Melfi
Discover Melfi
A concise introduction to Melfi, its geography, history and culture.
Introduction
Melfi is a town of about 9,000 people in northern Basilicata, on the eastern slope of an extinct volcano near the Puglian border.
The castle dominates it: a Norman foundation of the eleventh century, enlarged by Frederick II and by the Angevins, with eight surviving towers. It now holds the National Archaeological Museum of the Melfese, whose centrepiece is the Rapolla sarcophagus, a second-century Roman marble of exceptional quality.
Below the castle the walled borgo runs downhill in tight streets to the cathedral, whose twelfth-century bell tower is the oldest thing standing in the town.
Behind rises Monte Vulture, 1,326 metres, with the twin crater lakes of Monticchio in its flank and an abbey built into the rock above them.
The volcanic soil produces Aglianico del Vulture and an unusual quantity of bottled mineral water.