The name says what it was: Petra Pagana, the rock that stayed pagan. The cult held on here for a long time, and it is not a legend that says so but the idols and the inscriptions to the god Silvanus found on the spot. The people of Conza took refuge on this crag when the Saracens came, and in 867 the Saracens built a fort on it.
The ground shakes hard here: the quake of 8 September 1694 flattened almost the whole town and left more than six hundred people under the rubble, the one of 23 November 1980 killed about twenty. Between those two shocks Pescopagano was the first town in the area to have public lighting, and its hydroelectric plant supplied the neighbouring comuni too. There are 2,022 residents.
Museo parrocchiale di arte sacra di Pescopagano · Abbazia di San Lorenzo · Castello di Pescopagano and 2 more
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Next up: Saint Francis of Paola, patron of a town marked by three great earthquakes, Wednesday 30 June
Nearest airport: Napoli Capodichino, 93 km away
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📅 Every year, from 30 June to 2 July, with the traditional «flight of the angel»
Pescopagano celebrates Saint Francis of Paola from 30 June to 2 July with the traditional «flight of the angel»; the town, perched on a cliff above the Ofanto valley, was devastated by the earthquakes of 1466, 1694 and 1980.
Museo parrocchiale di arte sacra di Pescopagano What survived from the churches of Pescopagano after the 1980 earthquake. Abbazia di San Lorenzo Begun in 1081 and finished in 1100: of the Norman abbey the church and the ruins remain. Castello di Pescopagano Not a castle but a fortress: today boulders, brambles and 25 km of the Ofanto valley. chiesa di San Leonardo A parchment of 1295 records it as a place of worship; it opens only for the Novena and 8 December. santuario della Beata Vergine di Montemauro Above 1000 metres, 5 km from town: the climb here is a May penitential pilgrimage. 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 Pescopagano, but an easy day trip away.
