Calanchi di Aliano

Around Aliano, rainwater has cut soft clay into ridges, cones and deep gullies known as calanchi. These forms inspired Carlo Levi's description of a lunar landscape in Cristo si è fermato a Eboli, the book he wrote after his confinement in the village in 1935–36.

Why it matters

Aliano occupies a narrow clay spur above the surrounding badlands. The Fossa del Bersagliere lies close to the inhabited centre, placing the village and its landscape in direct view of one another. The regional tourism authority describes the calanchi as among the most striking examples of this landscape in Europe, while Levi's writing made them part of Italy's literary imagination.

What to notice

The gullies and sharp clay cones expose the effects of rainwater runoff on slopes with little vegetation. From the Fossa del Bersagliere, the village appears set against the surrounding badlands. Local tradition gives the fossa its name through a story about a Piedmontese bersagliere after the battle of Acinello in 1861; it remains a legend rather than documented history. In the village lanes, painted lines from Levi's book keep the landscape and literature in view together.

Context and history

Rainwater running over sparsely vegetated clay erodes the slopes and deepens the gullies. Human history in the area reaches back to a necropolis dated to the seventh and sixth centuries BC. Aliano's first written records date to 1060, and caves in the fosso San Lorenzo were used by Basilian monks. Carlo Levi was confined here in 1935–36 and later set his 1945 book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli in the village, calling it Gagliano. Francesco Rosi filmed an adaptation here in 1979. The annual La Luna e i Calanchi festival celebrates landscape and paesologia, the study of place and rural life.