What is Irsina known for?

The Sant'Eufemia in the co-cathedral is the only complete sculpture attributed to Andrea Mantegna, commissioned 1453. The town's name until 1895; the triple mountain with a castle in Sant'Eufemia's hand is its medieval coat of arms. Network of rupestrian cellars and cisterns beneath the centro, cut into the tufa spur and still used by households today.

Irsina is a comune in the province of Matera, Basilicata region of Italy, about 87 kilometers from Bari.

Basilicata · Matera

Irsina

Called Montepeloso until 1895, a 548-meter Bradano-valley hill town whose cathedral holds the only surviving polychrome sculpture attributed to Andrea Mantegna.

548m

Elevation

87 km / 54 mi

Nearest hub (Bari)

4,449

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Irsina sits at 548 meters above the Bradano valley, on the border between Basilicata and Puglia, twenty-nine kilometers from Matera. The town was called Montepeloso until 1895 and was raised to an archbishop's seat in 1452. The following year, the priest Roberto de Mabilia, then working as an ecclesiastical notary in Padua, commissioned a young Andrea Mantegna to produce a painted and sculpted Sant'Eufemia for his home town. The polychrome statue, 1.72 meters tall, carved from Nanto stone of the Veneto and showing the saint with a lion at her side and a triple mountain with a castle, the symbol of Montepeloso, in her hand, was identified as Mantegna's own work in 1996 and confirmed by later scholars. It stands in the Co-Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta and is the only sculpture by the Renaissance master preserved in its entirety anywhere. The historic centre, on a tufaceous spur, is laced with rupestrian caves, cisterns and underground spaces. The Bradano flows below, separating Irsina from the Murge plateau.

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Gallery

10 photos · scroll →

Known for

Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Thirteenth-century cathedral on the highest point of the borgo, holding the polychrome Sant'Eufemia attributed to Andrea Mantegna.
Sant'Eufemia di Mantegna
Polychrome stone statue commissioned 1453, 1.72 meters tall, the only surviving sculpture attributed to Andrea Mantegna in its entirety.
Ipogei e cantine rupestri
Network of underground cellars, cisterns and rupestrian rooms cut into the tufaceous spur beneath the historic centre.
Centro storico
Medieval Montepeloso core on a tufa spur, renamed Irsina in 1895, with narrow alleys and the cathedral at the summit.
Belvedere sulla Valle del Bradano
Viewpoint over the Bradano valley toward the Murge of Puglia, the eastern edge of the borgo.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June and September through October are the comfortable months in the Bradano hills, with green wheat fields and dry evenings at 548 meters. July and August touch the mid-thirties on the open spur but stay cool in the rupestrian cellars beneath the centro. November through March is quiet, the cathedral keeps shorter hours and the Mantegna can usually be seen without a queue. The patronal festa of the Beata Vergine Addolorata falls in late September. The light over the Bradano valley toward the Murge in autumn is the photographic anchor of Irsina.