What is Cassano delle Murge known for?

1,300 hectares of pine and oak forest planted from 1928 after deforestation flooded Bari, the largest forest in the Murge. Eastern entry point to the Alta Murgia National Park, with dolines, pseudosteppe and walking routes from the village edge. Long recognised as a climatic station for the cooler, healthier air the Mercadante forest produces, several degrees below the open plateau.

Where is Cassano delle Murge?

Cassano delle Murge is a comune in the province of Bari, Apulia region of Italy, about 31 kilometers from Bari.

Apulia · Bari

Cassano delle Murge

A Murge foothills townat the gate of the Alta Murgia park, with the 1,300-hectare Foresta Mercadante mostly inside its territory.

31 km / 19 mi

Nearest hub (Bari)

15,010

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Cassano delle Murge sitsat the foot of the highest step of the Murgia plateau, thirty kilometers south of Bari, at the eastern gate of the Alta Murgia National Park. The Foresta Mercadante, a 1,300-hectare pine and oak forest planted from 1928 onward to repair nineteenth-century deforestation that had flooded Bari several times, runs across the commune's higher ground, with 872 hectares inside Cassano and the rest in Altamura. A menhir found in nearby caves dates settlement to 2500-2000 BC, and a fifth-century mosaic floor confirms continuous Roman-era occupation. The name first appears in a fourteenth-century document, derived from the Latin Cassius; the 'delle Murge' was added in 1863. Roberto il Guiscardo donated the borough to the archbishopric of Bari in the eleventh century. The Santuario di Santa Maria degli Angeli, run by the Augustinian fathers, anchors the country edge of the village above a cave fresco of the Madonna.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Cassano delle Murge fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Gallery

4 photos · scroll →

Known for

Foresta Mercadante
1,300-hectare pine and oak forest planted from 1928 to repair nineteenth-century Murge deforestation, with 872 hectares inside Cassano, the rest in Altamura.
Santuario di Santa Maria degli Angeli
Augustinian sanctuary on the country edge of the village, built around a cave fresco of the Madonna and tied to local apparition tradition.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta
Mother church rebuilt in 1858 on the remains of a fourteenth-century Romanesque church, preserving the original bell tower in the centro storico.
Cripta del Crocifisso
Rock-cut crypt in the centro storico, the kind of subterranean chapel common to Murge towns, evidence of the area's rupestrian tradition.
Palazzo Miani-Perotti
Neoclassical noble palace in the centro storico, one of the surviving aristocratic residences of the post-feudal period.
Torre Civica
Civic clock-tower next to the municipal seat in the centro storico, anchoring the historic core of the town since the fortified period.
Menhir e siti preistorici
Menhir from 2500-2000 BC found in caves around the territory, with stone artifacts and paintings, evidence of long prehistoric occupation.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the months the Murge foothills are mild and the Mercadante forest is at its best for walking. July and August reach the mid-thirties on the plateau, but Cassano's reputation as a stazione climatica rests on the cooling effect of the surrounding woods, six or seven degrees below the open Murgia in high summer. October is the olive and almond harvest. November through March is cool and quiet; snow occasionally settles on the higher Murge above the town. The Sagra dei Cardoncelli mushrooms in autumn and the patronal feast of the Madonna degli Angeli in August are the two civic peaks of the year.