'Christ never arrived here, nor did time arrive, neither the individual soul, nor hope, nor the link between causes and effects, reason and history', wrote Carlo Levi about this region which at that time was called Lucania.
Today, as then, Basilicata has its roots and its history between mountains and sea, between barren panoramas and forgotten peasant worlds. In a ghostly landscape consisting of badlands, among structures and buildings in ruins, on a slashed and eroded land, there is what is left of Craco, the ghost town in the province of Matera,391 meters above sea level. The village survived for a thousand years on a rock spur overlooking the valley of Salandrella river, ending up evacuated in 1963, when a landslide, caused by the malfunction of the water system, affected the inhabited center. Since then Craco has stood still over time, definitively fixing that present life until the moment, it stopped being inhabited. It gives the impression of a sculpture of medieval origins surrounded by the "Calanchi".
Craco was founded around the year 1000, soon becoming a strategic center under the empire of Frederick II. Its privileged position, in fact, allowed to dominate the valleys below, controlling enemy incursions from the sea. The houses and palaces of the village were built around the tower and the castle which, together with other fortifications, protected the surrounding area. Craco then developed in the years to come, becoming a fief now of one family, now of another and experiencing the phenomenon of brigandage in the nineteenth century. The landslide that hit the town in 1963 and the subsequent flood in 1972 forced almost all of the population to abandon the town and settle downstream. With the Irpinia earthquake in 1980, the last inhabitants of Craco were also transferred to the two hamlets located at the foot of the old town: Craco Sant’Angelo and Craco Peschiera.
Approaching Craco, gives the impression of entering another era, in a time suspended and completely halted. The badlands, first of all, offer the view of a lunar landscape characterized by the erosion of the rocks and the opening of deep furrows in the ground. Above, however, the remains of this ghost village represent a monument to silence. Today it is possible to visit Craco through guided tours (with protective helmet) through a safe path that winds through its streets and squares.
The village of Craco was built on two different types of terrain, one rocky which is located in the upper part of the country and which was intended for aristocratic buildings, the other clayey place below and affected by houses intended for the popular class. Already in the second half of the nineteenth century there were news of landslides and they tried to contain the land movement with the construction of a 3.5-meter thick retaining wall. In 1952 a second retaining wall was built which, due to the heavy rains that occurred in 1959, a movement of the wall occurred and damage the buildings. With the reactivation of the landslide, also caused by leaking from the distribution and sewage networks, in 1963 the upper part of the medieval village slipped on the part below
The most important building in the town is the 13th century castle with its 20-meter-high rectangular Norman tower, which dominates the Cavone valley and the Stigliano hills. Having survived landslides and landslides, it forms the centerpiece of the village together with the complex of the mother Church and Palazzo Carbone. From its windows it is possible to look out and admire the surrounding panorama that ranges from the Ionian Sea to the Pollino National Park. The Byzantine cult Mother Church is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, San Nicola bishop, and has a dome partially covered with majolica.
Walking through the streets and alleys of the town it is possible to meet, in a small piece of land, noble residences and grouped peasant houses. Some houses have cuts, knocks down, fractures; others remained intact but lacking in shutters, doors, decorations. The trees took over the streets and places where houses once stood. During the 1980s, in fact, these places were ransacked and floors, walls, marble, statues were removed from the buildings.
