Italy guards hundreds of villages where stone, history and silence compose landscapes unlike anywhere else. Here is our selection of the most extraordinary: from Civita di Bagnoregio, the "dying town" suspended on its tuff pedestal, to the cave-carved Sassi of Matera, to the grey rooftops of Castelmezzano set into the Lucanian Dolomites.
Bagnoregio Lazio The "dying town", reached only by a footbridge Pienza Tuscany The ideal Renaissance city, home of pecorino cheese San Gimignano Tuscany The UNESCO-listed medieval towers Alberobello Puglia The capital of trulli houses Positano Campania The vertical pearl of the Amalfi Coast Riomaggiore Liguria The oldest village of the Cinque Terre Castelmezzano Basilicata Set into the Lucanian Dolomites Santo Stefano di Sessanio Abruzzo A restored medieval village in the Gran Sasso mountains Orta San Giulio Piedmont A romantic balcony over Lake Orta Matera Basilicata The Sassi cave dwellings, a World Heritage Site Erice Sicily A medieval stone town 750 metres above the sea Gangi Sicily Italy's "village of villages" in the Madonie hills Castelbuono Sicily The Ventimiglia castle and the last manna harvest Sambuca di Sicilia Sicily Saracen alleys above Lake Arancio Bagnoli del Trigno Molise A church wedged into the rock, a castle on top Pietrabbondante Molise The Samnite theatre below a village built from its stones Civitacampomarano Molise An Angevin castle and the murals of a street art festival Castel del Giudice Molise A hotel scattered through the houses, and sixty old apple varieties Pietrapertosa Basilicata A village wedged into the rock, and the Angel's Flight Craco Basilicata The ghost town emptied by a landslide Acerenza Basilicata A cathedral too big for its rock at 833 metres Aliano Basilicata The calanchi badlands and Carlo Levi's exile Guardia Perticara Basilicata Medieval stone put back up after the earthquake