Castelmezzano

Castelmezzano is a village wedged into the jagged sandstone peaks of the Lucanian Dolomites, in the hills of Basilicata in southern Italy. Its stone houses climb in tight tiers beneath a ridge of sharp pinnacles, at about 750 metres above sea level, so that from a distance the rooftops and the rock seem to be one formation. It belongs to the association of I Borghi più belli d'Italia, the most beautiful villages of Italy, and together with neighbouring Pietrapertosa and three other communes its territory forms the Gallipoli Cognato and Piccole Dolomiti Lucane regional park.

Its roots go back to Greek settlers who entered the Basento valley around the 6th and 5th centuries BC and founded a settlement called Maudoro, "world of gold". In the 10th century Saracen raids pushed the population up into the rocks. Local tradition holds that a shepherd named Paolino found the site, a nest of steep crags from whose summits defenders could roll boulders onto attackers. The Normans, who settled here between the 11th and 13th centuries, built a castle; its wall fragments and the flight of steps carved into the rock up to the highest lookout can still be seen. The fortress was called Castrum Medianum, the "middle castle", because it stood between the castles of the neighbouring villages, and the town took its name from it.

Later centuries brought Angevin decline, a succession of feudal lords under the Aragonese, and a revival under the De Leonardis barons, who held the town from 1580 to 1686; the De Lerma family followed until feudalism was abolished in 1805. In the 19th century the maze of rock shelters made the area a refuge for brigands, and at the end of that century emigration sent many families overseas. The village's churches reflect this long history: the mother church of Santa Maria dell'Olmo is thought to date from the early 13th century, and the small chapel of the Santo Sepolcro, possibly 11th century, has an interior divided in the Byzantine manner.

A high-wire zip line, the Volo dell'Angelo, opened in 2007 and runs across the valley between Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa at heights of around 400 metres. In 2020 the Touring Club Italiano awarded the village its orange flag for small inland towns of quality.

Getting there

Castelmezzano lies in the province of Potenza, about 24 km from the city of Potenza, the regional capital of Basilicata. The nearest major airport is Bari Karol Wojtyła International Airport (BRI), about 90 km away in a straight line. The village is reached by road up from the Basento valley below the village.