Carlo Levi arrived here in internal exile in 1935, and out of it came a book, Christ Stopped at Eboli, in which the town is called Gagliano, as it is pronounced here. During his exile the peasants asked him to be their doctor, and he started again, for nothing. In his last wishes he asked to be buried at Aliano, among his peasants.
The town sits on a clay hill, in the middle of the calanchi. Among the old houses there is one they call the house with eyes: two front windows and a staircase rising from the ground floor draw a face, and at night, with the light on, the windows look like eyes. It was meant to keep the evil eye away. There are 1,082 residents.
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📅 Every year, on 21 June
On 21 June Aliano celebrates Saint Aloysius Gonzaga: this is the village Carlo Levi called Gagliano in «Christ Stopped at Eboli», and where he asked to be buried.
Durum wheat semolina, thick crust, shaped as a horn or a tall loaf: Pane di Matera has held Protected Geographical Indication status since 2008.
Read more →Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Aliano, but an easy day trip away.
