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00 Casamassima
Stemma di Casamassima

Apulia · Bari

Casamassima

The blue town of the Murge, twenty kilometers south of Bari, its centro storico painted with copper-blue lime after the 1658 plague spared its residents.

Best time
Apr–Oct
By car
22 min from Bari
By train
Station in the comune
Population
19,294

Known for

  • PAESE AZZURRO

    The blue town, every house and church coated in copper-blue quicklime since the 1658 plague vow, the only blue village in Puglia.

  • VAAZ

    Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin, feudal lords of Casamassima from 1609 to 1667, who ordered the blue lime after the Bari plague.

  • VIVIANI'S BLUE

    The Milanese painter Vittorio Viviani came in the 1960s and built a body of work around the blue light, naming the village Il Paese Azzurro.

  • MOZZARELLA DI GIOIA DEL COLLE

    The commune lies inside the Mozzarella di Gioia del Colle DOP production zone.

When to visit

Best · Apr–Oct

  • J12°
  • F14°
  • M15°
  • A19°
  • M24°
  • J29°
  • J33°
  • A32°
  • S28°
  • O23°
  • N18°
  • D14°
  • Best
  • Hot or crowded
  • Quiet
  • Mostly closed

Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.

The festa: San Rocco, 13 September

Why come

Casamassima sits on the lower Murge slopes, twenty kilometers south of Bari. The village is known nationally as the Paese Azzurro, the blue town: the houses, palazzi and churches of the centro storico are coated in successive layers of blue-tinted quicklime, probably copper sulphate, in a tradition the locals trace to Duke Odoardo Vaaz. In 1658 a plague carried by a ship into the port of Bari killed over twenty thousand residents of the capital.

Vaaz, a feudal lord of Casamassima from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin who had bought the fief in 1609 for 76,000 ducats, vowed to the Madonna of Constantinople that he would paint his town blue if the village was spared. It was. The small church of the Madonna di Costantinopoli still stands as the vow's fulfilment, and the blue lime has been retouched on the same buildings for nearly four centuries.

The Sunday letter

Casamassima is on our list. Its letter is still to come.

We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Casamassima comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.

Read on

Casamassima in our articles

How to get there

From Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 34 minutes by car.

Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 3h 27m away.

By car from the centre of Bari 22 minutes, Lecce 2 hours or Salerno 3h 17m.

There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive without a car.

Coming from Bari?

Coming by train into Bari Centrale? Casamassima is about 24 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Bari / Brindisi airport.

Casamassima, photo 1
Casamassima, photo 2

What to see

  • Centro storico (Paese Azzurro)

    The blue town, an entire medieval quarter coated in successive layers of copper-blue quicklime since the 1658 plague vow, unique in Puglia.

  • Palazzo Ducale Vaaz

    Twelfth-century manor house turned ducal residence of the Sephardic Vaaz family from 1609, then of the D'Aponte family after the 1667 sale.

  • Chiesa di Maria SS di Costantinopoli

    Small church built as the fulfilment of Duke Vaaz's plague vow, the historical anchor of the blue-painting tradition.

  • Chiesa Matrice

    Mother church of the centro storico, the parish around which the medieval blue village organises its rites and patronal feast.

  • Porta Orologio

    Medieval gate-tower with the civic clock, one of the access points into the walled blue centro storico, surviving from the fortified period.

The slow-trip planner

Building a trip? Find where Casamassima fits in a slow Italy circuit.

Answer five questions. We will shape a geographically coherent slow trip from the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Yours to save and share.

Plan your trip

Through the year

What happens here

Feasts and festivals that come back year after year. We give the month rather than the date, because the date moves and the month rarely does. Check with the source before you plan a journey around one.

  • Sagra focaccia di patate del coniglio ripienofood festival

    usually held in September. TrovaSagre

Living here

  • Population 19,294
  • Commuter belti
  • Pharmacy in town
  • High school within a 30-minute drive
  • Train station in the comune
  • Nearest airport Bari / Brindisi, 34 min drive
  • Market day Saturday
  • Regional capital Bari, 22 min drive

Common questions

What is Casamassima known for?
Casamassima is the blue town of the Murge, twenty kilometers south of Bari, its centro storico painted with copper-blue lime after the 1658 plague spared its residents.
Where is Casamassima?
Casamassima is a comune in the province of Bari, in Apulia, at 230 meters above sea level.
What is the nearest airport to Casamassima?
Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 34 minutes by car.
Can you get to Casamassima without a car?
Yes. There is a railway station in the comune, so you can arrive by train.
How long is the drive from Bari to Casamassima?
About 22 minutes by car.
When is the best time to visit Casamassima?
Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 33 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 10 rain days.
Is there a sagra or a festival in Casamassima?
Yes. Sagra focaccia di patate del coniglio ripieno. September is when the first of them falls.
Which other towns are like Casamassima?
Verucchio, Castellana Grotte and Castellaneta.
How many people live in Casamassima?
19,294 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources

The numbers

  • Elevation: 230 m
  • Population: 19,294
  • Surface area: 78.43 km²

These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.

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