their nests. Although the pinnacles are almost bare of vegetation, interesting plant species are found here, such as red valerian, annual honesty and Lucanian golden drop. The spectacular peaks stand in sharp contrast to the surrounding landscape, characterised by softer, more rounded forms such as the nearby Capperino mountain. Making the place even more evocative is the Rio di Capperino stream, a tributary of the Basento, which has carved a deep gorge dividing the Murge di Castelmezzano to the north from the Costa di San Martino to the south.

Tursi is also known as the “city of Pierro”, the poet nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Pierro made the Rabatana the inspiration for his poetry. The Literary Park dedicated to him honours the artist’s memory.

Worth seeing are the Gothic Castle, the historic palaces, the remains of the ancient dwellings, often consisting of a single room on the ground floor, the Cathedral and the splendid Sanctuary of Anglona. Based mainly on an agricultural economy, Tursi is full of citrus and fruit orchards. The oranges of Tursi, known as “stacce”, are highly renowned.

The “Rabatana” is the ancient fortified heart of Tursi, with its Arab and Byzantine echoes, the sign of a presence and of contacts with other Mediterranean civilisations: underground chambers with their water collection system, churches and palaces from various eras, narrow streets and little squares that mark out an evocative quarter close to river and sea routes, to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Anglona and to the paths described by the dialect poet Albino Pierro.