From a distance Pisticci looks like a white band across the hillside: some two hundred identical whitewashed houses with pointed gables, stacked in rows. The quarter is called Dirupo, „the collapse“, and took this shape after a landslide in 1688. Add the calanchi, the bare clay gullies – and a herbal liqueur half of Italy knows.
Pisticci stands at 364 metres above the Basento valley. Around 16,500 people live in the municipality, whose territory of more than 230 square kilometres is among the largest in Basilicata. The old town is divided into sixteen rioni; the best known is the Dirupo.
What makes Pisticci special
In 1688 a major landslide tore away the slope beneath the town. During the rebuilding, some two hundred almost identical houses went up along the scar, whitewashed, with pointed gables and set in rows – deliberately low and light so the ground would bear them. The result is one of the most unusual townscapes in southern Italy.
What to see in Pisticci
Rione Dirupo
The best view of the white quarter is from the viewpoints above, and it is finest in the late afternoon, when low sunlight strikes the façades. Between the houses you walk through narrow lanes and up flights of steps.
Mother church of Santi Pietro e Paolo
The mother church above the town has three naves and is crowned by a hemispherical dome. From its forecourt the view reaches far across the valley.
The former convent and its sundial
The former convent now houses municipal offices; a historic sundial survives in the cloister.
Abbey of Santa Maria La Sanità del Casale
The Benedictine abbey outside town dates from around 1087. In 1991 it received a papal visit.
The calanchi
On the western slopes the clay soil drops away in deep, bare gullies – the same landscape that surrounds Craco. For photographs, early or late light makes the difference.
Amaro Lucano
The herbal liqueur Amaro Lucano has been made here since 1894; the label shows a woman in the traditional local costume. The company is based in the municipality and has its own museum – book ahead if you want to visit.
Marina di Pisticci
The municipality includes a stretch of coast near San Basilio with a beach and holiday villages, about half an hour’s drive from the town.
Getting there from Matera
About 50 to 60 kilometres by car on the SS 7 and the SS 407 Basentana, 50 to 70 minutes. Buses run, usually with a change; the railway station lies down in the valley, far from the town. For this trip the car is the sensible choice.
Best time to visit
April to June and September to October. In summer the slope is blindingly bright and hot at midday. The patron saint is San Rocco, celebrated from 15 to 18 August – he has been regarded as the town’s protector since the plague of 1656.
Worth combining
Pisticci lies on the road from Matera to the Ionian coast and combines well with Bernalda or an afternoon at the sea. If you like the calanchi landscape, add Craco.
