Craco Vecchia (old Craco), the "ghost town" of Basilicata

From a distance, Craco looks almost carved out of its hill: a cluster of stone houses, churches and palaces climbing a steep summit, with a Norman tower at the top. Around it spread the calanchi, bare, deeply eroded clay badlands that give this corner of Basilicata an almost lunar look. People have lived in this area for a very long time. Tombs dating to the 8th century BC have been found here. The town's own history is traceable to at least 1060, when the land belonged to Arnaldo, Archbishop of Tricarico, who called it Graculum, Latin for "little plowed field." Craco was built on its steep summit for defense and grew over the following centuries. By 1561, its population was close to 2,600. The hill was its weakness. The oldest part of town sat on rock, but as Craco grew, newer houses spread onto clay. The first documented landslide came in 1888. Between 1892 and 1922, hardship drove many residents to emigrate, more than 1,300 of them to the United States. In 1963, the ground gave way in earnest. A major landslide, likely triggered by construction of new sewer and water systems, made the town unsafe. Nearly 1,800 residents were moved to a new settlement in the valley below, Craco Peschiera. Some stayed on in the old town, but a flood in 1972 made things worse, and after the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, Craco Vecchia was completely abandoned. What was left behind has become one of the most striking ghost towns in Europe. Churches, noble palazzi and narrow lanes stand empty on the ridge. Filmmakers noticed: Mel Gibson shot scenes for The Passion of the Christ here, and Francesco Rosi used it for Christ Stopped at Eboli. In 2010, the World Monuments Fund added Craco to its watch list. Today, the only people walking its streets are visitors in hard hats, following a guide past the houses the hill pushed out.