Craco near Palazzo Margherita

(33.2 km – 35 minute drive) 

Craco stands empty on a hilltop, 390 meters up, ringed by the eroded clay ridges of the Calanchi Lucani in the Lucanian Apennines. Stone houses climb the cliff toward a castle at the summit, spontaneous architecture cut from local stone and brick over centuries.

Tombs nearby date to the 8th century B.C., and the medieval village to the 11th century A.D.; under Norman rule and Frederick II it grew into a military and cultural center. A landslide emptied it in 1963, and it has stood abandoned since, a ghost town so intact it now serves as a film set for historical films. Bernalda and Matera lie within an easy drive; see more of the historic sites near Palazzo Margherita.