Puglia · Bari
Cassano delle Murge
A Murge foothills town at the gate of the Alta Murgia park, with the 1,300-hectare Foresta Mercadante mostly inside its territory.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Cassano delle Murge is on our list
It holds Borghi Autentici and Città dell'Olio.
Subscribe and you get Cassano delle Murge's letter the day it comes out.
Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 39 min from Bari
- Population
- 15,126
- J11°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M23°
- J29°
- J32°
- A31°
- S27°
- O22°
- N16°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Cassano delle Murge sits at the foot of the highest step of the Murgia plateau, thirty kilometers south of Bari, at the eastern gate of the Alta Murgia National Park. The Foresta Mercadante, a 1,300-hectare pine and oak forest planted from 1928 onward to repair nineteenth-century deforestation that had flooded Bari several times, runs across the commune's higher ground, with 872 hectares inside Cassano and the rest in Altamura. A menhir found in nearby caves dates settlement to 2500-2000 BC, and a fifth-century mosaic floor confirms continuous Roman-era occupation.
The name first appears in a fourteenth-century document, derived from the Latin Cassius; the 'delle Murge' was added in 1863. Roberto il Guiscardo donated the borough to the archbishopric of Bari in the eleventh century. The Santuario di Santa Maria degli Angeli, run by the Augustinian fathers, anchors the country edge of the village above a cave fresco of the Madonna.
How to get there
From Bari (BRI), about 45 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 3 h 35 min away.
By car from the center of Bari 39 min, Lecce 2 h 23 min or Salerno 2 h 57 min.
Coming by train into Bari Centrale? Cassano delle Murge is about 42 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Bari airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Foresta Mercadante
1,300-hectare pine and oak forest planted from 1928 to repair nineteenth-century Murge deforestation, with 872 hectares inside Cassano, the rest in Altamura.
Santuario di Santa Maria degli Angeli
Augustinian sanctuary on the country edge of the village, built around a cave fresco of the Madonna and tied to local apparition tradition.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta
Mother church rebuilt in 1858 on the remains of a fourteenth-century Romanesque church, preserving the original bell tower in the centro storico.
Cripta del Crocifisso
Rock-cut crypt in the centro storico, the kind of subterranean chapel common to Murge towns, evidence of the area's rupestrian tradition.
Palazzo Miani-Perotti
Neoclassical noble palace in the centro storico, one of the surviving aristocratic residences of the post-feudal period.
Living here
Could you live here?
Cassano delle Murge meets both of our rules for a small town.
- 15,126 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Altamura, a city of 70,163, is 35 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 15,126, up 3.4% since 2015
- Nearest city Altamura, 35 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Acquaviva delle Fonti, 6 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €650 to €950 per m² to buy, €2.80 to €4.00 per m² a month to rent
Weighing a move here? See the moving year.
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- A local hub
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 85% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Bari airport (BRI), 45 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Bari, 39 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
5% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Albania, Nigeria and Romania, against 9% across Italy. 14 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe. There are 189 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 34% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Bari province ranks 67th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Acquaviva delle Fonti, 6 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Bari, 24 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Bari, 24 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 374 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is International School of Brindisi, 101 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €15,000. 7% pensioner tax: this town qualifies, for someone with a foreign pension who has lived abroad for five years: 7% on foreign income, for ten years.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Puglia spends about €1,500 a month, €440 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €545 a year for water, on the Puglia average. In Bari, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.21, a meal in a pizzeria €11.13 and a man's haircut €14.53.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 2% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 6% in a high or medium one. Under 1% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
FORESTA MERCADANTE
1,300 hectares of pine and oak forest planted from 1928 after deforestation flooded Bari, the largest forest in the Murge.
ALTA MURGIA GATE
Eastern entry point to the Alta Murgia National Park, with dolines, pseudosteppe and walking routes from the village edge.
STAZIONE CLIMATICA
Long recognized as a climatic station for the cooler, healthier air the Mercadante forest produces, several degrees below the open plateau.
PROTECTED PRODUCTS
The commune lies inside the Mozzarella di Gioia del Colle DOP and Lenticchia di Altamura IGP production zones.
Common questions
- What is Cassano delle Murge known for?
- Cassano delle Murge is a Murge foothills town at 341 meters at the gate of the Alta Murgia park, with the 1,300-hectare Foresta Mercadante mostly inside its territory.
- Where is Cassano delle Murge?
- Cassano delle Murge is a comune in the province of Bari, in Puglia.
- What is the nearest airport to Cassano delle Murge?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Bari (BRI), about 45 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Bari to Cassano delle Murge?
- About 39 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Cassano delle Murge?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 32 degrees, and March the wettest, with about 12 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Cassano delle Murge?
- Castellaneta, Acquaviva delle Fonti and Locorotondo.
- How many people live in Cassano delle Murge?
- 15,126 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Cassano delle Murge a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Cassano delle Murge is a small town that meets both of our rules. The nearest city, Altamura, is 35 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Acquaviva delle Fonti, 6 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 85% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 341 m
- Population: 15,126
- Surface area: 90.2 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.
The ranked lists
Lists Cassano delle Murge appears in
- The best cheese towns within 45 minutes of BariNear Bariwithin 45 mincheese zone6 towns · smallest 5,908 residents · closest 22 min away
- The best olive oil towns inside a national park in PugliaPugliaolive oilinside a park6 towns · smallest 5,876 residents
- The best hill towns inside a national park in PugliaPugliahill towninside a park7 towns · smallest 1,275 residents
- The best towns known for what they grow within 75 minutes of BariNear Bariwithin 75 minproduce zone7 towns · smallest 1,275 residents · closest 39 min away
- The best olive oil towns in the province of BariBari provinceolive oil10 towns · smallest 5,908 residents
Similar
Towns like Cassano delle Murge
What all six share with Cassano delle Murge: inland, away from the coast · over 10,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Cassano delle Murge 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: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Cassano delle Murge comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 384 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.