Apulia · 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.
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 39 min from Bari
- Population
- 15,010
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 recognised 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.
When to visit
Best · Apr–Oct
- J11°
- F13°
- M14°
- A17°
- M23°
- J29°
- J32°
- A31°
- S27°
- O22°
- N16°
- D13°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime averages, 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
The festa: Santa Maria degli Angeli, 2 August
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.
The Sunday 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 every Sunday: the photo, the food, the festa. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Cassano delle Murge comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Pietrasanta.
Read on
Cassano delle Murge in our articles
The best cheese towns within 45 minutes of Bari6 towns, Cassano delle Murge among them.
The best hill towns inside a national park in Puglia7 towns, Cassano delle Murge among them.
The best towns known for what they grow within 75 minutes of Bari7 towns, Cassano delle Murge among them.
The best olive oil towns in the province of Bari10 towns, Cassano delle Murge among them.
How to get there
From Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 45 minutes by car.
Naples / Salerno (NAP) is about 3h 35m away.
By car from the centre of Bari 39 minutes, Lecce 2h 23m or Salerno 3 hours.
Coming by train into Bari Centrale? Cassano delle Murge is about 42 minutes away by road.
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.
Torre Civica
Civic clock-tower next to the municipal seat in the centro storico, anchoring the historic core of the town since the fortified period.
Menhir e siti preistorici
Menhir from 2500-2000 BC found in caves around the territory, with stone artifacts and paintings, evidence of long prehistoric occupation.
The slow-trip planner
Building a trip? Find where Cassano delle Murge 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.
Living here
- Population 15,010
- A local hubi
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Nearest airport Bari / Brindisi, 45 min drive
- Regional capital Bari, 39 min drive
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 Apulia.
- What is the nearest airport to Cassano delle Murge?
- Bari / Brindisi (BRI), about 45 minutes by car.
- How long is the drive from Bari to Cassano delle Murge?
- About 39 minutes 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.
- Is there a sagra or a festival in Cassano delle Murge?
- The town keeps its patron saint's day: Santa Maria degli Angeli, 2 August.
- Which other towns are like Cassano delle Murge?
- Castellaneta, Acquaviva delle Fonti and Locorotondo.
- How many people live in Cassano delle Murge?
- 15,010 at the 2023 count.
Tags & datadesignations · numbers · sources
The numbers
- Elevation: 341 m
- Population: 15,010
- 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.
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