Il Dirupo

The Dirupo is the row of small white houses that clings to the cliff edge in the old centre of Pisticci. It was built by survivors of the catastrophic landslide of 1688, which destroyed the castle quarter and killed hundreds. The houses are built directly against the drop, with their backs to the ravine and their fronts facing the narrow lane above.

Walking along the Dirupo is one of the more affecting experiences in Basilicata. The view from the edge — straight down into the calanchi, with the grey clay walls dropping away below — is vertiginous. The houses themselves are modest but have become a symbol of the town's resilience and its distinctive relationship with a hostile landscape.

things to do sight architecture
A story
The 1688 earthquake and landslide that created the Dirupo killed over 400 people and wiped out the area around the medieval castle. The survivors who rebuilt their houses along the remaining cliff edge had little choice about the location — the town had nowhere else to expand — but the result was one of the most precarious urban situations in southern Italy.