Enter into Italy’s wasteland of ancient ghost towns, long abandoned and left to slowly crumble and fade under the hot southern sun.
Once known as “Golden Mountain,” the settlement sits atop a 400-meter (1,300-foot) cliff in Basilicata, one of Italy’s most earthquake-prone regions. Once a populated and flourishing hamlet, all that’s left in Craco today are the roofless shells of houses, a former monastery, a decaying church, and empty streets and plazas.
After the introduction of a university in the 13th century, Craco’s population steadily rose over the ensuing years to an average of 1,500 townsfolk who made a living by farming. By the 15th century, four plazas were constructed, followed by the monastery of San Pietro in 1630.
But, by the middle of the 17th century, everything changed with a plague outbreak that killed hundreds.
In the early 1800s, gangs of bandits attacked the town, resulting in civil unrest. Around a hundred years later, the crops failed, leading to severe famine, and by 1922, most of the population had fled, according to the report.
If plague, robbers, and famine weren’t enough, owing to the town being constructed on unstable terrain, the unfortunate people of Craco were hit by a series of landslides—the worst of which began to occur in the 1950s when the quality of the soil worsened further, and a sanitation upgrade disturbed the ground.
And yet, the residents of Craco clung to their beautiful town.
In 1963, many of Craco’s remaining inhabitants had to be evacuated due to a series of life-threatening landslides, sounding the final death knell.
A new settlement was built further down the valley, but still, the most stubborn villagers stayed put. In the 1980s, an earthquake shook the town’s foundations, and the final few living there were forced out.
Now, the once lively town is frequented by only stray animals and the occasional tourist—and the odd film crew.
