Grassano

Grassano is a municipality in the province of Matera ( in the Basilicata region ) with 5293 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2012). It lies on the River Basento, which flows into the Ionian Sea.

The city is located between the valley of the river Bradano and the Basento and not far from the river Bilioso in the northern part of the province of Matera. It extends from an altitude of 150 meters in the valley floor up to 576 meters in one of the inhabited center.

The neighboring municipalities are: in the west Calciano 15 km away and Tricarico (18 km ) to the south Garaguso (18 km) and Salandra (23 km), to the east Grottole (12 km) and to the north Irsina (22 km).

More important buildings are the Matrice Church of San Giovanni, San Marco and the Madonna della Neve from the 18th century and the palace.

From May to September 1935, the anti-fascist painter and writer Carlo Levi was banished here, before he was taken to the still more remote village of Aliano. His experience in Grassano and Aliano he later described in the world famous business book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli ( Christ Stopped at Eboli ), published in 1945, he wrote it about Grassano. Like all places in this country, Grassano is as a white spot on the top a high, bare hill like a little dreamed- Jerusalem in the solitude of a desert.

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• Information about Grassano