Forgotten Places
Italy
The hillside moved and the residents made a pragmatic decision. Leave everything. Go.
The Forgotten Atlas — Field Report
The hillside moved and the residents made a pragmatic decision. Leave everything. Go.
Craco was inhabited for almost a thousand years. The Normans built it on a limestone ridge in the 9th century because the height gave strategic advantage — you could see anyone approaching from kilometres away. Medieval Italians built their churches, their palaces, their narrow winding streets, their piazzas on this ridge, generation after generation, until by the 20th century a substantial town occupied the clifftop. Then the geology that had made the location advantageous began to turn against it. The clay beneath the limestone started to move.
Craco looks like a film set because it has been a film set — for The Passion of the Christ, for Quantum of Solace. But it is real. The emptiness is real.
The Forgotten Atlas
Between 1959 and 1980 Craco was progressively evacuated as landslide risk made it uninhabitable. The residents did not go all at once — the evacuation happened in stages as different sections of the town became dangerous. The last residents left in 1980 after an earthquake. They relocated to a new settlement in the valley below, visible from the old town, called Craco Peschiera. The old town was fenced off. Structurally stabilised to prevent further collapse. And left. The Norman tower still stands. The church still has its façade. The piazza is still a piazza. Everything is still exactly where it was.
Craco is in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, about 30km inland from the Gulf of Taranto. Guided tours of the old town run from the visitors' centre at the base of the hill — the site is restricted and you cannot enter independently. The tour takes about 90 minutes and gets you into the streets and up to the Norman tower. The views over the Basilicata countryside — the clay gullies, the wheat fields, the distant hills — are extraordinary. Come in the afternoon when the light on the stone turns warm.
Matera, one of the great cities of the ancient world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is 40km away. Combine the two into a two-day Basilicata trip.
The highest point of the village. Built in the 9th century. Still standing despite everything. The view from here extends for miles.
The main square of the village. The church facade on one side, the palazzo on the other. Wildflowers growing through the paving stones.
The main artery of the old town. The houses on either side are in various states of collapse. The quality of the medieval stonework is extraordinary.
In the new village below. Traditional Lucanian cooking — pasta with wild boar, lamb chops, vegetables cooked in the ways they have been cooked here for generations.
Matera has excellent restaurants serving the traditional Basilicata cuisine. The bread here, pane di Matera, is one of the great breads of Italy.
Cave restaurant in the Sassi. The lamb and the local pasta shapes are outstanding.
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