People left Viggiano with a harp on their back. For generations its musicians played in the street across half of Europe and overseas, so much so that Hector Malot mentioned them in Nobody's Boy; harps were built in the town too, and the name of the harp maker Victor Salvi is tied to it.
Above the houses, on top of the Sacro Monte at 1,725 metres, stands the sanctuary of the Black Madonna, one of the strongest Marian draws in the South. Lower down, on the slopes of Monte Sant'Enoc, sit almost all the wells of the Val d'Agri field, the largest onshore oilfield in Europe. There are 3,122 residents.
Santuario della Madonna di Viggiano · Basilica del Sacro Monte di Viggiano · chiesa di Sant'Antonio di Padova and 3 more
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Next up: The Black Madonna who descends from the Sacred Mountain, Sunday 5 September
Nearest airport: Bari Palese, 115 km away
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📅 Every year, on the first Sunday of September
Viggiano celebrates the Black Madonna on the first Sunday of September, when each year she leaves the sanctuary at 1,725 metres on the Sacred Mountain and is carried in procession down to the town.
Santuario della Madonna di Viggiano At 1725 metres on the Sacro Monte, reached only on foot along 2 km of paved path. 
Basilica del Sacro Monte di Viggiano Rebuilt after the 1673 earthquake and consecrated in 1735; from September to May the Madonna is here. 
chiesa di Sant'Antonio di Padova Conventual church of 1542-1546: an 18th-century wooden choir, with Eni offices in the old friary. 
Monumento ai portatori della Madonna di Viggiano A bronze of the men who carry the Madonna to the sanctuary, at 1725 m. 
Villa del Marchese Sanfelice Commissioned by Tommaso di Savoia, finished in 1869, now the conservatory. 
castello di Viggiano Three round towers, now ruins at 1023 m: the ones on the town's coat of arms. 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 Viggiano, but an easy day trip away.
