What is Tufo known for?

Campania DOCG since 2003, white wine grown on sulfur-laced tuff slopes across eight Irpinian communes named for this one. Industrial sulfur extraction shaped the local economy from the nineteenth century until the mines closed in the 1980s. The Di Marzo family has bottled Greco di Tufo since 1647, the oldest continuous winery in the Campania region.

Tufo is a comune in the province of Avellino, Campania region of Italy, about 48 kilometers from Salerno.

Campania · Avellino

Tufo

A 250-meter Irpinia hill town that gives its name to Greco di Tufo DOCG, the white wine grown on sulfur-rich limestone slopes around it.

48 km / 30 mi

Nearest hub (Salerno)

772

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Città del Vino

Why come

Tufo sitsin Irpinia, twenty kilometers north of Avellino, on slopes that smell faintly of sulfur in summer. The name comes from the volcanic tuff stone the hill is built on. The same stone gives Greco di Tufo its mineral edge: the DOCG covers eight communes but takes the name of this one, where the grape has been grown since at least the eighth century. The Di Marzo cellars at the foot of the village have produced it commercially since 1647, the oldest continuous winemaking family in Campania. Sulfur was mined here too, in shafts that closed in the 1980s and left the cliffs marked with rust-colored scars. Most visitors are wine buyers, not tourists. They drive in for a tasting, walk the steep main street to the medieval castle on top, and leave by dinner. The village stays quiet after they go.

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Gallery

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Known for

Castello di Tufo
Medieval fortress on the top of the hill, rebuilt after the 1732 and 1980 earthquakes that damaged the village below.
Cantine di Marzo
The oldest continuous winemaking estate in Campania, producing Greco di Tufo from these slopes since 1647.
Ex Miniere di Zolfo
Abandoned sulfur mines in the cliffs below the village, worked from the nineteenth century until closure in the 1980s.
Chiesa di Sant'Onofrio
Eighteenth-century parish church in the centro storico, restored after damage in the 1980 Irpinia earthquake.
Vigneti del Greco
The tuff and sulfur slopes around the village that give the DOCG its mineral character, walkable in spring and autumn.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

April through June covers the green months in Irpinia: vine leaves unfurling on the slopes, mild evenings on the main street. September through early October is harvest, when the cellars open more often than usual and the village smells of crushed Greco. July and August get hot in the valley, though 250 meters keeps the worst of it off. November through March is quiet. Many cantine close to visitors, though tastings can usually be arranged by appointment. The mineral edge of the wine is most legible at the source between September and November, when the new vintage starts going into bottle.