Apulia · Bari
Gravina in Puglia
Puglia's deepest gravina — a 42,700-resident Bari-province town built on the lip of a 100m-deep limestone canyon, with the 18th-c Ponte Acquedotto walkway across the gorge that James Bond crossed in No Time to Die, a network of rupestrian cave churches in the cliff face, and the four-signal BPB + Cittaslow + Via Francigena + Parco Nazionale combination.
Known for
BOND'S 100M GORGE BRIDGE
Ponte Acquedotto in No Time to Die (2021) — quadrupled Gravina's tourism. The 18th-c aqueduct-bridge crosses the deepest gravina in Puglia.
RUPESTRIAN CAVE CHURCHES
San Michele delle Grotte (carved into the cliff), Madonna della Stella, Cripta di San Vito Vecchio (Byzantine frescoes). The canyon walls are a Byzantine-era sacred landscape.
BPB + 4-SIGNAL TOWN
Borghi più belli + Cittaslow + Via Francigena + Parco Nazionale dell'Alta Murgia — four major Italian quality marks at once, matched by very few comuni.
FEDERICO II CASTLE
Castello Svevo rebuilt by the Stupor Mundi 1231-39 on the Norman foundations. Anchors the centro on the plateau above the gorge.
When to visit
Best · Mar–Jun, Sep–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Why come
Gravina in Puglia is the deepest of the gravine — the network of limestone canyons that cut across the Bari-Matera-Taranto karst plateau, the same geological system that gave Matera its Sassi 30 km west. Gravina's canyon is 100m deep, 350m wide at its narrowest, and runs through the centre of the modern town (42,703 residents on the plateau above, the old town clinging to the cliff edge). The defining sight is the Ponte Acquedotto — an 18th-c aqueduct-bridge that crosses the gorge height, originally built to bring water from the Murgia springs to the city and now a walkable pedestrian crossing that featured prominently in the 2021 James Bond film No Time to Die (Bond crosses it on the motorbike during the Matera chase opening sequence — bringing 'where was that filmed' Google searches that quadrupled tourism to Gravina).
On the canyon walls: the Madonna della Stella complex (rupestrian sanctuary), the Chiesa di San Michele delle Grotte (carved entirely into the rock cliff, accessed via a vertical stair), and the Cripta di San Vito Vecchio with Byzantine-era frescoes (10th-12th c). Above on the plateau: the medieval centro with the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (Romanesque, founded 1092, with the famous Byzantine icon of the Madonna delle Grazie), the Castello Svevo (Federico II rebuilt 1231-39), the Fondazione Ettore Pomarici Santomasi (archaeological museum + Renaissance art). Gravina is on the official Borghi più belli d'Italia list AND holds Cittaslow + Via Francigena (the southern Via Appia branch passes through) + Parco Nazionale dell'Alta Murgia (the karst plateau north of town is a national park) — a four-signal combination matched by very few Italian comuni.
The food is Murgia-Puglian: focaccia barese, orecchiette with cime di rapa, the local pancotto (bread soup with greens and bottle olive oil), capocollo di Martina Franca, Primitivo di Manduria and the local Murgia DOC reds. Plus the famous Festa di San Michele Arcangelo (28-29 September) and the Carnevale Gravinese (February-March).
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Gravina in Puglia’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
Ponte Acquedotto (Bond's bridge)
18th-c aqueduct-bridge crossing the 100m gorge at 37m height. Walkable pedestrian crossing. James Bond chase scene in No Time to Life (2021).
Chiesa di San Michele delle Grotte
Church carved entirely into the rock cliff of the gravina, accessed via a vertical stair. The most striking of the rupestrian churches in the canyon.
Castello Svevo + Cattedrale
Federico II's 1231-39 rebuild of the original Norman castle on the plateau. The Romanesque Cattedrale founded 1092 holds the famous Byzantine Madonna delle Grazie icon.
Cripta di San Vito Vecchio + Madonna della Stella
Byzantine-era frescoes (10th-12th c) in the rupestrian crypt complex carved into the canyon wall. Madonna della Stella is the larger of the two cave sanctuaries.
Murgia kitchen + Festa di San Michele
Pancotto (bread soup with greens + olive oil), focaccia barese, orecchiette con cime di rapa, Primitivo di Manduria. Festa di San Michele Arcangelo 28-29 September is the year's main event.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 42,703
- Off the beaten pathi
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Bari / Brindisi, 1 h 6 min drive
- Regional capital Bari, 1 h 8 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 350 m
- Population: 42,703
- Surface area: 384.74 km²
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.
Close by
More towns near Gravina in Puglia
Poggiorsini
Province: Bari
The smallest commune in metropolitan Bari, an Orsini estate of 1609 that became an independent town only in 1957.
Irsina
Province: Matera
Called Montepeloso until 1895, a 548-meter Bradano-valley hill town whose cathedral holds the only surviving polychrome sculpture attributed to Andrea Mantegna.
Matera
Province: Matera
Cave dwellings carved into limestone since the Paleolithic, called the shame of Italy in the 1950s and made European Capital of Culture in 2019.
Minervino Murge
Province: Barletta-Andria-Trani
The Balcone di Puglia at 445 meters on the Alta Murgia, between the Ofanto valley and Monte Vulture, inside the national park.
Cassano delle Murge
Province: Bari
A Murge foothills town at 341 meters at the gate of the Alta Murgia park, with the 1,300-hectare Foresta Mercadante mostly inside its territory.
🎨 Borghi più belli d'Italia
More Borghi più belli d'Italia towns in Apulia
Bovino
Province: Foggia
A Daunian Mountains hill town at 646 meters above the Cervaro valley, Roman Vibinum, with a Norman-Swabian castle later turned into a Guevara ducal palace.
Cisternino
Province: Brindisi
An Itria valley borgo on the southern Murgia at 394 meters, whitewashed, Cittaslow since 2003 and Cittaslow City of the Year in 2014.
Locorotondo
Province: Bari
The round white town on the Itria valley ridge at 410 meters, with cummerse roofs the rest of Puglia does not have.
Maruggio
Province: Taranto
Salento's Knights of Malta borgo — a fortified Borgo più Bello on a low Ionian hill with 11 km of Bandiera Blu coast at Campomarino, Negroamaro and Primitivo vines pressing into the centro, and a unique commanderie history that made it the Order's southern Italian headquarters for 600 years.
Monte Sant'Angelo
Province: Foggia
The Gargano peak at 843 meters where the Archangel Michael appeared in 490, the oldest western shrine to him, UNESCO since 2011.