What is Calitri known for?

Centuries-old ceramics tradition dating to at least the fourth century BC, revived inside the Borgo Castello with a 2008 museum and active workshops. Annual August festival run by Vinicio Capossela since 2013, mixing music, words and ritual across the Borgo Castello and the Alta Irpinia. The 23 November 1980 Irpinia quake killed two in Calitri, triggered landslides and left much of the centro storico uninhabitable for years.

Calitri is a comune in the province of Avellino, Campania region of Italy, about 84 kilometers from Foggia.

Campania · Avellino

Calitri

An Alta Irpinia ceramic town at 530 meters, half-emptied by the 1980 earthquake and rebuilt around Vinicio Capossela's Sponz Fest.

530m

Elevation

84 km / 52 mi

Nearest hub (Foggia)

4,243

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Città della Ceramica

Why come

Calitri sits at 530 meters on a mountain in the Alta Irpinia, above the upper Ofanto valley, sixty-five kilometers inland from Salerno. The town stacks down the slope in a sheet of pastel houses that has earned it the nickname positano dell'entroterra. The clay underneath those houses gave Calitri its old craft. Streets are still named for the potter's wheel and the Faenza artisans who arrived in the 1600s, and the ceramics tradition has been revived inside the Borgo Castello, the medieval upper village built from the stones of the destroyed feudal castle. The 1980 Irpinia earthquake killed two residents, triggered massive landslides and left a large part of the centro storico uninhabitable for years. Many houses were never reoccupied. Since 2013 the Sponz Fest, run every August by Vinicio Capossela, has used Calitri as its base for a festival of music, words and ritual aimed at giving these depopulated lands their footing back. The Museo della Ceramica opened in 2008 inside the Borgo Castello.

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Gallery

4 photos · scroll →

Known for

Borgo Castello
Medieval upper village built from the stones of the destroyed feudal castle, partly abandoned after the 1980 earthquake, now hosting the ceramics museum and the Sponz Fest.
Museo della Ceramica
Ceramics museum inside the Borgo Castello, open since 2008, with Calitrian pieces from the fourth century BC to the modern revival workshops.
Chiesa di Santa Lucia
Hilltop church above the centro storico, the high point of the town with views across the Ofanto valley and the Alta Irpinia ridges.
Centro storico
Stacked pastel houses cascading down the mountain, called positano dell'entroterra, mixing rebuilt blocks and houses left empty since 1980.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September into October are the working months for Calitri. The 530-meter altitude keeps the summer breeze, and the upper alleys are walkable. July and August are hot, though Sponz Fest in late August pulls thousands of visitors for three days regardless. The festival is the busiest moment of the year and books up the few B&Bs in the centro storico. November through March is quiet and cold, with snow possible on the surrounding ridges; many trattorie shut on weekdays. The 1980 earthquake anniversary on 23 November is marked by quiet ceremonies in the rebuilt districts. Spring brings yellow broom across the Ofanto slopes.