What is Craco known for?

Medieval village evacuated after the 1963 landslide and finally emptied by the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, on the World Monuments Fund watch list since 2010. Mel Gibson shot The Passion of the Christ here in 2004; the cliff also appears in Quantum of Solace and Saving Grace. Eleventh-century watchtower crowning the highest point of the abandoned cliff, the original anchor of the medieval defensive site.

When is the best time to visit Craco?

Apr–Oct. April through October is the tour season. The guided routes through Craco Vecchia run on a fixed schedule from the Peschiera ticket office; July and August can hit forty degrees on the exposed clay cliff, and the tour shifts to early morning and late afternoon to make the heat manageable. May, June, September and October are the best months for the route and the light, with the surrounding calanchi turning gold in October. November through March the tours scale back or pause: the clay paths turn slick with rain, the cliff is unstable in winter, and the new town settles into its working pace.

Craco is a comune in the province of Matera, Basilicata region of Italy, about 86 kilometers from Taranto.

How do I get to Craco?

From Taranto, Craco is roughly 86 km by road.

Basilicata · Matera

Craco

A medieval ghost town on a 391-meter clay cliff, abandoned after the 1963 landslide and the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, filming location of Gibson and Bond.

Known for

GHOST TOWN
Medieval village evacuated after the 1963 landslide and finally emptied by the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, on the World Monuments Fund watch list since 2010.
FILM LOCATION
Mel Gibson shot The Passion of the Christ here in 2004; the cliff also appears in Quantum of Solace and Saving Grace.
NORMAN TOWER
Eleventh-century watchtower crowning the highest point of the abandoned cliff, the original anchor of the medieval defensive site.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

The festa: Nicola di Bari, secondo sabato di ottobre

Why come

Craco rises on a 391-meter clay cliff above the Cavone valley, west of the Ionian plain. The old village was abandoned in stages. In 1963, after heavy autumn rains, a large landslide tore through the slope below and condemned several hundred buildings; the 1,800 residents were evacuated and resettled in 1964 in Craco Peschiera, a planned village three kilometers down on the plain.

A 1972 flood worsened the failure. The 1980 Irpinia earthquake was the final blow. The hilltop has stayed empty since, accessible only by guided tour: visitors wear hard hats and walk a marked path through the Norman tower, the Chiesa Madre, the convent and the gutted main piazza.

The Watch List of the World Monuments Fund added Craco in 2010. The cliff has appeared in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, in Quantum of Solace, and in Saving Grace. Six hundred people now live in Craco Peschiera, the new town below the cliff.

The Sunday letter

We haven’t written Craco’s letter yet.

One town every Sunday, with the photo, the food, the festa. Be there when this one comes up. Free, by Peter & Sophia from Pietrasanta.

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What to see

Craco Vecchia
Medieval ghost town on the 391-meter clay cliff, abandoned in stages from 1963, accessible only by guided tour with hard hat through marked routes.
Torre Normanna
Norman watchtower of the eleventh century crowning the highest point of the abandoned village, the original defensive anchor of the medieval site.
Chiesa Madre di San Nicola
Mother church of Craco Vecchia, gutted but still upright on the marked tour route, principal religious building of the abandoned village.
Craco Peschiera
New village on the plain three kilometers below the cliff, built from 1964 to resettle the displaced population, current population around 600.
Film locations
Cliff and ruins used for The Passion of the Christ (2004), Quantum of Solace (2008) and Saving Grace, marked on the guided-tour route.

The slow-trip planner

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Living here

Population 620
Off the beaten pathi
Pharmacy: none mapped
High school within a 30-minute drive
Nearest airport Bari / Brindisi, 1 h 51 min drive
Regional capital Potenza, 1 h 29 min drive

Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

Elevation: 391 m
Population: 620
Surface area: 77.04 km²

On the map

Google Maps Apple Maps Directions from Taranto

These figures were compiled from public directories — ISTAT, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata — and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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