Gorgoglione

Discover Gorgoglione

Gorgoglione is a mountain commune of 836 inhabitants in the province of Matera, Basilicata, standing at around 800 metres above sea level on terrain marked by sandstone outcrops — locally called pietra di Gorgoglione — and by extensive oak woodland. It occupies the centre-western arc of the Matera province, looking out over the valley of the river Agri, and belongs to the Comunità Montana Collina Materana.

Gorgoglione has a long and layered past: fourth-century B.C. tombs, a papal bull of 1060, a medieval castle built by the Della Marra, and the passage in November 1861 of the brigand leaders Carmine Crocco and José Borjes, who entered the village without encountering resistance. Alongside this history, the calendar still revolves around the feast of the Madonna del Pergamo and Sant’Antonio da Padova each June, when a rural sanctuary in an open, panoramic setting draws a procession that includes not only the townspeople but their animals as well.

Gorgoglione village in Basilicata: history from ancient settlements to the post-unification era

Gorgoglione has a documented history stretching from pre-Roman antiquity through medieval feudalism to the turbulent years following Italian unification, with archaeological evidence, papal records and chronicles of brigandage all contributing to its story. Excavations in the locality of Santa Maria degli Angeli uncovered tombs dating to the fourth century B.C., containing Apulian red-figure vases that are now held in the Museo Nazionale Domenico Ridola in Matera — the earliest physical trace of settled human presence in the area.

The first written record of the present-day village appears in a papal bull of 1060, which listed the parishes belonging to the diocese of Tricarico. At that time Gorgoglione formed part of the county of Montescaglioso. Feudal lordship passed through several noble families in succession: the Della Marra, who commissioned the construction of a castle whose ruins still stand within the village; then the Carafa; and finally the Spinelli.

The most dramatic episode in the village’s more recent past took place on 12 November 1861, when the brigand leaders Carmine Crocco and José Borjes arrived from neighbouring Cirigliano and entered Gorgoglione without encountering any resistance. The episode was part of the wider brigandage that followed Italian unification and left a concrete mark on local memory — preserved, among other places, in the name of the Grotta dei briganti south of the village, a natural cavity that served as a shelter during that period.

Churches, a brigands’ cave and a hilltop forest: the places of Gorgoglione

Gorgoglione’s main points of interest are the Chiesa Madre di Santa Maria Assunta, the rural sanctuary of the Madonna del Pergamo, and the Grotta dei briganti, along with the Bosco Le Manche and the remains of the Della Marra castle.

Chiesa Madre di Santa Maria Assunta

The parish church was originally built in a Romanesque style and later remodelled in the Baroque manner; its interior is arranged across three naves. Among the works preserved inside: a font for baptism, a fifteenth-century statue of San Rocco, an eighteenth-century statue of the Madonna del Rosario, and a wooden cross dating to 1600, attributed to Neapolitan goldsmith craftsmanship.

Santuario della Madonna del Pergamo

This roadside sanctuary stands a few kilometres from the village centre in an open, panoramic position. Documentary evidence of its existence goes back to 1131. Each year in June the village’s principal religious procession ends here, and the statue of the Madonna remains in the sanctuary through the summer.

Grotta dei briganti

South of the built-up area, at around 800 metres above sea level, a natural cave opens at the foot of a rock face rising some forty metres. It sits on the left bank of a tributary of the fiumara di Gorgoglione. The cavity reaches a maximum height of two metres and shows traces of seepage and small stalactite formations. During the post-unification brigandage period it served as shelter for brigands, and that use gave it its present name.

Bosco Le Manche and the castle ruins

The municipal territory includes a stand of Turkey oak known as Bosco Le Manche. The local rock is a sandstone called pietra di Gorgoglione. Of the castle built by the Della Marra family, only scattered ruins remain.

Flavours of Gorgoglione and the Matera Province

The Matera province supplies several certified products that define the table in this part of Basilicata: Caciocavallo Silano DOP, Canestrato di Moliterno, Mozzarella di Gioia del Colle, Olio Lucano IGP, and Pane di Matera IGP are among the most notable. None of these is exclusive to Gorgoglione itself, but all are common currency across the area and straightforward to find at local markets and agriturismi.

The territory also sits within reach of wines carrying the Matera DOC and Basilicata IGT designations, with Aglianico del Vulture representing the region’s most celebrated red grape. Among traditional preparations cited for the broader Lucanian interior, lamb, kid cooked in fricassea style, and carne podolica appear regularly on menus in villages of this size and altitude.

Getting to Gorgoglione and Planning Your Visit

Gorgoglione sits at around 800 m above sea level in the centre-western portion of Matera province and is reached by car along secondary mountain roads; the most comfortable seasons are late spring and early summer, when the June festivals bring the village to life, and early autumn, when the surrounding cerro oak woods take on colour. The nearest neighbour is Cirigliano, just 6 km to the north-east, a natural first stop on any circuit of the area.

From Gorgoglione, Aliano — the village long associated with Carlo Levi’s writings — lies 16 km to the south, offering a contrasting landscape of clay badlands. Heading north-east beyond Cirigliano, Accettura is another village worth combining into a longer day out through the Collina Materana community.

Departure	Distance	Time
Cirigliano	6 km	approx. 10 min
Guardia Perticara (PZ)	11 km	approx. 20 min
Aliano	16 km	approx. 25 min
Corleto Perticara (PZ)	16 km	approx. 25 min
Stigliano	20 km	approx. 30 min
Matera	approx. 60 km	approx. 1 h

The closest reference point for intercity connections is Matera, from which Gorgoglione is accessible by car. Visitors planning to attend the June festivities — the procession of the Madonna del Pergamo on 11 June, the Maggio rite on 12 June, or the Sant’Antonio patronal feast on 13 June — should book accommodation well in advance, as options in a village of around 836 residents are limited.