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.
Known for
GRECO DI TUFO
Campania DOCG since 2003, white wine grown on sulfur-laced tuff slopes across eight Irpinian communes named for this one.
SULFUR MINES
Industrial sulfur extraction shaped the local economy from the nineteenth century until the mines closed in the 1980s.
DI MARZO 1647
The Di Marzo family has bottled Greco di Tufo since 1647, the oldest continuous winery in the Campania region.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J
- F
- M
- A
- M
- J
- J
- A
- S
- O
- N
- D
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
The festa: Michele, 8 May
Why come
Tufo sits in 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.
The Sunday letter
We haven’t written Tufo’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
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.
The slow-trip planner
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Living here
- Population 772
- Commuter belti
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Train station in the comune
- Nearest airport Naples / Salerno, 1 h 3 min drive
- Regional capital Napoli, 1 h 6 min drive
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
Recognised as
The numbers
- Elevation: 250 m
- Population: 772
- Surface area: 5.96 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
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